Craft Dallas

I never miss a season of Top Chef, and I love Tom…so I was really looking forward to Craft last night. We were ladies dining sans men. I tend to think for these types of events its a little more fun that way. Chris was happy with cereal and the Olympics, he probably preferred that.

We decided to carpool and save on multiple valet fees. It's still $6 even if you dine with them. We wanted to save any extra $ for the vino of course. We waited almost 10 min when one of the Hosts from inside informed us that the 1 valet they had that evening was very busy, we left our keys with the hostess (making our driver very nervous) and entered Craft. They had our reservation and gave us a nice table. Right away I was impressed with the lighting and the décor was modern, yet comfortable also. The restrooms are outside the restaurant next to the elevators and line for Ghost bar so you leave your cozy table, and are immediately thrown into “Da Club” for that little adventure.

The service from the beginning was excellent. We all reviewed the menu and found that the 1st and 3rd courses were selected by Craft to give us “variety”, and that our only choice was the entrée. An item I was not familiar with was on the menu as a selection: Skate wing. We had to ask, and when he used the words “ray family” and “scraped out cartilage” we were out. Selecting instead the braised short ribs, shirt steak, and seared scallops. We also selected a nice Pinot noire and the beverage director was friendly and not pretentious as many are in that role of the house. It is hard to find a decent red for less than $75 so be prepared.

The food was well proportioned, so no one left stuffed to the gills, or needing to drive thru sonic on the way home. We found both meat dishes a bit cool, as if they were mass prepared before people arrived and set under a warmer until served. The scallops received a much better response. The au gratin potatoes with gruyere cheese were oozing and delicious as were the homemade chocolate peanut butter sandwich cookies offered for dessert.

In all it received a rating of 7 out of 10.