[kylew]

I had a sublime dining experience last night, dinner @Craft in NYC. We have a lot of excellent restaurants here in Gotham City but Craft is special. The menu, though simplified from it's earlier form, allows you to choose based on how things are prepared. There are meat, poultry and fish dishes that are grilled, sauted or braised. the same types of choices exist for both first courses ande desserts. The side dishes are a la carte and you can chhose as many as you want.

Our first courses were beautiful sardines and oysters (you get your choice of 3 kinds, we went with malpeques and welfleets). These were followed by braised beef short ribs and sauteed black bass. The sides we chose were gnochi and hen of the woods mushrooms. Everything was prepared as simply as possible and presented on plain white dishes. For dessert we went a little overboard; pumpkin ice cream (with pumkin seeds for crunch), pound cake with a sauterne zabaglione and biscotti (real ones, not the 2x4 sized ones). Man was this good eats! If anyone has been thinking about going, or is planning to come to NYC and looking for ideas, I can't recommend Craft highly enough:lips:

 

[cape chef]

Hi KyleW,
Jil and I were there only a couple weeks ago!!!
Really super food
Check out my thread in this forum "my weekend in the big apple"
I'm happy you enjoyed it
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[kylew]

I remember your post. I get to eat in all kinds of really good restaurants. This one stands apart. The short ribs were life altering. They melted in my mouth And that wine cooler! How many bottles of wine would you guess are in it?

 

[cape chef]

We also had the short ribs!!!They were boneless and the most tender I had ever eaten,If I remeber they were served with farror.

I'm sure there were a good amout of vino in the braising liquid
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[cape chef]

KyleW, I just reliezed when you were talking about you were refering to the wine celler that went across the lenght of the dining room.
I read quickly and thought you were talking about how many bottles of wine they use to braise the short ribs

BTW, tonight we are having your white rasian semelina bread with dinner
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[kylew]

CC Your second read was correct That is the coolest wine storage system I've seen.

I hope that either your toasting the bread or your dental insurance is paid up

 

[athenaeus]

Dear Kyle

I liked very much that you think that a taste can actually change your life!!!
I couldn't agree more.
I showed my husband this thread, he totally agrees with both of you about Craft!
I will visit this restaurant next month!

 

[kylew]

I know you won't be disapointed! And I am very happy that you are coming here to New York. Bring all your friends :lips:

 

[momoreg]

That's it...We're going to have to come up with an excuse to eat at Craft. Did you have to wait a long time for a reservation?

 

[kylew]

We have found a nice mid-week approach to eating at popular restauants. We eat @6:00. I know it's not fashionable but it works well for us. The biggest advantage is that you can usually get a reservation within a day or two. The rooms tend to be about 75% full and are relatively quiet. The waitstaff is fresh. It also eliminates the "What do we do between 6:00 and 8:00" dilemma. I know this might be a challenging approach coming in from Connecticut

 

[momoreg]

Oh yeah, you just told me about that approach last weekend. How quickly I forget.

 

[kimmie]

What's that? How to kill 2 hours before dinner?

 

[athenaeus]

Kyle, this was very nice of you thank you!

I wish I could bring along my friends and my...olive trees but anyway.
It seems that it good for me that I dine early because you won't believe at what time the majority dines in Greece...
At 23:00!!!
Strange country, right?

 

[isa]

Now, a Craft Bar
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Tom Colicchio has opened Craftbar at 47 East 19th Street, next door to his restaurant Craft. Unlike the menu at the restaurant, the bar's casual Italian-American menu is not do-it-yourself. Even the sandwiches, like prosciutto with arugula and Parmesan, or veal with tuna and capers, have been decided by the chef, Marco Canora, who is also the chef de cuisine at Craft. Reservations are not accepted. In June, Mr. Colicchio plans to open Craftsteak in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The New York Times

 

[cape chef]

On the 26th of this very month a few of us "Cheftalkers" will be returning to Craft.

Me, ( I have dined there) Suzanne (She has dined there) Momoreg, M Brown, The Shroomgirl! and Foodnfoto...

KyleW and his lovely Linda wil be spendind the day with us and then there off to Peter Kumps for a Naming dinner.

Hey, Athenaeus...Please, we would love to have you join us also if it fits into your ajenda.

We will post notes on our adventure
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[momoreg]

I didn't know fnf was coming! That's good news.

I'm glad we're going before Mr. Colicchio spreads himself too thin. (Why do chefs do that?) ($$$$$$$).

 

[shroomgirl]

I'm looking forward to it!!! Good choice guys.

 

[cape chef]

Momoreg,

FnF told me she would'nt teach the online recipe development course if I didn't invite...Boy she a pushy one
(only kidding)
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[suzanne]

Oh, neat! Another person I want to meet (and eat with!).

Now, I have some related news: I just got a call from Marco Canora to come for an interview (for Craftbar)! I am SOOOOOOOOOOO excited! What a great way to start the year; I feel so lucky -- especially to finally meet so many of the wonderful people here! (Athenaeus, are you sure you couldn't just pop over here?? Pretty please. )

 

[cape chef]

Great News Suzanne!!!

Good luck with your interview...We'll be rooting for ya :chef:
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