Omnivore Atlanta

HOW SWEET IT IS: The sweetbreads with kumquats at Craft

In June of last year, I ate at the original Craft during a trip to New York City. To say it was the best meal of my year doesn’t really do the experience justice. Everything was exceptional, from the imposing old windows overlooking 19th Street, to the pleasingly understated masculine décor, to the expansive wine list that still had room for quirks, to the simple, perfect food.

I’m not planning to do a compare and contrast essay here, although it is tempting (the hen of the woods mushrooms in New York — a juicy hedge of crispy and soft flavor; the hen of the woods mushrooms in Atlanta — a desiccated scattering of yummy oily bits). But many have questioned whether upscale restaurants can work as chain operations. Chefs who leave primary kitchens in the hands of staff members and set out to create empires do so with a fair amount of skepticism following them, and rightly so. Quality is often diluted, and the focus becomes celebrity and the money that follows it. Just ask anyone who dined at the recently deposed Atlanta Emeril’s, and you’ll hear just how bad the translation can taste.

But after my meal in New York, I had high hopes for Atlanta’s outpost of Craft. If chef/restaurateur Tom Colicchio could bring even a part of New York’s feel, precision in cooking, and quality wine list to Atlanta, then I figured we were in for something pretty damn good. (more…)

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If you haven’t heard, our economy is tanking and among those who are feeling the pinch big-time are restaurants, especially the more expensive ones. Opening my e-mail the last few days, I thought maybe I should write a post about the enormous glut of special, reduced-price, extra-indulgent Valentine’s Day menus, but I don’t have three days to record all of them.

These are an annual offer, but not typically of this year’s profuse and generous degree. And these follow the increasing number of incentives restaurants are offering routinely.

As it happens the New York Times‘ Frank Bruni wrote about the effect of the recession on restaurants a few days ago. His “Diner’s Journal” opens with this:

Has a restaurant hugged you lately?

Has it insisted that you can have it more cheaply than you thought possible and whenever you want, not just at 5:45 p.m., when your desire isn’t close to peaking, or at 9:30, when you almost can’t be bothered anymore?

Has it dropped its usual guard? Surrendered its typical reserve?

Yes, yes and yes. The only restaurants where I’ve had difficulty getting a table are Flip and the Original El Taco, neither of which take reservations. But I can’t think of a single other restaurant where I haven’t been able to reserve a table at the last minute or simply walk in. And, yes, I’ve noticed how staffs rush to tables to bathe the feet of diners and how perkiness has become epidemic among front desk folks.

But I have disconcerting news. Bruni’s piece mentions two NY dining-scene stars who have opened restaurants here recently. Both have begun offering super specials in Manhattan. One is Tom Colicchio, who has opened a Craft and Craft Bar here:

Craft, which in October opened its private room twice a month for 10-course, $150 dinners cooked by Tom Colicchio — called Tom: Tuesday Dinner — reached out in the other direction, to bargain hunters, last month. It opened that room once a week for Damon: Frugal Fridays, with a range of dishes cooked by Craft’s executive chef, Damon Wise, for $10 apiece.

The other is Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who has opened Spice Market and Spice here:

Mr. Vongerichten, many of whose restaurants have always offered price reductions at lunch, is being particularly aggressive (by which I mean huggy). In October Perry St. instituted the option of a $35 three-course dinner menu during the slow hours of 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 to 11 p.m. In December, his restaurant Nougatine, a casual adjunct of his Columbus Circle flagship, Jean Georges, instituted its own $35 three-course menu, every night but Saturday from 5:30 to 6:30 and 10 to 11 p.m.

That same month he began to offer a $35 seven-course omakase dinner at Matsugen, of which he is a principal owner. There are no restrictions on the hours when it can be ordered.

Ahem! Unless things have changed recently, neither restaurateur is offering comparable bargains here in Atlanta.

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We visited the much anticipated Craft last weekend and had a mainly good meal. Personally, I didn’t find it as worthy of the rapture with which others have described it.

I do like the decor, a riff on the Arts and Crafts Movement. But the food was definitely a mixed bag.

My favorite dish by far was a starter of Wagyu beef tongue with slices of pickled jalapeno and basil leaves (right). My least favorite was a special of monkfish wrapped in bacon (above). A certain editor told me that a certain acquaintance of hers tried the same dish and said it tasted like … a hotdog. That’s a perfect description of both the taste and texture of the dish.

Craftbar, the less pricey downstairs area of the restaurant space, is scheduled to open for lunch next week.

Look for my next edition of Grazing for a full first look.

(Photos by Cliff Bostock)

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Tom Colicchio, Top Chef judge and owner of Craft restaurants, is battling the courts for allegedly violating the federal Fair Labors Act and the New York Labor Law by withholding tips from servers, ignoring overtime compensation for hourly employees, and refusing to pay the standard minimum wage.

The suit was filed by former Craftbar service worker, Nessa Rapone, taking the case against Mr. Colicchio and Craft Worldwide Holdings straight to federal court. Rapone states that in addition to unfair employee treatment at Craftbar, she was quickly terminated in response to her complaint in May 2007. More details about the case in this article from International Business Times.

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Craft and Craftbar are set to open on Monday. They will be open for dinner 7 days a week. Craftbar will open for lunch Jan. 5.

Flip was set to open this week but the date was pushed back until next Wednesday.

Stay tuned for early reports of both.

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