Craft Los Angeles

DineLA Restaurant Week was last week and one of the restaurants I had the chance to try for the first time was Tom Colicchio's (of Top Chef fame) Craft. It's been a long while since a meal has really blown me away, but Craft did exactly that. The prices are $$$$, but I loved that despite it being the type of place where there are people whose sole job it is to open the door for you, it's really not a hoity-toity place at all; the changing menu is simple, every one is super friendly, and the focus is really on the delicious food. Plus, the DineLA menu was such a great deal at $45 for 3 courses! Complimentary bread and butter. Baby gem lettuce with cranberry and avocado vinaigrette. Pretty standard for a salad, I thought the dressing was light and refreshing. Smoked chicken rillette with matzo. Sorry for my poor picture...I was hungry. It's funny, I thought this dish was good, but I didn't think it was anything special, yet I found myself craving it constantly the next day! Albacore tuna with kumquat and beets. I'm not a HUGE raw fish person...I thought this could've used more flavor. It was good; however, overall, none of the appetizers blew me away. King salmon with broccolini, on the other hand. What could be more simple than this? Some people say the salmon is nothing special but I have a hard time imagining how salmon could be any better. Whole-wheat cavatelli, beef ragout and mushrooms. This isn't the kind of dish I usually enjoy but I liked the nutty flavor. Pork, polenta, and Brussels leaves. It's funny because I never go for pork dishes and I was just saying to someone last week how I had never met a polenta that I enjoyed. This dish proved me wrong on both counts, it was definitely my favorite! The Brussels leaves, like all of the veggies coming out of Craft's kitchen, were amazing. Sorry again for the poor picture! It just looked too mouthwatering to resist. Complimentary roasted cauliflower. I have to say that if a restaurant is good enough to make me enjoy all of my vegetables, then it must be really good. Craft does this, and it doesn't do so by hiding the flavor of any of the vegetables, it just prepares them in the best possible way! Also, I love how the kitchen gives out freebies like this. They also gave us some free popcorn and granola to take home, as well as a cookie for my nephew who was allergic to nuts (forgot to take pictures!) I mean, that is just unpretentious, good service right?? Lemon souffle tart. This was very tart. Very lemony. I thought it was pretty good until I tried the next dessert... Butterscotch panna cotta with hazelnuts. Until this meal, I thought I hated hazelnuts. It's true, I'm the rare person who HATES Nutella and Ferrero Rocher. Therefore, I was not expecting to like this dessert but I loved it. It was my favorite. I would eat it again and again. All of the flavors complimented each other so well.

Definitely the best meal I've had in a while! I'll definitely have Craft in mind the next time a special occasion rolls around.