Immaculate Infatuation

What does Txikito mean? Well, first of all, it’s a play on the ancient Basque language where a T followed by an X makes a “ch”. Therefore, you get the adorable name, pronounced “chic kee toh”. What does “chic kee toh” mean? That two straight guys can never meet here for dinner. “Dude, meet me at txikito.” “What? What is that?” “This super cute tapas joint in Chelsea.”

Aside from my hysterically immature observation about the name, Txikito really is a place best suited for a date. It’s a quaint, fun spot with ample bar and dining room seating. The people are friendly, the wine list is interesting, and it’s always lively. The food? It’s tapas, but from the Basque region of Spain, so things are a little bit funkier and have less familiar names. Almost everything on the menu is interesting and sharable, though certain items are overpriced, and at times underwhelming. Overall, the food is solid, and the wines are priced reasonably enough that you can both drink until you’re funny. Perfect recipe for a date spot.

Relevant footnote: Txikito is on a block that every single person in NYC should have on his or her radar. At this intersection of 25th Street and 9th Avenue, there are no less than three excellent First/Early In The Game Date destinations within a few hundred yards. Should Txikito not work out, there is always its sister restaurant, El Quinto Pino just around the corner. If El Quinto Pino is full, Co. is always there for a pizza and a bottle of wine. Still not feeling it? Cookshop is close, and Billy’s Bakery is only a few blocks away. If you can’t make it happen with those options at hand, you probably just can’t make it happen. Maybe you should look into getting a cat.

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Mario Batali restaurants have a reputation of being tourist traps and magnets for the bridge and tunnel crowd. There’s always a lot of action, and you never know what kind of spectacle might unfold on any given night. Example? How about when Sinbad rolled in during one of our visits with a crew of five chicks – all rocking velour sweat suits and demanding a table without a reservation. F*cking Sinbad! He must have had a gift card.

The Del Posto dining experience is filled with euphoric highs and head scratching lows, which is frustrating. The bone in ribeye for two is one of the best steaks we’ve had all year (along with the steak at Marea). The pastas are also ridiculously good. On the other hand, service is inconsistent; we’ve had great experiences in the past, but our most recent visit was a rough one. To not be given menus, a wine list or even a simple hello after being seated for nearly fifteen minutes is stupid, especially at an upscale, ridiculously expensive joint like this. Nobody ever wants to feel like an afterthought at a five star restaurant, and we did. Maybe it’s due to our lack of blazers and/or hair gel.

Del Posto is a great restaurant, it’s just not one that’s going to get the full backing of Immaculate Infatuation. While we’d happily eat here any day of the week if the big wigs are buying, it’s not exactly our scene, our crowd or a restaurant we’d send our people to before others. However, it does come highly recommended by Sinbad. Personally, we’d much rather dispense our money into an Infatuation Favorite in a similar price range like Eleven Madison Park, Blue Hill or Marea.

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The latest installment of Infatuation TV takes us to Montauk, where we hooked up with musician and professional surfer Donavon Frankenreiter and Surf Lodge Executive Chef Sam Talbot for a surf lesson and a meal. Those guys can surf. We cannot. We are, however, really good at eating fish tacos.

Check it out.

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For the third installment of Infatuation TV, we hit the beach in Montauk for a surf lesson with pro surfer and musician Donavon Frankenreiter and Surf Lodge Executive Chef/Top Chef alum Sam Talbot. We had never surfed in our lives, and as you’ll see in Episode 3, we sucked on the boards. Sam and Donavon however, did not. After a long day of not catching waves and drinking lots of sea water, Chef Talbot took everyone back to Surf Lodge for some mean fish tacos.

Our video debuts Monday, but here are some pics for an early taste.

All Photos by Ben Fink Shapiro

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Welcome to the greatest Jewish thing to come out of Canada since Rick Moranis. Mile End is a Jewish delicatessen in Boerum Hill named for and modeled after the gentrified Montreal neighborhood by the same name, which has a strong Jewish population and apparently some killer Jewish food.

Here in Brooklyn, this place has become the topic of often-heated discourse and debate. As you can imagine, when it comes to a Jewish deli in this city, there is no shortage of opinions. Some say Mile End is too hipster, some say it’s too expensive, some say it’s too crowded, and yet at the same time many say it’s the greatest place ever. We’ve heard it all.

Here’s what I can tell you: I don’t care what anyone says, this is great food. Everything at Mile End is made with top notch ingredients and is meticulously prepared. The staff behind the small kitchen counter care about every plate that goes out the door, so regardless of whether it’s the kind of bagel you’re used to or not, someone put a lot of effort into making it awesome. From our perspective, If you like smoked meats and things with “hash” in the name, this is a place you need to visit. We don’t want to hear any complaining about waiting for a table, or hipsters, or how you can get a pastrami sandwich for four dollars on the Upper West Side. This is Brooklyn, and this place is turning out quality sh*t. Grab a Stumptown coffee from the window while you wait, and if you really can’t muster up the patience for a good meal, keep it movin’. More meat for the rest of us.

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