food
As a seasoned traveler, I find joy when realizing I can access a lounge at an airport from which I am departing, and although I seldom fly out of LGA, I was able to experience what may be the best lounge I have experienced in a domestic terminal. Flashback to six months before when I photographed in this space and was only marveled by the appearance and selection the kitchen offered. Suffice to say it all tastes as good as it looks.
The quality of food in a restaurant is so important but an interior and vibe can compliment or exceed a diner’s experience. Such is the case with NAKS, which has a gorgeous dining room where the communal Kamayan feasts are served to diners without utensils. It seems like this sort of palm-laden interior was co-opted by Tiki culture and bars for years, so it’s nice to see if in embraced by a restaurant whose Filipino culture was used to inspire the Tiki world in the first place.
Hoexter’s is a very stylish Upper East Side Brasserie, with the same management group as the previously shared Il Totano. When photographing food, it’s great to have a hand model on standby but rarely is it the case that you’ll have one with beautifully tattooed hands that so perfectly interplay with the food at hand.
As a Greenpoint resident, and Los Angeles native/taco snob, I’ve always been a huge fan of Taqueria Ramirez and was super excited when The Infatuation asked me to cover the new restaurant from the crew, Carnitas Ramirez. Very similar in size/build/style to the Greenpoint counterpoint, the small shop features only pork based tacos from all parts of the pig - all very delicious.
From chef Harold Dieterle comes Il Totano, a west village Italian restaurant with a gorgeous interior and beautifully seafood-focused dishes. This may have been discussed in another post but, usually, when I’m faced with a restaurant that, often always, I am experiencing for the first time, I tend to choose lighting that compliments the space and the vibe. When the entrees are climbing into the $40 range, I often tend to use a softer light which, to me, feels a little more elegant. However, given the bright colors of the food and the interiors, I convinced the team to allow me to use a harder light that would create some shadows but also allow me to use the glassware/drinks to create a glossier and fresh look that I think makes all the dishes more appealing and somewhat conjures the feeling of eating seafood on a sun-drenched balcony overlooking the Italian Riviera.
Rowdy Hall, in Amagansett, was included In The Infatuation’s guide to The Hamptons and, with a group of other restaurants, I went east-ward to shoot it. Unlike most of my shoots, I, unannounced and on my own, decided to strictly use natural light to take some surreptitious photos and, while I prefer the punch of a strobe, was pleasantly surprised by how these turned out.
From chef Stefano Secchi of Rezdora comes a new Southern Italian kitchen, Massara. Featuring a wood fired grill and pizza oven, the restaurant serves grilled entrees, and a slew of pastas and pizzas.
The Caboose is an event venue in Hudson, NY that has fashioned an old farm, across the street from the Amtrak station, into a beautiful space. Of course, the food available for guests is even more beautiful. When I photographed this space, it wasn’t communicated to me that I would be shooting food but I was able to attach my strobe to my tripod and rig some aluminum foil as a beauty dish and I was pleasantly surprised with the results.
Take the elevator up at Saks Fifth Avenue and you’ll find yourself at French bistro L’Avenue, which boasts two floors full of French fare and event spaces. Here are some images of their menu items and the cozy private areas.
I love going to a spa. At home, when I travel, anytime. Which is why I was very excited to photograph SoJo Spa Club for The Infatuation's Winter 25 list. Although I usually don’t eat there when I visit they have a pretty full menu that pairs nicely with a cold plunge.
Back in October, Nike hosted the World Basketball Festival at Lincoln Center, home to Tatiana, a restaurant named the best in NYC in 2023 by the New York Times. Kwame Onwuachi, the restaurant’s chef and proprietor teamed with catering masters CxRA to provide a dinner for the opening of the festival with the lovely backdrop of the Lincoln Center plaza.
Speigelworld has produced some modern adult-driven cabaret/circus-style performances in Las Vegas and, somewhat, recently opened a location in Atlantic City, with their adjacent restaurant, Superfrico. Although there is also a Superfrico in Las Vegas, the menus varies slightly and the team was in need of photography of the dishes and the spaces below.
As Chase was a sponsor of last year’s US Open, so too did Chase-owned The Infatuation have a hand in the event, which meant a ton of exciting and new food. As part of the Infatuation’s list of Where to Eat at The US Open, I photographed dishes from the various vendors at the “Flavors of the Open” event, some of which were household NYC names, while others were compact versions of high-profile restaurants.
As Chase Bank owns The Infatuation, it would make sense why the two host so many events together, including this Pride NYC 2023 event at The Bowery Hotel, which included a 10 ft mezze table and some colorful treats and guests.
Gilligan’s is an outdoor oasis of a bar/restaurant at the Soho Grand Hotel. The client wanted their images to have a softness to them so, against my normal routine (and preferences), we shot only using natural light which did create a certain aesthetic that I’m happy to produce, but not the biggest fan of. It worked for the client, so it worked for me.
As part of a collaboration between Chase Sapphire and The Infatuation, the later has created the Hit List Dinner series hosting dinners at restaurants around the country, including the somewhat new Principe nyc, which is located in the former National Geographic museum in Soho. The space was completely revamped to host two floors of diing.
Food deliver service ChowNow has partnered with NYC staple Smorgasburg to provide secret menu items from each of their vendors. As someone who lives not far from Smorgasburg, it was a nice feather in my cap to be asked to shoot something I’ve known and attended for years (with a quick commute to boot!).
Sundaes Best is a Korea Town ice cream fixture from the owners of Baek Jeong KBBQ . It features diverse flavors, some of which are Korean, and a cheery, pink interior. This shoot was a little difficult since the ice cream containers were covered with a glass exterior, until I realized we could open the front windows and sneak the camera into the opening. Glass and flash are not a great photographic combination!
I’ve rarely worked with stylists because most often I work with restaurants where the chefs or the marketing contacts are the ones styling the foods. I was lucky enough to work with the super talented Judy Kim who elevated the red-sauce food of Tony’s DiNapoli and truly elevated my photography. I almost feel like I didn’t even take these photos because Judy was the true artist who crafted such beautiful scenes below.
MareLuna is a multi-location restaurant specializing in Italian/Mediterranean cuisine. At the time of writing this, social media is the fulcrum of much of the content created for restaurants and, as video is on the rise, clients like MareLuna try to create engaging content with these little stop motion animations that I created from a series of photos. You can view more in the motion page of this site.
