another amazing craft experience

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! : )