Heather Bakes

As I mentioned yesterday, last night was our Restaurant Week venture to Craft. As a huge Top Chef nerd, I was super excited to eat at one of Tom Colicchio’s restaurants. The Dallas Morning News hosts an “Eats Blog” that I stalk pretty regularly, and through that blog I had seen quite a few negative reviews of the food/service at various restaurants during RW- so I was a little nervous.

Well, it was pretty amazing. We arrived 15 minutes early for our 8pm reservation and they sat us immediately, even though the restaurant looked to be almost at capacity. The service was awesome. We had no less than 6 waiters assisting us at different points during the meal and everyone was very helpful and attentive.

But here’s the best part: Usually during restaurant week, you’re given a three course menu with 3-4 options per course to choose from. Craft is known for serving “family style”, so instead of choosing one option from each course, they bring everything. The only decision we had to make was for the main course.

So on to photos. I kind of expected them to be a little weirded out by the picture-taking, especially since it’s RW, but one of the waiters actually offered to take the photo himself! So nice.

First, the bread. I had a slice of the wheat, which was okay but nothing special.

First Course:

From left to right- Baby Lettuces with La Cuesta Goat Cheese; Heirloom Tomato Salad with Watercress; Smoked Salmon Rillette.

The tomato salad was amazing. There were at least 5 different varieties of tomatoes, topped with balsamic (my fave) and olive oil. The rillette was good, too- almost like a pate.

For the main course, I ordered Diver Scallops and Mushroom Jus, and Brian had the Braised Beef Short Ribs. In addition, they brought out individual dishes of the following sides:

• Roasted Mushrooms
• Lyonnaise Potatoes
• Roasted Farmer’s Market Vegetables (broccoli rabe, carrots, and asparagus)
• Cavatappi with Fresh Parsley- which definitely had a drizzle of truffle oil. YUM.

Rather than take photos of the individual dishes, here’s my assembled plate:

And here’s Brian’s:

Dessert (L to R): Mini Macadamia Nut Cookies, Brownies, and Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with PB; some type of Sponge Cake with Lemon Sauce & Blackberries; Almond Ice Cream and White Raspberry Sorbet.

We were so full that we barely put a dent in the desserts, but the Chocolate Sandwich Cookies got my vote. The cookie part was not sweet at all- just very dark chocolaty- and the PB tasted homemade.

The only snafu was my wine. I ordered a glass of Chardonnay and got Chablis. It was good, though, and I actually debated ordering a 2nd. Good thing I didn’t, because the glass was $18!!! I bet that wine didn’t have a cute animal on the bottle.

So yea Craft! I feel like we got a good taste of what all the restaurant had to offer. It was a great experience and we’ll definitely be back.

Training Update: Track workout yesterday- 4 x 1200’s, plus 2 warm-up laps, 1 cool-down lap, and walking in between sprints. Today I did an easy 3.5 miles. My ankle has been pretty sore since yesterday, so I’m icing it right now. I need to be able to walk around and get stuff done, though (counteractive? Maybe), so check out my rigged ice-pack:

And yes, Brian, that is one of your dress socks.