As a birthday gift, some very good friends of mine took us out to Tom Colicchio's Craft during DineLA week. The beauty of DineLA is the prix-fixe menu that most restaurants offer at a discounted price, which in turn allows wannabe foodies like me an opportunity to sample more things than I would normally do.
I really like the ambiance at Craft; the words that come to mind are sophisticated, sleek, modern and rustic, if that makes sense. We had great service, our server was kind enough to go over the menus in detail, which was very informative. Craft serves their dishes family style, so everyone can sample everything, which is wonderful. Alas, I did not have my camera, the photos were taken using a Blackberry camera, so I apologize for that. Also, please pardon the descriptions, it has been a while.
First courses included a country paté served with cornichons and other pickled veggies with a drizzle of a mustard sauce. I don't remember too much about the paté, other than the fact that I liked it, cornichons and all. Also up to bat is a Caesar salad, with a lot of finely shredded Parmesan that made me very happy. The dressing on the salad was tangy and had a little bit of a bite to it, which performed its task of whetting our appetites.
Second course included a foie gras mousse terrine that we didn't get to take a photo of, but that was my first encounter with foie. It was served on top of a tapenade, and served with crostini, It was really decadent and yummy. Also included in the second course was cured trout atop a shaved fennel salad with what I want to say is a lemon vinaigrette, if memory serves me correctly. The trout was great, there's a hint of sweetness to the buttery fish, the fennel provided the crunch and an added flavor dimension.
The star of the show was the third course, the ribeye. It was cooked to medium perfection, sitting on top of beans (cannot remember what type). I savored every piece I got. I really didn't like the beans too much, because I honestly thought that it detracted from the meat. We also got a roasted lamb shank, served with a Romesco sauce, which was probably one of the better pieces of lamb that I've tried, and I'm not a lamb fan.
For dessert, we got pillowy, sugary, chocolatey goodness in the form of sugar doughnuts served with a Valrhona chocolate sauce. Easily a high point of the entire meal. Also we had a chai flavored panna cotta, served with shaved pear and figs. I'm not into chai so much, but it was still really good. The panna cotta was cold, creamy goodness that was enhanced by the sweet, crunchy pear.
I loved my Craft experience, everything was great, from service, to ambiance, to the food. I can't wait to go back and sample more. In my opinion, it is further proof that Chef Colicchio deserves the 2010 Outstanding Chef of the Year title bestowed upon him by the James Beard Foundation.
Craft Restaurant, 10100 Constellation Boulevard, Los Angeles
http://www.craftrestaurant.com/
