Craftbar (American) – New York, NY - 1/26/09
Chef Tom Colicchio is the well known host from Bravo’s show Top Chef and owner of the Craft restaurant empire. Craftbar is the more casual sister
restaurant to Craft, the flagship of the group. Colicchio also owns CraftSteak with locations in NY, Vegas and Foxwoods. The group is rounded out by
‘wichcraft, a series of sandwich shops around the city. This was our first time dining at any of the Craft restaurants but I have cooked several
recipes from his cookbooks. The concept is simple preparation using fresh seasonal ingredients.
Craftbar is a full service restaurant; I think the name could be a little confusing. There is a bar area in the front with seating available for walk-ins.
The rest of the dining room is in the back half and seemed to be exclusively for reservations. While it is intended to be casual the atmosphere was
still very sophisticated with a lively buzz filling the room. The staff was dressed down in jeans which I thought was great. It shows the guests that
you can dress casually while still getting great food. Sometimes I’m just not in the mood to dress up so I really liked the style of Craftbar.
The menu is broken down by first and main courses. Within the first course there are several options which includes oysters, snacks, cheese,
charcuterie, soups, appetizers, varietal meats, green market sides. We started out with a snack of Pecorino-Stuffed Risotto Balls. Since it was a snack
I actually expect them to be much smaller. We got about four rather large Risotto Balls. The outsides were fried golden brown and the inside was a
very creamy risotto. I was curious to see if there was a difference between traditional rice balls and these risotto balls. There clearly was a
distinction as the risotto kept its form and creaminess without drying out. The tomato sauce in the bottom of the bowl was a nice fresh and light
compliment.
The varietal meats section was calling my name. I really felt the need to be adventurious so I ordered the beef tongue. It’s served cold and is sliced
very thin like cold cuts. The taste was not as strong as I was expecting. It was similar to the taste of roast beef. I really enjoyed it on toast with the
horseradish. I would definitely try beef tongue again, there really is nothing to be afraid of.
For my main course I went a little more traditional with the Veal Ricotta Meat balls which are a house specialty. Three very large meatballs were
served over pasta with the same tomato sauce from the Risotto balls. The meatballs were well seasoned, moist and not too dense. I think that is the
key with meatballs, they shouldn’t be like a rock. As I mixed the meatballs with the sauce the flavors really came together for a warm satisfying
dish on a cold January night.
The service was very friendly and conversational. I really like the feel of the entire place. Sometimes fine dining can get too stuffy for me that you
feel like you have to be on your best behavior. Here you could relax and really enjoy the food. The food lived up to the mission of simple fresh
ingredients. The menu was filled with several items I’d like to try so I could see us returning to craftbar soon.
Chef Tom Colicchio is the well known host from Bravo’s show Top Chef and owner of the Craft restaurant empire. Craftbar is the more casual sister
restaurant to Craft, the flagship of the group. Colicchio also owns CraftSteak with locations in NY, Vegas and Foxwoods. The group is rounded out by
‘wichcraft, a series of sandwich shops around the city. This was our first time dining at any of the Craft restaurants but I have cooked several
recipes from his cookbooks. The concept is simple preparation using fresh seasonal ingredients.
Craftbar is a full service restaurant; I think the name could be a little confusing. There is a bar area in the front with seating available for walk-ins.
The rest of the dining room is in the back half and seemed to be exclusively for reservations. While it is intended to be casual the atmosphere was
still very sophisticated with a lively buzz filling the room. The staff was dressed down in jeans which I thought was great. It shows the guests that
you can dress casually while still getting great food. Sometimes I’m just not in the mood to dress up so I really liked the style of Craftbar.
The menu is broken down by first and main courses. Within the first course there are several options which includes oysters, snacks, cheese,
charcuterie, soups, appetizers, varietal meats, green market sides. We started out with a snack of Pecorino-Stuffed Risotto Balls. Since it was a snack
I actually expect them to be much smaller. We got about four rather large Risotto Balls. The outsides were fried golden brown and the inside was a
very creamy risotto. I was curious to see if there was a difference between traditional rice balls and these risotto balls. There clearly was a
distinction as the risotto kept its form and creaminess without drying out. The tomato sauce in the bottom of the bowl was a nice fresh and light
compliment.
The varietal meats section was calling my name. I really felt the need to be adventurious so I ordered the beef tongue. It’s served cold and is sliced
very thin like cold cuts. The taste was not as strong as I was expecting. It was similar to the taste of roast beef. I really enjoyed it on toast with the
horseradish. I would definitely try beef tongue again, there really is nothing to be afraid of.
For my main course I went a little more traditional with the Veal Ricotta Meat balls which are a house specialty. Three very large meatballs were
served over pasta with the same tomato sauce from the Risotto balls. The meatballs were well seasoned, moist and not too dense. I think that is the
key with meatballs, they shouldn’t be like a rock. As I mixed the meatballs with the sauce the flavors really came together for a warm satisfying
dish on a cold January night.
The service was very friendly and conversational. I really like the feel of the entire place. Sometimes fine dining can get too stuffy for me that you
feel like you have to be on your best behavior. Here you could relax and really enjoy the food. The food lived up to the mission of simple fresh
ingredients. The menu was filled with several items I’d like to try so I could see us returning to craftbar soon.
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