"Please Pack Your Knives"

Go figure, I'm a huge Top Chef fan. Especially this season because they are IN NEW YORK CITY!! Duh. Mr. Broad and I watch geekily trying to find our building in the city shots, or figure out which Whole Foods they are at. HELLO!? First episode they went to LONG ISLAND CITY! ::fist pump!!::

Anyway so here's a restaurant rewind for you. Between all of the Ko madness, Mr. Broad and I decided to go out to dinner since it had been about 2 weeks since we ventured anywhere. (OH! that was why she did those filler posts on Ko...)

Craftbar
900 Broadway

I recently recommended this restaurant for my friends The Essamas when they visited NYC even though I had never been. It's Tom Colicchio's more "informal" restaurant. Ya know the bald guy on Top Chef? That's him. He has a couple of other restaurants "craft" restaurants with Craft being his high end restaurant. We have a fantabulous gift certificate there so we will be trying that one as well. It always gets rave reviews, and The Essamas loved it too so time for Mr. Broad and I to actually go.

The menu has pretty much everything you can want ranging from pastas to fish to meats.

Arugula, Market Pear, Goat Cheese, Hazelnuts
Very fresh arugula. A nice starter really.

Chicken Liver Pâté, Crostini, Pickles
Obviously Mr. Broad's pick.
I didn't try any but it was huge. Had a dark gelee (err, fat?) layer on top and underneath was the pate. Mr. Broad enjoyed it but did say it wasn't no 2nd Avenue Deli. I guess sometimes you can't touch a classic... (Oh that yellowing thing on the bottom right? It was apple butter. Umm, YUMM.)



Veal Ricotta Meatballs
So of all the crazy things on the menu Mr. Broad surprised us all with getting the Veal Ricotta Meatballs. The pasta was extra. Actually come to think about it, it was not a cheap bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. I know, Mom calm down. But the meatballs were huge!
The pasta was cooked very al dente but became a taste we loved. And the meatballs were amazing. Very filling.



Beef Short Ribs, Anson Mills Grits, Fried Egg, Bell Peppers
These were great- the grits were buttery and the short ribs were wonderful. They were tender, although still had to use a knife to cut. The peppers provided a nice flavor to the overall taste and man do I love to cut open the egg and ooze it everywhere. The meal became like a Thanksgiving day feast when you have a bunch of mush food and you try to get it all on one bite.



Review:
You can tell Craftbar is a very consistent restaurant. However, I love when people say that the restaurants are the "low end" version. I mean we had a great meal, however, it was not as "cheap" as people sometimes let on. I guess by looking back at our food, we could have picked things differently. Oh yeah, and the wine and beer. I ALWAYS forget that one. So yeah, it coulda been cheaper than we do. This is a great way to do dinner in the city without having to pay an arm and a leg. It's good. And definitely consistent.
Rating: 8

Note: And a Happy Inauguration Day! I just realized that the title can also apply to President Bush... :) Oh I'm so witty...