You Say It's Crave's Birthday

There's probably no other restaurant in town that Seattlest eats at as much as Crave. Given how much we enjoying dining out, this is saying a lot. We frequently spend our weekends brunching at Crave, we take out-of-town guests there for dinner, and occasionally we play hooky just to have their mid-day lunch. It doesn't hurt that we live nearby, but it's the friendliness of the servers and the quality of the food that keeps on bringing us back. Sure, the wait can be a bitch, but that's something you should be prepared for (tip: for Saturday/Sunday brunch, put your name on the list 30 minutes - 1 hour before you actually want to be seated).

With that in mind, we were glad to be around Monday night for the restaurant's celebration of its two-year anniversary. Owner Robin Leventhal and her dedicated staff were all on hand, as well as a lotta great food of the hors d'oeuvres variety. We started off noshing on various cheese and pastes that seemed to be made for crostinis, including a chicken liver pâté that avoided overpowering iron flavor via the smart addition of orange and marsala. Oh, but there was much more to be eaten. Crave didn't settle for the standard buffet-style bread and spreads; instead, the kitchen was constantly sending out a tray of one deletectable item or another: mussels with a fresh salsa, bites of duck confit and marmalade, chocolate madeleines, and some big tasty prawns. For dessert, we had a few chocolate-coated mascarpone bites covered with almond shavings.

Still, the best item we tried all night was a slice of New York strip steak (medium rare) wrapped around a chunk of cabrales port butter. Good sweet mother of God, we could've eaten the entire plate of those little bites o' heaven. We left before that occurred, warm with wine and a belly full of food, our breath reeking of garlic. Hands down, it was the Best Two-Year Restaurant Anniversary Party EVER.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Audrey in Food on January 11, 2006 10:02 AM

Comments [rss]

overrated has something else t

For the record, I've dined with polite, attractive, well-groomed folks each time, so that's not the reason for this crap. The servicepeople were nice enough, too, btw.

overrated hill posers

This place must be sneaking coke -- the white kind -- into certain reviewers' meals. Because Crave is home to 3 of my top 5 worst dining experiences in Seattle. And these atrocities had *nothing* to do with my dining companions, mind you.

There were the crepes that never arrived -- even after my breakfast party had waited a good hour to sit, then another 1.5 hours for our food. Then my boycott. Then some skimpy "meat" dish (steak?) that I believe was cow cartilage (which took another 2 hours to prepare, apparently). And then my most recent experience, on an empty Thursday night (8ish), when the chef was too involved whipping up taste tests for a visitor to tend to our orders. After another hour or so wait between bread (good!) and meal (unmemorable!), I killed those miners in West Virginia.

Bottom line: Cool logo, cool location, terrible otherwise. How come no one else is on to this????