NYC Tastes

Ahhhh...summer restaurant week. The perfect excuse to take off a few hours from work and have a long leisurely lunch somewhere new.  Or in this case somewhere old- Tom Colicchio's very first restaurant Craft.  This has been a staple in my neighborhood since way back in 2002.  I was honestly a little surprised to see it on the Restaurant Week list and with such a great menu of options.  My friend and I had a little trouble deciding what to order but in the end I think we choose extremely well.  To begin Fluke Crudo with melon, pickled ginger and cilantro... ...and Chilled Zucchini Soup with sweet corn, gold bar squash and shrimp. I eat a lot  of Fluke Crudo (being that it's on just about every menu these days) and this version was excellent.  I absolutely hate cilantro so I took that off but the dish didn't suffer a bit. The melon and jalapeno gave a spicy, fruity punch to the fish and the seeds added a satisfying crunch to each bite....

This past weekend the Great Googa Mooga festival out in Prospect Park promised food, drink and music in the sun.   It didn’t completely live up to its promises but we still had a good time.   First let’s check out some of the food. Dumont Burger- Sliders Red Rooster- Berbere Roasted Chicken with Barbecue Sauce, Mac & Greens, Cornbread. Craft- Dirty Duck Dog with Cabbage slaw and garlic sauce. Colicchio & Sons- Spit-charred Pork Belly Tacos M. Wells- Bologna & Foie Gras Grilled Cheese Sandwich The Brindle Room- Steakhouse Burger Spotted Pig- Chargrilled Burger with Roquefort and Shoestrings Do or Dine- Foie Gras Doughnuts I have to say my favorite item of the day was the Brindle Room Burger.   It was cooked perfect with salty charred top and moist ground meat middle. Brindle Room has been on my list for a long time now and after the burger bite it’s moved up even more.   Besides food ther...

Mr. Treker's parents had reservation for dinner at Craft last Thursday and invited us to join them. We always love going out with his folks and had been doing pretty well on our budget so we decided to tag-along. First of all, I have to say that while I have always been interested in trying out Craft, it has never been on the top of my list. Why? Well I have heard so many mixed reviews about this place over the years. There are people on the blogs like Chowhound, Yelp etc. that absolutely hate it. On the other hand, there are also people on those same blogs that sing it's praises-even calling it the best restaurant they've ever been to! I guess I was just always scared to take the chance that I might be one of those "haters". Working for a non-profit agency I'm not exactly raking in the big bucks! Part of the reason I started reading blogs was so I wouldn't be disppointed spending the little cash I had on a bad meal. Well anyways- when Thursday ni...