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.
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.
We love a good girl fight, especially a lovers’ quarrel over our favorite aphrodisiacs – lobster rolls and oysters. We know this is old news, but apparently Pearl (of Pearl Oyster Bar) and Mary (of Mary’s & Brooklyn Fish Camp) used to get it on like Ellen and Portia. They ran Pearl’s together until something happened. We won’t speculate, as it’s none of our business, but it’s definitely possible someone looked at someone else the wrong way one night at Meow Mix. Whatever it was, it was bad enough to drive Mary out. She packed up her lobster pots and moved into her own place down the block. Bad news for Pearl – excellent news for the rest of us.
On this island, taking a break from the beach and rolling to the local clam bar in flip flops and a bathing suit doesn’t happen. While our concrete jungle does indeed have a few solid fish shacks and oyster bars (The Mermaid Inn, Luke’s Lobster), most come with a certain Manhattan spin that seems forced and rather lame (Ditch Plains, Lure Fishbar). Mary’s is the rare authentic feeling fish house around these parts. It could easily be transported to Montauk or Cape Cod and fit right in. The pale pink and blue decor, simplistic dishes and laid back attitude are what we expect from a place that only serves seafood. Sure, the prices are a bit high, but this is Manhattan- everything is expensive. Mary’s is always jammed, so go in expecting to put your name on the list and then grab a drink around the corner. They’re accurate on their wait time and will call you as soon as your table is ready. As far as we’re concerned, Mary’s is one of the best seafood jams in Manhattan. Get some.
Bert and Ernie? Fergie and the weird looking dude from the Black Eyed Peas? That won’t work, Steinthal can’t run in heels. Sorry, just thinking of a few disguises for all the bank robberies we’re going to have to pull off to keep eating at 15 East. Maybe we’ll do the Hamburglar and Grimace. They’ll call us the “Fast Food Bandits” and we’ll take down a few Burger Kings just to make sure the name sticks.
A while back in our Kanoyama review, we talked about the three tiers of sushi restaurants in New York. This is most definitely a Tier One sushi establishment. It’s upscale, it’s expensive, and it’s good enough for me to consider earning a criminal record for. Why is it worth all that? Well to start, the fish is incredibly good. Everything is fresh and authentic, and will make you realize why people freak out over things like fresh uni and toro. It’s also a pleasant environment for a meal – a good option for a date or a business meeting…which can’t be said for many of the other elite sushi restaurants in town. Here’s the thing though – if you are dining for either of those reasons, make sure you go with people that want to get down on a serious sushi experience. If you’re bringing someone that’s going to ask for the spicy mayo, skip 15 East and go somewhere cheaper. That ain’t this how this place gets down, and you shouldn’t drop a car payment on somebody who would be just as happy with a mango tempura jalapeno red dragon roll.
Cookshop, like Five Points, is a review that was long overdue on this site. There aren’t many restaurants in New York City that you can count on for an excellent meal regardless of circumstance, and this one is certainly among the few. Chances are that you, a dedicated Immaculate Infatuation reader, already know all of this, and have either recently dined at Cookshop or confidently sent a friend on a recommendation. Then again, maybe you haven’t.
In that case, we can simply tell you that breakfast, brunch, and dinner are all amazing, and that Cookshop needs to be on your list. Or, we can put it into our own terms to help you really understand how we feel. How good is Cookshop? So good that you won’t give a damn if you are the only person in the house not on a really intense date. So good that you will swear to never waste another dollar on trendy let downs like Permanent Brunch or The Standard Grill. Cookshop is so good that you’ll want to take your leftovers home and bury them in a time capsule.
Yep, we back this place pretty hard. Find yourself some time in the near future to visit. And make sure to bring something along worth burying.
Feature: Infatuation TV: P.O.S.
