In 2009, Chris Stang and Andrew Steinthal started a dining blog after meeting on set of Total Request Live. The two were both music executives—Stang was the VP of Marketing at Atlantic Records and Steinthal was VP of Public Relations at Warner Bros. Records—and they would visit handfuls of New York restaurants every week and write about their experiences, all while maintaining their full-time gigs.
In 2014, the duo went all-in, going out on their own with no safety net or salary to work full-time on The Infatuation. In the years since, the site has become an essential no-frills, no BS resource for diners looking on the lowdown for the perfect place to eat nationwide.
“The whole thing was up and down and up and down the whole time,” Stang tells GQ. “But I got to do exactly what I loved—and that really paid off when we sold the company in 2021 to JP Morgan Chase to accelerate their investment in dining.”
So what does a guy who's made a career on reviewing restaurants eat in a day? And what has Stang learned about keeping his body functional along the way? We recently caught up with the new dad to ask him about his top New York restaurants, what he’s scratched from his diet, and what we can expect from the restaurant industry moving forward.
For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and other high performers about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.
GQ: Are you a morning person?Chris Stang: Well, I'll caveat this by saying it's all changed recently—I had my first child in May. I wake up about 5:30 and I usually have somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes before the kid is awake. I'm usually in a scramble to just get some coffee on and have a little time with my son in the morning before my day starts.
What time does your work day start?I moved from New York City where I'd been for 20 years to Los Angeles in early 2021, but I work New York hours here. When I was on the East Coast, I would use the mornings for some workout time and whatever other things I needed to do before the day got started. Here, I have 6:30 or 7 a.m. meetings pretty frequently. So, I work on average from 7:00 until 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and that’s when I take the time to get in some exercise of some sort.
What kind of exercise are you doing these days?I’m doing a lot of Pilates. I live close to the water, so surfing has become a hobby—even if it’s one that I'm terrible at. It’s definitely good for my mental health and rejuvenation, just floating around in the water.
And you’re also a big runner, right? I know that your work at Infatuation is actually what got you started with that, yes?Exactly. I'd always tried to stay active through college, but when I started my career in the music business I got lazy with movement. I was up all hours of the night for my “day” job, and then I was working on this food blog on the side, so it was a lot of eating and late nights. I found that I had no choice but to get up early and do something active, otherwise I knew I was never going to feel right or be healthy.
I remember the first time I watched the New York City Marathon go up Second Avenue, and I was like “I have to do this.” I love nothing more than an internal challenge. I'm also the kind of person that once I start doing something, I'll go really deep on it. So I ran the marathon for the first time in 2012. Andrew was also into running, so we started doing a run club with the Infatuation to both get miles in and build community with this growing group of people in the city.
We tried to make it fun. We’d go to Jones Wood Foundry after doing six miles or hit up Gran Electrica after some laps of Prospect Park. I remember we bussed people to a pizza place in Coney Island a few times.
Sounds like the culture at the Infatuation from early on was a good time.For sure. And I felt so lucky. I was writing restaurant reviews and having a really good time. People used to tell me before we started the company that building a business on your own is like a rollercoaster. Every single day is different. And some days are good and others are bad. But in my experience, it was like hour by hour. One minute, something good was happening and you feel amazing and you're on top of the world. The next, there’s an employee issue or some other thing falls through and you're just despondent and trying to put it all together.
Okay, so back to your day-to-day, then. What do breakfast and lunch look like?I love nothing more than making a bagel in the morning. However, I have an unhealthy relationship with pastries. I could eat a muffin or pastry every meal of the day, but as I've gotten older, I've realized those things make me feel like crap. So now, I have Redwood Hill Farm goat milk yogurt with some berries in and granola every single day.
Lunch varies whether I’m working from home or in the office. At the office, it could be a burrito of some sort, a salad. At home, I'll make a Greek salad with chicken or salmon on it. Some of that stuff I'll have prepped, the night before and just kind of throw it together.
And for dinner?Dinner is like my meditation. I spent a lot of my life going to restaurants. I still go out to dinner once or twice a week at a restaurant, but I cook every other meal. It's the process that I love even more than what it is that I'm making. I'll roast a chicken or I'll make steaks or burgers. Sometimes, a risotto or I’ll pick up fish from this great fish market down the street from me. I've been in the business for such a long time that I’ve really learned the right versus wrong way to eat. These days, I’m mostly passionate about knowing where my food comes from.
You knew this was coming: Tell me your three favorite New York restaurants.Blue Ribbon Brasserie, the original Blue Ribbon—not Blue Ribbon Sushi. This was the spot that made me fall in love with restaurants. The chefs all go after their shifts to Blue Ribbon and have a proper sit-down dinner. They used to be open until 4, we would go at 2 a.m., and see Mario Batali and Bobby Flay and all these people hanging out. The food’s fantastic and the vibe is unbeatable. That place could not exist anywhere else. Get a dozen oysters and the fried chicken.
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And then, I have a very, very, very strong affinity for Rubirosa and their vodka sauce pizza. When we were living in New York, that was a Friday ritual, either going to the restaurant or having DoorDash to the house for way too much money than someone should spend on pizza being delivered to your house, but I didn't care.
And then, on 60th Street and First Avenue, there's a restaurant called Sushi Seki. I used to go there late at night, too.
If you had to pick one spot in LA right now, that's your spot. What is it?I've been going to a new restaurant called Le Great Outdoor, which is in Santa Monica, and it's fantastic. They cook everything over a grill. Think branzino and a bunch of great vegetables. You know in L.A. you go to these restaurants that are big and new, and they’re good but really they often feel like a version of a restaurant that you find in New York. Great Outdoor is one of these things that really feels like it could only exist in LA.
What do you think the biggest trend will be in food moving forward?Restaurants are trying to catch people's attention. I think they’re trying to do things that then become part of a story that can go viral. The dining world is adjusting to TikTok being the way people discover things—it's really wild, and it will be interesting to see how this grows and shifts moving forward.
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