Holy crapola I knew it had been some time since I blogged, but did not realize it was this long…..you all should have really bent me over your damn knees. I am embarrassed and not thrilled with myself. For those of you that know me though, you will likely understand that I had been in a job I was miserable in and then lost that same job and I did not handle any of that extremely well. I am in a much better place now, so thank you to all of my friends and family who put up with me during that time…..I love you all so much.
So, this restaurant inspired me to get back to my blog and my passion……great food….great service…..great atmosphere…..great experience……great local owners…..I can go on, but you get the jist.
First of all, I have to give a shout out to Alicia Belle and Scott Jernigan for getting me into the restaurant on opening night!!! Alicia was my partner in crime for the night and I was ready as the hubby was out of town on his annual boy’s baseball trip, so I was solo and kids were at sleepovers!!
Okay, we started off with a cocktail and I absolutely cannot remember the amazing cocktail I had, but I literally drank it possibly 2 sips…..okay, may 3-4 tops. Let me back up a minute here and talk about the overall vibe when you walk in. You immediately feel warm and cozy (absolutely love that it is not a giant space). If I had one piece of feedback for you all….it would be to get some very chill artwork up on that brick (nothing crazy).
Before I get to the food, I want to talk about the service here. Okay, you all know I spent over 10 years in the restaurant industry. That makes me a very sympathetic and understanding patron (there are limits though), but it also makes it tough to really wow me. I was a damn great hostess, expediter, cocktail server, food server, bartender and manager. Yes, I have done it all. This was the best service I have had in a very long time. The staff was not only incredibly attentive, but they were fun and playful where it fit and disappeared when it made sense. Also, I want to say it is VERY difficult to pull off incredible service along with having zero hitches on opening night and there literally were none. Nothing I hate more than untrained servers who don’t know the menu, ingredients, etc. There was not one person who came to the table to either take an order or deliver something that was not incredibly knowledgeable on it all. I was at a restaurant recently (a newer one that I will blog about) and when they brought me the dish I asked what a few things were and the answer was I don’t know. If you do not know, you should not be on the floor other than seating tables until you do. Huge shout out to all of you and I look forward to seeing you all soon. Actually, so soon that I will be there tomorrow night to celebrate my 11th wedding anniversary. And I think we are going on the 9th for early birthday celebrations (it is my 40th this year and I am not thrilled).
Okay, the food. Holy mouth orgasms batman!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, we started out with the Yellow Beet Salad that came with cameo apple, feta and horseradish vinaigrette. First of all, I like beets OK…..I am not usually in love with them. I took my first bite and about shouted out too loud how amazing they were. Then I took a bite that had all of the ingredients in it (the perfect bite) and that is when the mouth orgasm hit me like a freight train and the shouting just happened (I know….not that out of character for me). This was the most amazing beet salad I have ever experienced and I keep thinking about it since. Scott is an absolute genius as that perfect bite completely changes the entire dish! I am all tingly thinking about it now.
The next course we had was the Charred Octopus with fennel, citrus, chorizo and marcona almonds. First and foremost, all of these ingredients are incredible on their own and the surprising ingredient for me here was the marcona almonds. Again, I took a small bite of just the octopus, which was amazing on its own and then went for the perfect bite…..and you guessed it…..another freaking mouth orgasm for me!!!!!! They key for this dish is making sure that the octopus does indeed get charred and crispy in some places without overcooking it resulting in chewy octopus…..ewe….nasty, and this was accomplished flawlessly. We also had the Raw Flounder with miso, lemon, fermented peppers and seaweed. When this dish came out I was surprised by how it looked. I honestly do not even know what I was expecting, but I just was. Now, this one you have to eat all of the components together to really understand this dish. Truly phenomenal and also very light, so a great starter when you are afraid to get too full before the main course. Sadly, I ate it too fast and missed a picture!!! 🙁
Now, I feel it is time to mention the amazing friends we made on each side of our table. Alicia knew the couple to my right (sorry, but terrible with names) and the two on my left were new to us, but that did not stop me (okay, okay….I may have had two cocktails and a glass of wine at this point). The two amazing guys to my left are the owners of The Pharmacy Café, which is right next to Crawford and Son (it is a modern take on an old-school counter service café with breakfast, lunch, handcrafted sodas and apparently kickass sandwiches from what I hear). Well, you would have thought I had known them for years because somehow we were all feeding each other (okay, perhaps Alicia was not participating) and it all seemed right that a guy I did not know was fork feeding me. 🙂 Here they are and I will be there soon and blog ASAP on this one as I have heard amazing things and cannot wait to try it:
I cannot remember all of the amazing items they fed me, but I believe it included the Confit Chicken Legs, Strip Steak and Short Rib, the Sugar Cream Pie (I would have thought I would’ve hated this based upon the description, but Scott just cannot seem to do anything wrong) and the Chocolate Chip Waffle dessert…..they freaking had me at waffle. I should not leave out that my friends on the right had rolls just sitting there calling me over and they were not even going to finish them, so I helped myself……and I am super happy I did. I did not have anything go into my mouth that did not taste absolutely amazing (stay clean minded peeps). Here are the rolls and their desserts I partook in (I totally could have stolen a picture of the rolls off the internet, but I think it was important for you all to see how many they were just leaving there…..it was hurtful:
So, this is by far my new favorite restaurant in Raleigh and I cannot wait to be there tomorrow night to celebrate my anniversary. I will likely have a follow-up blog as we did not order any entrees while we were there. We did get the side of Cauliflower with almonds, lemon and chervil. This reminded me of a similar dish he made at the previous restaurant he was at. I have never met a cauliflower I hated and this certainly did not disappoint. Now, if you are not into something super creamy, then this dish is not for you, so keep that in mind.
Scott Crawford – thank you so much for opening this restaurant and for your passion for fresh and amazing food paired with a great dining experience!! xoxo
#Crawfordandson #downtownraleigh #raleighfoodwhore #thepharmacycafe #mouthorgasmsallnight