Our second Dine in Brooklyn outing was a smash hit. We splurged for an unremarkable Cotes du Rhone, but everything else was way above average.
Tucked away on Henry Street between First Place and Carroll Street, Crave, like Taku, gets the lighting right. The joint was already jumping when we arrived for our six o'clock reservation (the place seats twenty-five, max). The small space was more than adequately covered by two servers and the hostess, who pitched in bringing out dishes.
As soon as we were seated, they brought us a whole grain flat bread flavored with olive oil and speckled with rosemary. I could have made a meal of that, the bottle of tap water (I am a big fan of the bottle of tap water for the table) and the wine.
There were three prix fixe options, but I went with the meslcun/stilton/walnut salad to start and Daltron had the deep-fried leek and shitake spring rolls to start. Both were fabulous.
I had the delicately fried trout as an entree. The fish was lovely, as was the underlying bed – a mysteriously yet deliciously flavored orzo (I'm usually an orzo hater); Daltron had the pork loin with what he described as the platonic ideal (except for the liliputian portion size) broccoli rabe side, and a baby food (but in a good way) textured ersatz apple sauce.
Dessert (like cocktails, the cause of and solution to all my problems) was equally impressive: I loved my chili-spiced chocolate cake (which looked like a chocolate biscotti when they brought it out {the construction of that clause reminds me that an English teacher corrected my grammar today (I said "it's a good thing you're not her," to someone else, and Ms. Busybody was quick to correct: "it's also a good thing you're not she." I did come back with "it's a good thing I'm not an English teacher so I can say it my way." My way doesn't sound like I'm in a fucking Edith Wharton novel, you pretentious prig. But I digress.)} which was kept company by a tiny scoop of coffee icecream and a dime-sized dollop of the most intensely chocolatey sauce I have ever laid tongue on. Daltron had the mango creme brulee, scoop of kiwi sorbet. His was good. Mine was better.
Go to Crave during Dine in Brooklyn week. It's wicked expensive normally.
2 responses so far ↓
daltron9000 // April 7, 2006 at 12:16 am |
The mango creme brulee tasted suspiciously like pumpkin pie, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it was still pretty darn good. I could have had the broccoli rabe for dessert… it was the best thing I had all night.
This is too a blog » Sette Enoteca E Cucina // April 11, 2006 at 12:13 am |
[...] Eat in Brooklyn brought us to Sette Enoteca E Cucina tonight. In my opinion, it sits squarely in between Crave and Taku in terms of deliciousness. In addition to the yummy bucatini and marinara, there was a non-annoying (dare I say good) live music thing happenning. Also some tasty fruit tart with fresh whipped cream on the side. Tasty. [...]