to eat or not to eat. NEVER a question to be asked at craft. where everything is AMAZING and the biggest problem you'll ever have is trying to choose from all the yummy eats on the menu.
this past friday, jeannine & i decided to go for what was my third visit to tom colicchio's LA venture. the food was phenomenal, and we were only minorly disappointed here and there. (but only b/c dining out has made us total food snobs!)
here's the rundown...
we had the veal sweetbreads to start -- OMG. perfect flavor, perfect texture. a nice crisp on the outside and a nice chew on the inside. (we'd had them at comme ca for jeannine's first sweetbreads experience and we were extremely disappointed -- so NOT worth the $$!)
for the main courses, we ordered the braised short rib (which jeannine really wanted) and the australian suzuki (a bass-like fish that neither of us had heard of much less had before). i thought the short rib needed more flavor, was a bit stringy, and was a bit heavy overall (though that's short rib for you), and she thought it was totally bland and just tasted like meat. the suzuki, however, was AMAZING. perfectly crispy on top, delicately flaky, and in no way overdone.
before the entrees, they gave us an amuse bouche that was some combo of seafood and tasted delicious. after the entrees, they gave us a palate cleanser that was like a mini-parfait-- a smooth cream underneath and an icy granita above.
after spending 3/4 of a recent chat session rattling off top pumpkin desserts, we decided we absolutely HAD to order the pumpkin pie. and it was fabulous -- UBER avant-garde. it came out as a long thin rectangle, with a brushstroke of toasted marshmallow. however, the honey flavored yogurt that came on the side was absolutely pointless, as were the toasted pumpkin seeds. nevertheless, the main components were delicious.
we also ordered a sampler of 3 of the most bizarre ice creams we could pick out. we decided on the olive oil gelato, the sweet corn ice cream, and the pink peppercorn ice cream. the chef must've known what we were going for b/c he threw in the basil ice cream as well. i liked them all, except for the pink peppercorn which was a bit strong. the rest were really quite yummy. even after jerry & teresa had hyped up their olive oil ice cream experience at fig & olive, i thought craft's version was really quite good! however, jeannine didn't think the ice cream tasted olive oil-ey enough. though we were both quite overwhelmed by the pungent garlic flavor embedded within the little black crunchy things on top. the sweet corn tasted just like creamed corn, but the basil was definitely our fave. light and mildly sweet.
and after all that, they still gave us more stuff -- cute little caramel meringues that were nice and chewy with a bit of crunch, and quince pates de fruit that were pretty much just cubes of sugar. totally passable.
last but not least, they gave us each a pumpkin muffin to take home and have the next day! god how i love fall....
ultimately, an absolutely fantastic meal. great food, great ambiance, and great company!! and kudos to michael for chauffering us home! : )
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
catching up w/the readers
i know i know. it's been forever and a day since i've been on this blog, and i apologize to anyone who's even remotely bothering to keep up with my increasingly infrequent ramblings.
i must admit that this has been a crazy summer. lots going on and lots going on still. the summer seemed to zip by as orientation planning went full-speed ahead starting in july. half of august was spent trolling around sydney, adelaide, and melbourne. to the delight of my mind, my eyes, and of course, my tummy. ezard and taxi were personal faves in melbourne (which is now one of my new favorite cities), but there were certainly yummy eats that were had across the southeastern coast of oz.
after a few days of recovery from jetlag, CA training hit like a brick. and nailing down orientation logistics kept september in a whirlwind. thankfully, it was all worth it to have yet another successful event under my belt. CA training also wrapped up without little more than minor drama/trauma (you pick). but let's just say that i was thrilled when the month ended.
october has been a bit calmer, though i wish the weather wasn't quite so warm. it's just oddly hot and humid during the day, which is making it even more obvious that our environment is totally out of whack. much like our political system. if anything's made this month mildly suck, it's the sight and sound of political candidates who are stupid, insincere, or both. maybe some candidates are slightly less heinous, but none of them have made me want to jump up and vote. none of them. i mean, isn't that a tragedy?
at any rate, life is generally pretty good this month. now that i've nailed down a space to do interviews (or at least some of them), i feel a bit more relieved about the dissertation stuff as well. (let's see how long this lasts. think positive, think positive.)
on the movie front, i've watched everything from the sisterhood of the traveling pants to tell no one to ghost town to nights of rodanthe. and on the foodie front, i've checked out new happy hour specials at napa valley grille and yamato. i've gotten to dine at california roll factory and real food daily in the last week. on the flip side, i've also found my way back to a lot of my old favorites, including literati cafe, novel cafe, le pain quotidien, and tender greens (which i actually had 2 days in a row). and this week, i'm headed back to craft for another foodie splurge.
in the past few weeks, i've also indulged in daily iced blendz, which i thought was mostly ice, but found out was mostly ice and 400+ calories. thank goodness for nutrition website, but good grief!!
on the social front, it's been great re-connecting w/dana who's now here to stay for the year, sitting around w/eri over angel episodes, and soaking up good friend time in-person, on-line, and over the phone w/kel, dani, karen, caroline, amy, chiara and everyone else who helps keep me outside my own head and knowing that there's lots of other things going on with other people. this includes derek and his wedding, jerry and his baby, jenn and her baby, and god knows whatever else i'm forgetting.
life is simply too short to be totally self-involved all the time. why not listen to what someone else is saying every so often?
i must admit that this has been a crazy summer. lots going on and lots going on still. the summer seemed to zip by as orientation planning went full-speed ahead starting in july. half of august was spent trolling around sydney, adelaide, and melbourne. to the delight of my mind, my eyes, and of course, my tummy. ezard and taxi were personal faves in melbourne (which is now one of my new favorite cities), but there were certainly yummy eats that were had across the southeastern coast of oz.
after a few days of recovery from jetlag, CA training hit like a brick. and nailing down orientation logistics kept september in a whirlwind. thankfully, it was all worth it to have yet another successful event under my belt. CA training also wrapped up without little more than minor drama/trauma (you pick). but let's just say that i was thrilled when the month ended.
october has been a bit calmer, though i wish the weather wasn't quite so warm. it's just oddly hot and humid during the day, which is making it even more obvious that our environment is totally out of whack. much like our political system. if anything's made this month mildly suck, it's the sight and sound of political candidates who are stupid, insincere, or both. maybe some candidates are slightly less heinous, but none of them have made me want to jump up and vote. none of them. i mean, isn't that a tragedy?
at any rate, life is generally pretty good this month. now that i've nailed down a space to do interviews (or at least some of them), i feel a bit more relieved about the dissertation stuff as well. (let's see how long this lasts. think positive, think positive.)
on the movie front, i've watched everything from the sisterhood of the traveling pants to tell no one to ghost town to nights of rodanthe. and on the foodie front, i've checked out new happy hour specials at napa valley grille and yamato. i've gotten to dine at california roll factory and real food daily in the last week. on the flip side, i've also found my way back to a lot of my old favorites, including literati cafe, novel cafe, le pain quotidien, and tender greens (which i actually had 2 days in a row). and this week, i'm headed back to craft for another foodie splurge.
in the past few weeks, i've also indulged in daily iced blendz, which i thought was mostly ice, but found out was mostly ice and 400+ calories. thank goodness for nutrition website, but good grief!!
on the social front, it's been great re-connecting w/dana who's now here to stay for the year, sitting around w/eri over angel episodes, and soaking up good friend time in-person, on-line, and over the phone w/kel, dani, karen, caroline, amy, chiara and everyone else who helps keep me outside my own head and knowing that there's lots of other things going on with other people. this includes derek and his wedding, jerry and his baby, jenn and her baby, and god knows whatever else i'm forgetting.
life is simply too short to be totally self-involved all the time. why not listen to what someone else is saying every so often?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)