Il Totano

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.

Massara

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.

L'Avenue

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.

Cena Dou

Just up the Hudson, in North Salem, lies the forest filled oasis Cena Dou, a French restaurant with both casual and fine dining concepts. The space is serene, and overlooks the tree-laden valley, with just as beautiful dishes to accompany.

SoJo Spa Club

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.

Bar Moga

Bar Moga, located on Houston St is a 1920’s style cocktail bar with a bevy of options to drink and eat. The Infatuation was reviewing the spot so I was asked to shoot some photos, a handful of which are below.

Superfrico

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.

Anto

Anto is a Korean steakhouse in the Upper West Side that serves premium meats and dishes of Korean influence. The interiors blend a beautiful steel and dark, but placid, shadows. In addition to the food and interiors, I also shot some portraits of owner and restauranteur, Tony Park in the beautiful space.

Mialino

Nomad’s “Italian soul food” restaurant Mialino was positively reviewed by The Infatuation and I was there to shoot the restaurant, which occupied the old space of Vini e Fritti which I also happened to shoot some years back when I had clearly had no idea how to shoot food, judging by the photos! It’s always humbling to look at one’s earlier work.

Eli's Table

Eater ran a piece on the re-opening of Eli’s Table, from Eli Zabar of the famed uptown markets, and I shot the space, the food and the man himself, which are below.

53

For The Infatuation, I photographed 53, a gorgeous midtown Chinese restaurant with a stunning interior and beautiful shared plate dishes.

Lucia Pizza

Eater NY did a multi-faceted piece on how TikTok effects the restaurant industry and one of the restaurants featured, was Brooklyn’s Lucia Pizza. The assignment included shooting, not only the food but the kitchen process, and most importantly the owner’s relationship with TikTok and his use of it in the kitchen.

Department of Culture

As part of Eater’s Best New Restaurants of 2022, I photographed Department of Culture, a Nigerian restaurant in Bed-Stuy. Although the staff was super helpful, the shoot was quite difficult as the space is quite small and the shoot happened during service. I was forced to rely on a single light source without any diffusion and my abilities to position the food and lighting where I could shoot both still life and the atmosphere (real life) in quick succession.

Chop House

No surprise to anyone that the pandemic has wreaked havoc on the global population as so much on local businesses. From hole-in-the-walls to restaurant palaces like Chop House, Covid delayed constructions, openings and even the existence of restaurants. At the time of this writing, Chop House has yet to open and completed construction in Dec of 2020. Hopefully it will see a new life as the interiors are strikingly beautiful.

La Duree x Bagatelle Atmostphere/Exteriors

The third element of this shoot, which I have showcased in two other entries was to capture the space and atmosphere. The team at Bagatelle was very specific about the style and tone of the images, and, as you can see, they all carry a very specific style that is a departure from how I usually shoot.

Slutty Vegan

Eater NY brought me on to photograph the opening of Atlanta-based chain Slutty Vegan in Brooklyn and it was an unexpectedly raucous block party. The line for the vegan cheeseburger chain ran around the block and, due to a lot of other press photographers, it was quite a fight to get shots of the burgers themselves. I snuck into the tiny, chair-less restaurant, and into the kitchen with a handheld light to get some shots but we were lucky enough to get a few burgers to shoot outside the restaurant.

La Duree x Bagatelle GIFs

I was asked by the Bagatelle restaurant group to photograph their garden pop-up in the rear garden space of La Duree in Soho. In addition to photos of the restaurant, the space, and the atmosphere, they asked me to produce some GIFs of the evening as well. I’ve produced cinegraphs before so this wasn’t very challenging but it was still fun to try to find moments of motion in the evening.

Peppi's Cellar

Peppi’s Cellar was a very cool, very fun speakeasy-style bar underneath the former Gran Tivoli of Nolita. The bar slung cocktails, gourmet dishes and occasionally a jazz band performance. Here is a sampling of some of their dishes I shot.

Peak

I have been very fortunate to work frequently with Peak, the highest restaurant in the city (and maybe the country), that rests on the 101st floor of the Hudson Yards complex. Not only is the restaurant high up, but the food also sits at a very high quality. Here are some samples.

Leonelli Taberba

Leonelli Taberna was a beautifully designed restaurant at the Evelyn Hotel from chef Jonathan Benno, who still runs the eponymous Benno in the same location. These photos were photographed for Eater, and later licensed by the restaurant themself for their usage.