Immaculate Infatuation

Pleasantly surprising…that’s how I’d describe our recent visit to Apiary. Who would have thought that this little boutiquey restaurant next door to Village Barf House on 3rd Ave. turned out such high quality food? Thanks to the recent addition of new chef Scott Bryan (Le Bernardin, Bouley, Gotham Bar & Grill), Apiary has received some good buzz lately, and rightfully so. Apiary is not only a solid local East Village option; it’s a restaurant that should be on everyone’s radar. The food that’s coming out of that kitchen is excellent – top tier quality and at an affordable price. The flavor and texture combinations, presentation and all around attention to detail on each dish really wowed us. You can eat very well here, and even have a drink, for $50 a person. Definitely take advantage of the Sun-Thurs $35 three course tasting menu, that’s a damn good deal. Another plus, Monday is “no corkage” night.

While it is indeed a comfortable place to hang and eat, the one strike against Apiary is the décor. It’s trying a little too hard to be sleek and contemporary. The combination of what looks like glowing flamingo statues in the front window, big flower arrangements in the back and a half-assed play on silhouettes and shadows throughout makes it feel like you’re eating at CB2 showroom on Collins Street in Miami Beach.

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We’ve been spending a lot more time in Brooklyn lately, and it’s not the indie music scene or girls in ironic glasses drawing us in (please god let that trend end soon). We know we aren’t exactly breaking any news by telling you there are outstanding restaurants all over the borough, but now that some ground has been covered in Manhattan, we’re ready to start expanding the Infatuation empire. It’s business time in BK.

Prime Meats has been on our list for a while now – we love Frankie’s Spuntino (owned by the same people), and we love meat. We also happen to be big fans of old timey things, and Prime Meats was meticulously designed to feel like it came from old timey New York. There’s a beautiful antique bar, the staff all look like extras from Gangs of New York, and you should know that, just like in the 1890’s, they only take cash. The menu is heavy and meat-centric, but most everything is incredible, especially the steaks and anything that sounds German, which is pretty much everything. Before you go, know that this is the kind of place you make a night of. You will likely wait a long while for your table, will likely drink far too many vintage cocktails, and will more than likely want to die from eating so much. As long as you plan accordingly, you should come away happy.

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Head spinning after a long day of getting dragged around Soho with the female? Find salvation in a crisp Blue Point Toasted Lager draft and steak frites at Jane. It’ll help restore the equilibrium. The predecessor to fratty East Village favorite The Smith, Jane is its slightly more sophisticated older sister. Holdin’ it down in a prime location just above Soho, Jane is the epitome of utility neighborhood staple. A warm, friendly ambiance and diverse menu of relatively simple, but flavorful dishes make it perfect for Early In The Game Dates, Dinner With The Parents, Groups of 4-6 and Chronic Brunch. Jane has long been an Infatuation standby, and that’s not changing anytime soon. Next time you’re looking for a low-key, reasonably priced meal, hit up our girl Jane.

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If you know the Upper East Side at all, then you probably know that trying to find an unpretentious, good restaurant in the area is almost as difficult as eliciting human facial expressions from the overly Botoxed women who reside there. Take a walk in the east 70’s and 80’s sometime and what you’ll find is a bunch of stuffy, overpriced Italian restaurants, a handful of unbearable bars, and at least five stores that sell neckwear for tiny dogs. Not particularly Immaculate Infatuation territory. Luckily, Cascabel Taqueria has come along and opened its doors in the name of good food and making sure the neighborhood knows it’s OK to chill the f**k out every once in a while. We’ve been spending some time there over the last few weeks, and we’re officially obsessed.

Cascabel is primarily a taqueria, a low key spot for Mexican food done with high quality ingredients. It’s about keeping things simple and having some fun with a restaurant, not something you often find in this city where the food scene can be so damn serious. We’ve been fans of Chef Todd Mitgang’s since the B.I. days (Before Infatuation), when he was putting the ceviche treatment on everything from tuna to beef sliders at Crave. He’s now applying his creative approach to the menu at Cascabel, and the result is some off the hook Mexican in an atmosphere that actually feels like a real neighborhood hang. The tacos are unbelievable, there’s Negra Modelo on tap, and everything is made from scratch in house. We recommend you bring a friend and/or a massive appetite – seven bucks gets you two huge tacos, but you’ll want to try a few different kinds, so make sure you’re prepared to get down to business.

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History. Corner Bistro is filled with it, especially for Immaculate Infatuation. To fully understand why we back the Bistro so hard, we need to drop a little Infatuation history lesson.

Before it was the name of this website, the name Immaculate Infatuation belonged to a made up British rock band that my college friends and I dressed up as for Halloween one year. Check the pic, we were a bad ass rock-n-roll shred machine. Think Guns N’ Roses meet a British version of Motley Crue. The town of Ithaca, NY will never fully recover from that night. After the band retired, Immaculate Infatuation lived on as my fantasy football team name. Luckily, Diddy rejected it as a suggestion for Making the Band 4’s group name, and when Stang and I needed to figure out what to call our new venture, the choice was obvious.

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