Immaculate Infatuation

In the music biz, we believe that good music will eventually prevail. If you keep putting out great records, your time in the spotlight will come. Take long time Infatuation favorite Phoenix for example. They spent the better part of the last decade flying under the mainstream radar, releasing perfect indie-pop albums that anyone who actually paid attention to, fell in love with. They finally got what’s been coming to them this past year in the form of a breakout single, “1901” and the Grammy for “Best Alternative Album.” The same philosophy can be applied in the kitchen. When you’re consistently cookin’ up the chronic, you can’t hide for long. Hell, even if you’re illegally preparing the perfect lobster roll and selling them through your mail slot in Brooklyn, someone in this town will get wind of it.

We’ve long considered Yerba Buena home to one of the more criminally underrated menus around. It was one of the first rave reviews we ever posted on this site, and for good reason. The food is tremendous. Famous for their cocktails, YB doesn’t receive the kind of culinary critical love it damn well deserves. Possibly because the original East Village location is slightly out of place – a more upscale, expensive restaurant in an area that caters to the exact opposite. While Yerba Buena EV will remain their less well known flagship, it’s their new West Village spot, Yerba Buena Perry, that’s set to catch fire like Bluth’s Frozen Banana Stand and blow their cover. … read more

Much has been said, on this site and every other media outlet in New York City, about David Chang and his “Momofuku Empire”. While its true that there is a bit of an Infatuation man crush going on here, I will also be the first to admit that the Momofuku Noodle Bar does not always live up to the hype (how could it?). It can be pricey depending on how you order, and it’s not the easiest place to get a table. There are definitely other celebrated ramen establishments in the neighborhood that serve a cheaper bowl of noodles, but to visit Momofuku Noodle bar in hopes of spending 10 bucks on some soup is to miss the point altogether. What makes the place special are all those other things on the menu that keep me coming back for a bar seat at the open kitchen like I’m actually going to learn something (I won’t). Come for the fried chicken special, come because there is pork in damn near everything, come because they have a soft serve machine, and come because they have a solid beer list. Make an evening out of trying new things and you won’t leave disappointed. Steinthal and I may argue over whether Momofuku or Ippudo claim title to the best steamed pork bun in the city, but we both certainly agree that Momofuku Noodle Bar is an indisputable Infatuation favorite.

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You obviously know by now that we’re not vegetarians. At times, this site feels like little more than a lengthy discussion about skirt steak and pork parts. Why then, are we giving so much love to a restaurant serving only raw food? Because while we may not be vegetarians, we are devoted hedonists, and Pure Food and Wine is all about pleasure. That and every musician we know talks about the place like it’s the Carnegie Hall of restaurants.

A few years back, Sarma Melngailis decided to show New York that a raw food restaurant doesn’t have to mean serving carrot sticks and lentils to a soundtrack of Ben Harper songs. Pure Food And Wine opened, and in the process she’s become an icon among those passionate about the raw lifestyle. Her restaurant, cookbooks, and One Lucky Duck takeaway business have all been extremely successful, and it’s because, raw or not, the food is incredible.

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Casa Mono is a small Spanish restaurant on Irving Place – part of the Mario Batali empire, though probably not as well known as Babbo or Del Posto. This review is a simple one … come here with people that love food and will try anything. This is one of those rare places that, if you sample a lot of things, enjoy a bottle of wine or three, and listen to what your waiter suggests … you will have a complete and satisfying dining experience. A note to keep in mind – this is not a place for a quick drink and an appetizer. For that, there is Bar Jamon, adjacent to Casa Mono, and it’s always packed. Now you know.

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Since the day we launched this website as a side project from our full time jobs in the music business, it has been, and continues to be a labor of love. “Labor” comes in the form of lots of late night meals and early morning writing. The love part is our passion for eating good food and running our mouths about it (we also kind of love taking it to the house on bad restaurants when necessary). Next week, we’ll hit one hundred reviews on immaculateinfatuation.com. Along the way to one hundred, we’ve only come across a few places that were new to us and blew our minds. Barbuto is one of them.

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