Kanon Organic Vodka

FÖK: Immaculate Infatuation

Andrew Steinthal and Chris Stang are our friends behind laid-back restaurant review site, Immaculate Infatuation. As music industry folk by day, the pair take on the task of tasting their way through New York in their spare time and have built a dedicated following doing so.

FÖK posts by Immaculate Infatuation

March 31, 2011
Immaculate Infatuation Attempt Rubirosa's Famous Vodka Pizza
Immaculate Infatuation's Andrew Steinthal (left) and Chris Stang (right)
After sending Andrew Steinthal and Chris Stang of Immaculate Infatuation to an Armory Arts Week dinner, then to Ward III to craft their own personal cocktails and THEN asked them to come up with their own version of Friday Fives, we had one final challenge for our FOKs to complete: attempt to make our favorite Rubirosa vodka pizza…by hand. Apparently tossing dough isn't as easy as it looks. But you should probably get the scoop from the guys themselves. Here's what they had to say:

In coming up with some fun concepts for our Kanon guest blogs, one of the ideas that came up was to throw us behind the counter and learn how to make Rubirosa's well-known vodka pizza, which is often made with Kanon. Since we're always down to get our hands dirty, this was a no brainer. Also because Stang worked at Sbarro for like three weeks in high school and he wanted to re-live the glory days.

If this was an Infatuation competition, Stang and his high school pizza skills would have won hands down. Steinthal's pie was a mess and wound up tearing into pieces before it actually made it to the oven. Oh well. Despite our amateur attempt, the Rubirosa vodka pies came out tasting incredible. Without a doubt, this is the best vodka pizza we've ever had (and we made it ourselves). Even better than our former favorite, Pomodoro, the original Nolita vodka pie pioneers.
March 25, 2011
Reverse Friday Fives with Immaculate Infatuation
Chris Stang and Andrew Steinthal of Immaculate Infatuation
Since our latest FOKs, the guys behind blog Immaculate Infatuation, last introduced us to our new favorite spot Ward III, we’ve been eager to hear about all the other locales in the city they frequent. While Andrew and Chris are used to asking their famous friends just these questions on the section of their blog called "Friday Fives," we thought it would be fun to do a switcharoo and let them do the answering for once. Here's what they had to say:

Every Friday, we run a popular feature on Immaculate Infatuation called Friday Fives. We ask famous, Infatuation-approved personalities to pick their favorite places to eat in NYC and match them up with one of our many Perfect For categories like Action At The Bar, Laughing At Euros In Crazy Outfits, Drunk Hook Ups etc. Kanon thought it would be fun to turn the tables this week and have us do our own Friday Fives for the blog. Good idea.

Andrew Steinthal's "Perfect For" Picks

After Work Drinks
Marlow & Sons

God damn, I love Marlow & Sons. When I talk about my all-time favorite restaurants, Marlow & Sons is always one of the first places I mention. Discovering good vibin' oyster bars like this is exactly what the Infatuation is all about. It's the perfect place to go with a group of friends after work; get a little drunk, enjoy good company and eat some quality food.

Date Night
Momofuku Noodle Bar

What can I say, my wife's a cheap date. Actually, it's really not that cheap. We're real into sitting at the back bar and watching all the action in the kitchen. Nothing says romance like a big bowl of ramen.

Chronic Brunch
Cafe Habana

Possibly my favorite eatery in all of New York. I can pretty much close my eyes, point to anything on the brunch menu and know that whatever the finger lands on will wind up making me happy. It's cheap, down and dirty, and they've got the best crack-cocaine (aka Mexican corn) north of the border.

Dinner With The Parents
Five Points

My Mom's favorite restaurant. Five Points is as reliable as they come and has been one of our go-to favorites for years. The seasonal menu keeps things fresh, and although it's good for just about any occasion, it's the ultimate Dinner With The Parents destination.

Classic NYC Establishment
Raoul's

I'm going to quote my review, just because there's really no better way of putting it: "Raoul's is the shit. That's really the only way to put it. If you can't have a good time here, you probably can't have a good time anywhere." Raoul's is classic downtown Manhattan. Get the Steak au Poivre.

Andrew's Twitter People

@YabbaJ - My younger brother. He's the man. Everyone should go check out his restaurant, @SouthEdison in Montauk this summer.

@WBRpr - My real job is in the music business; I do PR and media for Warner Bros. Records. This is the twitter handle we use to spread the word about our artists.

@kevinkusatsu - @WBR A&R guy & @Diplo's manager, it doesn't get much more entertaining than this... For every 10 bad tweets, there's one that makes me laugh out loud. I'm not sure if it's only funny because I know him or not, you tell me.

@nickmangold - Starting center for my @NewYorkJets, high quality tweeter and food & wine aficionado.

@sarma - Founder of @OneLuckyDuck & @PureFoodAndWine. Does the internet as well as anyone in the food game and is ridiculously entertaining in the process. Someone needs to get her a twitter-based reality show.

Chris Stang's "Perfect For" Picks
Cheap Eats
Burger Joint

Yes, the lines are always long, and you will probably fight with some Italian tourists over a table, but this burger is worth the hassle. It's also the perfect cheap cure for a hangover, but Kanon doesn't give you hangovers. So that's irrelevant.

Chronic Brunch
Mile End

A Canadian take on a Jewish deli that serves a ridiculously good smoked brisket sandwich. It's always crowded, but it's also devoid of the things that we hate about brunch, i.e. house music and eggs benedict.

Warm Weather Dining
Il Posto Accanto

This 2nd Street Italian restaurant has only one table outside, but the doors swing open and make for a nice airy place to eat some amazing pasta. Walk by and laugh at everyone in line down the street at Supper because they don't know any better.

After Work Drinks
Blue Smoke

I love to eat at Blue Smoke, but I also love to drink there. They have a good selection of beers, a great cocktail list and two TVs for game watching. And let's be honest– you are going to end up ordering ribs and eating them while standing up. Better watch that tie, sport.

People Watching
Beauty & Essex

So you're looking to do some people watching? Maybe you're even interested in making out with a few of these people? Then you should probably go to Beauty & Essex. Girls get drunk on free champagne in the bathroom. Dudes come to meet girls who get drunk on free champagne in the bathroom. Everyone is there to be seen, and some of them are completely ridiculous. I don't even know how to describe what goes on in this place, other than to say that you need to see it.

Stang's Twitter People

@bittman - My personal food personality hero.

@charlierose - I watch a lot of Charlie Rose. I have the TV viewing habits of a 60-year-old man.

@anyamarina - Singer, songwriter, and very funny person.

@camillealston - Lover of all things awesome, particularly Bruce Springsteen.

@jarodballentine - Sometimes Second Dinner guest and connoisseur of everything good on the internet. If you have a blog, he's seen it. And he probably thinks you could do better.
March 16, 2011
Mixing Cocktails at Ward III with Immaculate Infatuation
Andrew Steinthal and Chris Stang
Apparently the guys from Immaculate Infatuation, one of our favorite food blogs, aren't scared off by us (or David Ellis for that matter) quite yet, so we invited them back for round 2. If you missed their review of our Armory Arts Week dinner at Bottino last week, then you should probably go back and read that first. But here, we sent them on a journey to discover their inner cocktails, with the help of a certified professional, of course. Here's what happened and what they had to say:

Kanon recently asked us what our favorite vodka drinks were and, truth be told, we had no answer. We've pretty much avoided the stuff since the days in our early twenties when we used to suck back ten vodka sodas in one night because we thought we were "hydrating." We decided we were up to the task of creating our own signature Kanon Vodka cocktails and we called up our buddy and master mixologist Michael Neff to help us out. Michael owns one of our absolute favorite drinking establishments in the city, Ward III, in Tribeca, and he made custom drinks for both of us. Check the pics above.

Steinthal's drink: Ol' Fashioned Schmoo

Steinthal's favorite cocktail is a good Old Fashioned, so we had Michael concoct a play on that, with vodka. Curious, but it actually tasted pretty damn fantastic.

1 Sugar Cube
Regan's Orange Bitters
Orange twist
Lemon Twist
1/4 Oz. Averna Amaro
2 Oz. Kanon Vodka

To Make: Soak sugar with bitters and pulverize in a rocks glass. Press both
twists into glass with a muddler. Add spirits. Shake and serve.

Stang's drink: Sustain-a-Stang

Stang is big into drinks with ginger in them (Dark & Stormys), so Michael whipped up something with an egg white and lit stuff on fire. Perfect.

Muddled Ginger
1/2 Oz. Fresh lemon juice
1/4 Oz. Simple syrup
1/4 Oz. Gran Classico Bitter Amaro
2 Oz. Kanon Vodka
1 Egg white

To Make: Combine and shake vigorously. Served in a rocks glass over two ice cubes. Flames. Orange twist garnish.
March 8, 2011
Immaculate Infatuation's Favorite New Party Guest
Artist David Ellis (middle)
Chris Stang and Andrew Steinthal have turned their love of eating into a full-on side career through their blog Immaculate Infatuation (their day jobs are in music). What we love most about them is that they don't claim to be something they're not: drop-dead-serious, nose-in-the-air food reviewers. They just like to eat good food and share their experiences doing so with their friends and followers. We invited them to join in on this weekend’s Armory Arts Week dinner at Bottino. Here’s what they had to say:

We were recently invited out to one of Kanon Vodka's In Good Taste Armory Arts Week dinners, in which artists participating in the show are paired up with a host and a restaurant, food is served, and good times are had by all. We're not much in the way of art connoisseurs, but we do know how to eat, and are always looking to expand the Immaculate Infatuation horizons. So we attended Saturday's dinner at Bottino, which featured artist David Ellis. What did we know about David before this dinner? Absolutely nothing. What do we know now? That we want to bring him along to every serious dinner event we attend for the rest of our lives. Allow us to explain...

The night started off pretty tame. We strolled into Bottino and happened upon some other friends in the room, all of whom know far more about the art world than we do. This would prove useful throughout the evening. We shared some Kanon and sodas and pleasant conversation, mostly centered around the Armory Show, other In Good Taste dinners that Kanon put on throughout the week, and the fact that David had just won this year's PULSE prize. That's apparently a pretty big deal.
Dinner then began: a three course meal entirely focused on the wine and food from the Italian region of Puglia. For any of you geography buffs out there, that's the part that makes up the heel of "the boot" that is Italy. Just before the first course of fried squid came out, the Anonymous Gallery folks thanked everyone for attending and pointed out that Mr. Ellis was running late. Fair enough, I'm starving. We dove into our food, and continued our pleasant but otherwise uneventful evening.

And then David Ellis made his grand entrance. Not only does the guy look like Johnny Depp with street style, but he rolled in the room with a full on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas disposition. Ellis made his presence known by banging on the wall, turning up the music, and what we're pretty sure was arm wrestling with various friends. This was certainly effective in livening up the crowd. But things really culminated when he started channeling his inner Charlie Sheen and jumped up on a table (sunglasses still on), randomly pointing at people in the room. That's the moment when it occurred to us– we need to take this dude along on every stuffy dinner engagement we have from now on. We can start a whole other blog about how long it takes us to get kicked out of French restaurants.

All in all, we enjoyed ourselves at Kanon's In Good Taste dinner at Bottino quite a bit– thanks in large part to some vodka and David Ellis' hijinks.

All photos by Gillian Bowling.