JUSTIN SCURTI

Justin Scurti is a bar owner (Saint Vitus, Brooklyn), tour manager (Spritiualized, Texas Is The Reason), guitarist (I Hate Our Freedom), and rock photographer.

What was the food highlight of your year?

Touring all year made this tough but I’d have to say Mission Chinese Food in San Fransisco.  Scott Winegard and I ordered every vegan dish on the menu and it was only lunch time. It’s also a tie with having the tasting menu paired with wine at Chateaubriand in Paris when Scott, John Hiltz, and I took a road trip from Groezrock Festival in Belgium to Paris just to eat and drink.  

They had a dessert made with an egg yolk poached in simple syrup on top of malt cookies. But then there’s also every time i get home from tour and my girlfriend Elena makes me the best brunches and dinners.  She’s a chef so i pretty much eat amazing every day of the year!

What was the music highlight of your year?

I think seeing one of Rocket From The Crypt’s first shows back from the dead in Europe. They played a secret show at a community center in a little town about an hour away from Brussels. Then getting to see them the very next day at Groezrock along with Turbonegro and Texas Is The Reason.  There was also the very last Texas Is The Reason show at the Electric Ballroom in London.  After a year of touring it was pretty spectacular to see them do it all one last time in front of 1200 people who were just as grateful as i was to see it for the last time ever.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

Food and Music are always together for me.  The last year of touring with Texas Is The Reason we were very fortunate to be in some great places with some of the best restaurants. When we were in Chicago back in January, Graham Elliot invited us all out to Graham Elliot Bistro for a dinner at the chef’s table.  Instead of us ordering off the menu, he said he was gonna just send out food till we said we were full.  We never said we were full.  I think we had close to 20 courses!!!  Every cocktail on the list and lots of wine all finished with a full bottle of Fernet brought right to the table.  Graham is a huge 90’s indie/emo music fan and loves giving back to the bands he’s listened to over the years.  

@squish108

KARI JOHNSON

Kari Johnson is the Marketing Director at Whisk.

What was the food highlight of your year?

Dinner at the chef’s plancha bar at Toro in NYC. It was an amazing meal in an amazing new restaurant. The smoked beef heart, veal sweetbreads, blowfish tails, blood sausage and tripe stew were mind blowing and the bocadillo de erizos is still in my dreams…

What was the music highlight of your year?

Saves the Day playing my favorite (and their best) album, Through Being Cool, at Saint Vitus Bar in Greenpoint as a secret show. I watched from the side of the stage, and sang along to every lyric - it made me feel like a teenager again. 

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

We had a big, delicious dinner at Mission Chinese Food after my friend Geoff’s concert. The lovely Danny Bowien brought us everything on the menu, and between sharing delicious bites and drinking ourselves silly, we listened to Lifetime at full blast. 

@kariface 

TOMMY HABETZ

Tommy Habetz is co-owner of Portland’s Bunk (multiple restaurants, one bar/music venue, and a truck) and Trigger. His take on the cuban sandwich is the subject of many a television show, magazine article, and road trip.

What was the food highlight of your year?

Wow! Is it the end of the year? What a weird, anxiety ridden, fun, delicious year it’s been. We started a mobile Bunk Truck, opened up Trigger (our new Tex Mex place) and I became a father (again) to the most beautiful baby girl, Vivienne.

The food highlight for me was probably going to NYC for the Oregon Bounty Food Assault, a precursor to our Portland Feast inaugural event. I got to see first hand that people really do dig what we’re doing in Oregon. I also got to eat at Roberta’s in Bushwick, which was pretty mind blowing. I also got to meet Danny Bowien and watch a bunch of famous chefs and food media folks devour a sheet tray full of Doritos and Fritos chili pie, made at the hands of Danny.

What was the music highlight of your year?

My favorite musical moment has got to be The guys from Built to Spill surprising us with a free show at Bunk Bar. It was crazy, packed to the gills and filled with friends that I have never seen smile so much. What a great band.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

Sitting at a table at Bunk Bar, talking with John Reis from Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu, Rocket From The Crypt, etc. about Tex-Mex food. He couldn’t understand why we were opening up a Tex-Mex place, because he thought Tex-Mex sucked. But, of course, he’s from San Diego. I knew what he was talking about, though. He and his band mates had had many many bad experiences eating at bad Tex-Mex places. And, oddly, that’s what’s been inspiring me lately. It’s been fun to tackle the opposite of haute cuisines, get in there and find the sweet spots. To me, it’s endlessly more fascinating than seeing a grape deconstructed, then reconstructed as a grape.

All in all, a beautiful and inspiring year. I look forward to eating Jimmy Albee’s Queso Deluxe in the post-Apocolyptic, hopey changey, zombie wasteland of 2013!

WILLIAM WERNER

William Werner owns Craftsman & Wolves, a patisserie in San Francisco’s Mission District. His savory pastry, The Rebel Within, begs the egg version of the question “How do they get the jelly in the donut?” Photo: Aubrie Pick

What was the food highlight of your year?

Eating oysters with my girl in Point Reyes.

What was the music highlight of your year?

The Melvins and Unsane at Great American Music Call in April.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

Getting Mission Chinese Food delivered and watching the Joy Division documentary.