The Infatuation is a website, newsletter, mobile app, instagram network, and text message recommendation service started in 2009 by two guys who wanted to help their friends find not only great restaurants, but the right restaurant to suit their needs on a particular evening. And that’s still what The Infatuation is built on today. We strive to write restaurant guides and reviews that are both entertaining and useful, so that you can find a spot that’s “Perfect For” whatever you need, be it Date Night or Late Night Eats. The only difference is that these days there are few more of us on the team, and we have a whole lot more friends.
As for how we operate, we never accept free meals, special treatment, or compensation of any kind from any restaurants. Everything we eat is paid for via our very own pockets, and our team always dines anonymously under creative aliases like Angus Rymer or Christabel Champagne. Well, we clearly can't use those ones anymore, but you get the point.
At the end of the day, our mission is very simple: to bring you the most honest and trustworthy opinions on where to eat around the world. And if we can entertain you in the process, even better.
Chris Stang
Co-Founder & CEOSince its inception in 2009, Stang has been the architect of The Infatuation’s editorial voice, creative vision, and marketing strategy. Today his role still encompasses all of those things, but also includes pushing the company forward into new arenas, including the creation and launch of Text Rex, and EEEEEATSCON, The Infatuation’s food festival. He was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2015 for Underfinger, a review of a restaurant that doesn’t exist, and he still writes from time to time about real restaurants. Prior to taking on The Infatuation full time, Stang was the VP of Marketing at Atlantic Records, working closely with many of the label’s biggest acts including Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Skrillex, Gnarls Barkley, and Panic! At The Disco.
Hillary Reinsberg
Editorial DirectorA native New Yorker and talented writer, editor, and human, Hillary Reinsberg was the third person to join The Infatuation full time. She came to us via BuzzFeed, where she held an editorial position in their News & Japanese Snacks Department. Just kidding. She does really love Japanese snacks though.
Katherine Lewin
Managing EditorKatherine Lewin lives in Greenpoint, so she's definitely cooler than you are. She also grew up in Austin and went to college in Los Angeles, so she's also far more knowledgeable about BBQ and sushi than any of us can ever hope to be. Along with writing features and reviewing restaurants, Katherine's job at The Infatuation is to keep all of our other city editors in line, by any means necessary. Her previous roles include copywriting at J.Crew, and Drill Sergeant at Navy SEALS.
Bryan Kim
Staff WriterBryan showed up one day to snake out our drain, and he never left. He's an enigma wrapped in duck prosciutto, which is why he smells like duck prosciutto. Hobbies include skiing and fencing. His hobbies do not, however. He's from Seattle, and if he could only eat one food for the rest of his life he'd be upset and confused. Bryan's previous employers include Dr. Ian Bell DDS, The Gap, and Le Bernardin.
Nell Potter
Marketing ManagerNell Potter grew up in Tribeca, went to school in Nashville, and returned to New York City in the summer of 2015 to join The The Infatuation. Job offers she turned down before accepting said position include: Fuel Cell Engineer for the Hyperloop, Marine Biologist, CEO of some agency, and Vice President of the United States.
Buck Heroux
Chief Technology OfficerRaised in a pizza kitchen in a ski town and educated at University of Colorado, Buck Heroux is both the person you want working on technology for your company, and the person you want to be caught in an avalanche with (he always has pizza on him). Before coming to The Infatuation, Buck worked on streetview cars at Microsoft (acquired by Uber), secret things at Palantir, and Next Big Sound, which sold to Pandora. He would also like you to know that he is not a strong swimmer.
Holly Liss
Head of Social & Community MarketingHolly Liss is a social media magnate. She started her career building out social strategy for a few companies you may have heard of, including Helmut Lang, Theory, and this blog called Goop. And after having worked as a consultant for The Infatuation in LA, we convinced her to join the company full time and clean up our act. Holly was born and raised in Los Angeles, and still resides there with her dog named Chester, who disrupts most meetings with various dog noises. He is also in charge of our Myspace page.
Sam Faye
Director of OperationsOriginally hailing from the great city of Detroit, Sam Faye has spent an immeasurable amount of time eating in Chicago’s greatest (and often most mediocre) restaurants. Having spent more than two years as The Infatuation's Chicago Content Lead, we bailed him out from eating two dinners every night and moved him to New York to run operations. He still eats two dinners on occasion, but that's his own decision.
Jackie Widmann
Partnerships Account ManagerJackie Widmann started as an intern in 2015 and now we all report to her. A recent graduate of NYU, Jackie's full time role at The Infatuation is running point on partnerships of all shapes and sizes, and also advising the rest of us on what words to use so that young people like us. She originally hails from Westchester, but recently discovered Runyon Canyon and the sun and is considering a move to LA.
Jess Basser Sanders
LA Managing EditorOriginally from Melbourne, Australia, Jess has lived in Los Angeles for four years and is now fully assimilated. She drives everywhere, hates cold weather, and somehow even enjoys exercise. As a child, she only ate about five foods - six if you count things that come off "the barbie" as one. Obviously things have changed. She also recently educated the rest of the team on the Australian sport of "net ball" which is objectively not a sport.
Jesse Rose
Head of ProductJesse is a George Washington University alumn and native of Salem, Mass, where he developed an affinity for technology and witch hunts. Yoko Ono once changed his diaper, and he will someday inherit multiple James Beard awards (through no accomplishments of his own). He is also the owner and sometimes owned by a small dog named Rex.
Marisa Dunn
Cities CoordinatorEven though she's originally from Maryland, Carolina blue and white run through Marisa’s blood. And just like how fellow UNC alum Michael Jordan is really good at basketball, Marisa is really good at winning our office NCAA basketball pool every year. She’s also really good at setting up and operating our new markets as we expand around the US and beyond. Marisa's duties as Cities Coordinator ensure that she spends time working on nearly every city that The Infatuation exists in, and she therefore knows more about restaurants all around the country than pretty much anyone.
Dina Smither
Product EngineerDina joined The Infatuation at the beginning of 2017, after having spent time at Vimeo. She’s an incredibly talented engineer, and works tirelessly to make our website and apps suck less. Other facts about Dina: she’s fluent in Arabic, hates social media, likes to box, and owns a cat for the sole purpose of killing mice. She’s also apparently a big fan of Tom & Jerry cartoons because who after 1961 still buys a cat to kill mice? You should follow her on Instagram. Good luck finding her.
Rob Anderson
Social Media ManagerRob is our Social Media Manager, and when we first met him we knew he was perfect for the job. What we didn’t realize is that Rob was so perfect for the job he’d spend hours bleaching, tinting, and dying his beard the right shade of blue ombre so as to look on-brand for Instagram and Snapchat stories. Rob previously spent more than five years working in marketing at Uber and Grindr in Chicago, though it is unclear what color his beard was during those tenures.
Eileen Twum
London Content & Operations ManagerEileen is a born and bred Londoner, though she spent more than five years in New York City eating and being brainwashed by The Infatuation. Despite almost a decade working in management consulting, her Excel skills are still rated “beginner,” though her pie eating skills are decidedly “expert. ” And she insists that you know that she means meat pies, not the American pies. Those don’t have meat in them.
David Paw
London Content LeadDavid Paw grew up in Newcastle and spent six years of medical school just to learn one key lesson: don’t go to medical school. After a stint writing about art despite having no qualifications to do so, he’s now writing about restaurants of London for The Infatuation. We assume he is qualified to do that, though the only thing on his resume when we hired him was that he once ate 100 chicken wings in a single sitting. Then again, that’s all we really needed.
Brock Manheim
Partnerships ProducerBrock grew up outside of Washington DC, went to college in Connecticut, and has been living in NYC since graduation. Here at The Infatuation he is often referred to as "deck ninja" or "presentation guru" or "person with the coolest name," all of which are perfect reflections of his personality. Brock eats everything with Old Bay on it, including our competitors.
Lizzie Greene
Sales & Partnerships DirectorNot only is Lizzie Greene a seasoned Sales & Partnerships executive, she is also The Infatuation’s most talented home cook. And no, not just because she is the only person who cooks at home. Lizzie makes her own breads, pastas, and even charcuterie, her favorite culinary word is “encrusted,” and she likes to talk (and eat) with her hands. Which means you do not want to get into an argument with her at dinner.