Craftbar NYC

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: If I ask for cream with my coffee, please to question me and offer regular milk, nice you care about my cholesterol intake but I'll take my chances

I actually never hit up a Tom Colicchio restuarant before and this weekend, I had brunch at Craftbar with the family and overall had a great time. The place is located just down the street from the Gramercy Tavern and directly above the subway, for you can feel and hear the unmistakeable rumble of a N train coming through. The place is spacious and has a casual atmosphere.

Scotch Quail Eggs

To start, we had a few things starting with the scotch quial eggs because brunch is always better with something fried. Also, no Scotch in it. The scotch quail eggs were tasty and though the egg in the center of scotch quail eggs can fall victim to dryness, this one did not.

The pastry of the day, was a brioche doughnut with a chocolate glaze and a banana creme filling. One thing that I do no like, which is no fault of Craftbar is the banana creme filling looks kind of...well grey. I mean, "legit" banana cream anything unless you use food coloring (thanks for telling me that one Milkbar Cookbook) banana cream is going to look like something a 3 month child regurgitate. The doughnut was hefty, dense and a slight chewiness to it that you would expect from a yeast doughnut but was good overall.
We also decided to g heavy on the carb route and do the biscuits and gravy. This was actually considered to be a side, which is a steal giving the portion size of this. The biscuits and gravy could of been a meal on its own, two biscuits that were light and airy that gets a heavy helping of sausage gravy on top. The gravy was thick, flavorful and meaty and a cement stick to your bones quality to it. It was hearty and had itis potential to it.
the menu ranges from eggs dishes, sandwiches and actual entrees.

Biscuits and Gravy

the shrimp and grits here is worthy homage to any Southern kitchen. the shrimp were small but they wee tender and flavorful and the grits were creamy and smooth and they added some blistered shoshito peppers in it which though good, were not really necessary to an already good tasting dish. Though the addition of chorizo brought a little spicy and meat kick to the dish and adding chorizo is always a good thing.

Shrimp and Grits

 The Berkshire Pork Cubano was a solid and hefty sandwich. The Cubano has melted Gruyere, pickled jalapenos and i think a really thin slice of ham in it. This was a really refined version of a tasty Cuban sandwich. The pork was shredded and had a bit of a tuna fish salad consistency to it, but it still worked well, the bread was well toasted and the cheese was plentiful. The house made potato chips were addicting and together made this a good tasting sandwich.

Cubano

We had the Spaghetti and Veal Ricotta Meatballs which would sit comfortably at all Red Sauce Italian America place. the meatballs were very light and the Ricotta was distinct. the spaghetti, looked more like fettuccine, was could nicely and had that little bit of bite you look for in pasta.

Spaghetti and Veal Ricotta Meatballs

Butter Poached Cod

The Butter Poached Norwegian Cod was a winner as well. The Cod was done so well, my mother actually questioned if it was indeed cod because she never had cod cooked this well before. Also she learned what butter poached means and how much butter goes into cooking the fish and lets just say...she will not be asking me to do that much more. Whatever, its not like you are drinking the butter that you poach it in!
 Overall, the service was prompt and professional and if we wanted too, we could have sat there for a while and hang out and bit. Many critize that Coliccciho restaurants have lost a bit of quality to them since his celebrity-like status but at Craftbar, which may not be a flagship restaurant, the food and service was what anyone would expect from a top restaurant in New York. We would have went with dessert but the food and portions were generous and plentiful and besides...Shack Shake was a block or two away, and they had the Jeremy Lin Shake and their hardcore Taiwanese pride needed to support anything Jeremy Lin. 

Craftbar
900 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
www.craftrestaurant.com/