Immaculate Infatuation

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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Raoul’s is the shit. That’s really the only proper way to put it. If you can’t have a good time here, you probably can’t have a good time anywhere. This boisterous French bistro has been a Soho institution since the 70’s. It’s that awesome NYC restaurant depicted in your favorite Woody Allen flick, one that probably doesn’t exist in real life. Except it does and in reality it’s just as cool. Raoul’s is useful for a variety of different reasons. Having dinner with friends from out of town? They will feel the upbeat, lively vibe at Raoul’s. Double date with your favorite party couple who like to un-tuck, throw a couple back and grub hard? This is the place. Just be prepared to drop dollars. On the prowl after work with your favorite wing-man/wing-woman? There’s all kinds of good action here and a nice variety to choose from; a classy crowd of spunky ladies and well put together dudes. If you want to be all up in the mix, make sure to request a table in the front of the restaurant. For a more subdued good time, the back atrium through the kitchen is where it’s at. Time to talk food.

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In case you haven’t noticed, Cobble Hill is fully stacked with great restaurants these days, many of which are new Infatuation favorites. Right at the top of that list is Char No. 4, and it’s easy to see why. It’s essentially my New York City dream house – a warm, inviting space with a wall of bourbon and a smoker. When we sell this website to Excite or Lycos or whoever is spending money these days, that’s totally what I’m buying. I guess for now I’ll have to stick with my current method of tossing a few woodchips into the toaster and ripping the batteries out of the smoke alarm.

While smoking meat is definitely a huge part of what Char No. 4 does (you’ll notice that damn near everything on the dinner menu is a “house smoked” something), it’s not all just ribs and brisket sandwiches. This is Southern influenced food in New York City, and you will find some really creative things on the menu, like the insanely good lamb pastrami, a ridiculous crispy sweet potato gnocchi, and a more than respectable brunch. We recently decided to put it all to the test by bringing in some palates even more discerning than ours. One of our favorite new bands hails from Dallas, and we decided to introduce them to Southern food, Brooklyn style. Take a look and see what happens when Char No. 4 meets Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights.

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Blue Smoke is an Infatuation favorite, and has been since we lived in the neighborhood a few years back and visited nearly every week. Not only does the food at Blue Smoke still stand up to the newer BBQ joints in town (Hill Country, Wildwood), but it also has a great bar, which touts their very own house beer and an amazing selection of whisky, scotch, and bourbon. Whatever your company, come with hungry people and don’t plan a big night after … this isn’t light eating. Not only is the BBQ great, but don’t miss the appetizers or the ridiculously good deserts.

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Oh Brooklyn. You’re so close, yet so far away. It definitely takes extra motivation to get Immaculate Infatuation to venture to BK, especially Dumbo. How anyone can live there and not go completely insane from the constant noise accompanying living under two bridges is beyond me. It makes you empathize with the troll from “The Three Billy Goats Gruff”. However, when we heard that a couple who met on the job at Freemans (one of our all-time favorite restaurants) opened Vinegar Hill House (V.H.H.) in Dumbo, we took it as a sign that it was time for Infatuation to expand out of borough. So without further ado … drum-roll please … we present our first Brooklyn review.

The first thing that will hit you when you walk into V.H.H. is the heady smell of smoldering firewood coming from the wood-burning oven in the open kitchen. V.H.H. has a more rural feel to it than Freemans, although they are definitely cut from a similar cloth. Feel like you’re eating in an eccentric friends dining room filled with vintage chotchkies and old family treasures? That’s because you are. The owners actually live in the house directly behind the restaurant and use the tree laden patio in-between for quaint garden dining. The old time vibe is cool, but they might want to look into some new outdoor furniture. We witnessed a fully plated table across from us crumble to the ground, spilling fine food and wine everywhere. It was kind of nuts.

Despite their lack of functioning furniture, the Hill House is well worth the trek to BK. It’s hip without giving off that “too cool” vibe some restaurants can have. The food is outstanding and, for a change, affordable.

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