Pizza Night

Yikes, 2 1/2 months since my last post. What can I say, except that life has kept me busy these last few months?  I am, however, making a new resolution to be better about keeping up with all of my various blogs.  No, really. I mean it this time. 

About once or twice a month, usually on a Friday, we have homemade pizza night.  It's great fun and everyone is always happy since they get to put on (or leave off) whatever toppings they want.  We've been doing it for years now, and have the process down to the point where we pretty much never order delivery anymore.  Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I make a damn fine pizza. ;)

I usually make thin-crust pizzas on a pizza stone, but I've been wanting to give the pan pizza recipe from America's Test Kitchen a try for some time now.  Of course, I'm too cheap to pay for a subscription to their website (especially since I already own one of their cookbooks), so a simple Google search brought me to a copy of the recipe on this blog.

Confession time: the hubs and I are big eaters.  Ok, we're pigs, especially when it comes to pizza.  Even our 4-year-old daughter has been known to devour four or five adult-sized slices of restaurant/delivery pizza.  When I read that this recipe made two pizzas which would feed 4-6 people, I was a bit skeptical that this would be enough food for the three of us since the individual ones we normally make are much bigger than 9 inches.  Also, over the years, we have each become more firmly ensconced in our individual tastes.  Troy is big on pepperoni. I love sausage and mushrooms. The kiddo does not like veggies of any kind.  I knew that if we didn't each have our own pizza, there would be issues. So I doubled the recipe to make 4 pizzas.  Yeah, in retrospect, it was a little bit crazy.  Here's the doubled recipe, with a few other minor changes from the original.

Pan Pizza

Dough Ingredients

3/4 c. olive oil, divided
1 3/4 c. skim milk, warmed to 110 degrees
4 tsp sugar
4 2/3 c. all-purpose flour, plus extra for counter
2 pkgs (or 4 1/2 tsp) instant yeast
1 tsp table salt

Toppings
3 c. tomato sauce
6 c. shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

pepperoni, sausage, bell peppers, onions, etc.

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and preheat oven to 200 degrees. When oven reaches 200 degrees, turn it off. 

2. Combine warm milk, sugar and 1/4 c. olive oil in measuring cup. 

3. In the bowl of stand mixer, combine flour, yeast, and salt with dough hook. Turn machine to low and slowly add milk mixture. Once the dough comes together, increase speed to medium and mix until dough is shiny and smooth, about 5-10 min.  [If the dough does not want to come together (this can vary depending on weather, humidity, etc.), add a little water, a teaspoon at a time until it starts to form a ball.]  My dough was very stiff and not as smooth as I would have liked, but I just went ahead with it after 10 minutes of kneading.

4. Turn dough onto lightly floured counter, and gently shape into ball.  Lightly grease a large bowl with cooking spray (I just re-use the mixer bowl) and place dough in greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in warm oven until doubled in size, about 30 min.

5. Coat each of four 9-inch cake pans with 2 TB of oil. [I cut this down from the three tablespoons in the original recipe since 2 seemed to coat the pan just fine.]

6. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter, divide in 4 pieces, and lightly roll each half into ball. Working with 1 dough ball at a time, roll and shape dough into 9 ½ inch round and press into oiled pan. Cover with plastic wrap and set in warm spot (not in oven) until puffy and slightly risen, about 20 minutes. 

7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

8. Remove plastic wrap from dough. Ladle approximately ⅔ c. sauce on each round, leaving ½ inch border around edges. Sprinkle each with about 1 ½ c. cheese and add your desired toppings. * I

9. Bake until cheese is melted and starting to brown around edges, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven; let pizzas rest in pans for 1 minute. Using spatula, transfer pizzas to cutting board and cut each into 8 wedges. Serve.

*The original America's Test Kitchen recipe was for pepperoni pizza, and they recommended you microwave the pepperoni on a paper towel first to render out some of the fat to keep the top of your pizza from getting greasy.  Troy and the kiddo used mini turkey pepperonis, which didn't have quite as much oil, so we skipped that step.  I used turkey Italian sausage, which I browned in a pan first.  I also added a ton of mushrooms and some caramelized onions to my pizza, but I was worried they'd dry out, so I put them under the cheese.

I cooked up three pizzas and put the remaining dough ball in the fridge for tomorrow.  I'll update with how it held up when I get the chance.  

 

The Verdict

All three pizzas were excellent. Very different from our usual, but in a good way.  The crust was lovely: thick and soft and chewy.  My only minor complaint was that it was a teeny bit on the bland side, so next time I will likely season it with a little salt after shaping it in the pan. I liked that with the thicker crust and the pan, we could really load the pizzas up with sauce and toppings, compared to what we normally make, so that was also a nice change.  The biggest bonus was that I could cook all three at once, whereas I'd previously been limited to one pizza per stone.  

Oh and the portion size? Well, I definitely underestimated how filling the crust would be.  The kiddo ate about 1/4 (or 2 slices) of her pizza.  I ate about half of mine.  Troy (who was starving by the time they came out of the oven) managed to completely polish his off, but I think he probably hurt himself in the process. 

I really like that I can start making the dough for this as late as 4pm and still be ready to eat by 6. I'll definitely be working these into the rotation. 

Edited to add:

I made another pizza with the leftover dough last night and was very pleased with the results.  Because the dough was so cold when I took it out of the fridge, it didn't rise as much after putting it in the pan, but I kind of preferred it this way since it meant the crust did not end up as thick, and I had more room for toppings.  I rolled it big enough to have crust going up the sides of the pan, which again, made the crust thinner overall. In homage to my Chicago roots, I filled it more like a deep dish pizza, using some chunky homemade tomato sauce (with meat) and frozen spinach that had been defrosted and squeezed to remove excess water.  It was no Giordano's, but it turned out pretty dang good.  Now I'm thinking I need to try deep dish next. ;)

Snow Day

 On Tuesday, we had a normally rare snow day due to the freezing rain/sleet the night before, followed by freezing temperatures which resulted in the roads turning into solid sheets of ice.  Being from the Midwest, this type of thing never used to phase me, but since they don't have salt trucks down here (and barely even have sand), it makes driving pretty hazardous.  So E and I took advantage of the lazy day at home to hang out, do some craft projects and bake!

First, I made my friend Jacki's super yummy bread recipe.  Basically, you toss all the ingredients into a bread machine and let it mix and rise, but then take it out to form it into loaves and bake it in your regular oven.  Works like a charm and it's a great, no-fuss no-muss way to have freshly baked bread almost anytime.  I bought a cheap used bread machine pretty much just for this purpose. 

One minor change I make: since I substitute slightly less than half the white flour for whole wheat, I've found that it tends to rise a bit less than I'd like, so I compensate by increasing the yeast to 1 full tablespoon.  Both Troy and the kiddo go crazy for this bread whenever I make it and usually we manage to plow through an entire loaf in less than a day.  Luckily, the recipe makes enough dough for 2 loaves. ;)

 

After the bread was done, I let E help me mix up a batch of Congo Bars from Bakerella's website.  As per her recommendation, we mixed them completely by hand, but I'm not sure it made much of a difference in the texture since they came out so underbaked, even after I added about 5 minutes to the bake time. I think next time I will bake them for longer at a lower temperature.  

 

Even underbaked, they are still sinfully good and so easy to make with ingredients I keep on hand. I added a cup of butterscotch chips, just because I had them handy, and it might have been a bit over the top since they are already so sweet.  I may also try cutting the sugar next time by a couple ounces and see what happens.

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Last month, I had a few friends over for an impromptu knitting night, and I used that as an excuse to bake up some cookies.  Here's my version of a cranberry oatmeal cookie, adapted from an Allrecipes recipe.  I like this recipe because it's a bit more heavily spiced than your average oatmeal cookie, so it's especially good around the holidays.  I used cranberries because I hate raisins, but you could easily swap them out.  I did think these were a tad sweet the last time I made them, so I will likely cut out at least 1/4 c. of the brown sugar for a slightly milder cookie.
 

Ingredients

1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

3 c. rolled oats

1 c. dried cranberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a small bowl, combine both flours, baking soda, salt cinnamon and cloves. 

3. In your mixer bowl, cream butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy.

4. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl in-between each addition.  Add vanilla and combine.

5. Add flour mixture and mix on low until just combined.

6. Add oats and cranberries and stir to combine.

7.  Drop rounded tablespoons onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden around the edges.  Do not overbake.  Allow to cool on cookie sheet for about 2 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. 

I can't quite remember since it's been a while, but I think this makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Weekend breakfast

When I was a kid, my mom used to occasionally make crepes for the family on weekends.  I never thought it was unusual until we had guests who "oohed and aahhed" over such a fancy breakfast.  But crepes really aren't all that hard to make.  It's more or less the same as pancakes, you just cook them one at a time in a smaller pan.  I'd say the hardest part is waiting the 30 minutes for the batter to rest.  With Father's Day coming up, I figured what better way to show your appreciation than to give him a special fancy breakfast. ;)

Here is the  recipe I used for the batter, from Crepes, Waffles & Pancakes! by Kathryn Hawkins:

Basic Crepe Batter

Makes 12 crepes

Ingredients

1 c. plain flour

2 Tbsp. extra-fine sugar (optional)

1 pinch salt

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

1 1/4 c. milk

1/3 c. unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Combine the flour, sugar  (if using), and salt in a bowl.  Make a well in the center, break in the eggs, then add the extra yolks.  Add half the milk and gradually work into the flour using a whisk.  Beat lightly until smooth, but don't over-mix.

2. Add the remaining milk gradually, whisking gently until it is well combined.  Transfer to a batter bowl, cover loosely and leave in a cool place for 30 min.  Stir 1/4 c. melted butter into the batter before using.

3. Lightly brush a small frying pan (6-inch diameter) with a little of the remaining butter and heat until hot.  Holding the pan, pour in about 1/4 c. batter and tilt the pan from side to side so that thte batter runs into a thin, even layer across the bottom of the pan.

4. Place the pan over moderate heat and cook for about 1 minute or until the crepe browns around the edges and begins to curl away from the pan.  Slide a palette knife under the crepe and flip it over.  Brown the underside for a further minute.

5. Turn out onto a wire rack lined with a clean tea towel and baking parchment.  Fold the paper and towel over the crepe to keep it moist.  Continue to make further crepes, brushing the pan with melted butter as necessary, gently stirring the batter each time it is used, and stacking the cooked crepes between sheets of parchment until you are ready to serve.

My Notes

I did not bother with extra-fine sugar.  I used regular granulated and it seemed to work out just fine.  I also think that they took a bit longer than a minute for each side.  Oh and this made closer to 14 or 15 for me, but I probably could have made them bigger.

I got a fancypants crepe pan for Christmas last year, but any small nonstick pan will work just as well.  I also used a large offset spatula to lift and flip the crepes.  I found that was a bit easier to use than a regular wide spatula.

 To keep them warm, I stacked them on a plate in the oven with layers of parchment in between and a clean tea towel over the top.

 

The thing I loved the most about crepes is that you can set up an assembly line of fillings and everyone can make their own.  You can do savory or sweet, healthy or not-so-healthy, fancy or plain. ;)  I set out everything from bananas and nutella (my fave) to crushed pineapple and whipped cream to just plain old strawberry jam.

 

 

I thought I was going to have enough leftover to try to make Crepes Suzette later, but these were all gobbled up in one sitting!

Shameless plug

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I've been busier than usual as of late.  But I promise I have a great weekend breakfast/brunch post coming up soon!  In the meantime, here's a link to a guest blog I wrote for Momtrends.  It includes my world-famous recipe for "Kitchen Sink Cookies."  Ok, maybe not world-famous, but they're pretty famous in our household.  Troy has declared them his favorite cookies ever, which is high praise coming from someone who likes cookies as much as he does. 

If you enjoy the post, please leave a comment! ;)

Abacus

Yikes, has it really been almost 2 months since my last post?  Sincere apologies, as the month of March was a bit crazy, and then, well...I guess I just got a bit lazy about catching up.  To make up for it, here's another restaurant review.

For my birthday last month, Troy took me to Abacus for dinner.  We've always heard fabulous things about it but had yet to go there, so I was very excited to try it. 

We got there early so that we could relax and have a drink at the bar.  Troy had the "Big Daddy" martini and I had the pear martini, which was fabulous.  Sweet and tart, but not too much so.  I think I could have easily drank 2-3 or them.  But I downed that first one a little too quickly and opted against another for fear of being too drunk to enjoy my food. 

After Troy made the reservation, I had perused their sample menu online and was pretty certain that I wanted to do the 9-course tasting menu.  A bunch of friends had raved to me about the lobster shooters there, which I really wanted to try, but ultimately, we decided against it because we knew it was just going to be too much food.

Normally, I feel too self-conscious to take pictures, and I also don't like having to disrupt our meal and conversation either.  But for some reason, I decided to bring my camera this time, just in case I felt like using it.  I used my 50mm lens, because it was the smallest and also because  I refuse to use flash in those situation.   I just quickly snapped one photo of each course before digging in.  So some of these may be dark, slightly out-of-focus, etc.  Sorry.

Troy and I both really liked the ambiance there: modern without being too trendy and weird, and not so loud you couldn't have a conversation.   Each table was individually lit so you could see your food (I hate eating in the dark), but the room wasn't so bright overall as to be overwhelming.  It had a nice sense of privacy, but then, we did sit in the corner, so not sure what it would have been like sitting elsewhere.

So as I mentioned above, we opted for the nine-course tasting menu.  Many were mini versions of menu items.

No amuse bouche, which I left me a little disappointed. :(

Artisan bread basket - rosemary olive foccacia, apricot wheat(?) bread, sourdough, mini biscuits, and what I think were cayenne flatbread crisps or crackers.  Clearly made in-house.  Or if it wasn't, I want to know where they bought it all because it was fabulous.  I'm not normally a fan of olives, but they were really delicious chopped up on top of the foccacia.  The only real miss for me were the mini-biscuits, which were a bit bland and seemed like they didn't really belong there.  Pretty sure the butter was homemade as well.

1st course: Tuna tataki in ginger-scallion ponzu sauce

 

Lightly seared tuna, totally rare inside, thinly sliced and arranged in a circle.  The sauce was beautiful - perfectly salty and tangy and just the right amount of ginger - and really complimented the flavor of the tuna.  One of our favorite dishes of the evening.

2nd course: Hawaiian walu fish in chili lemongrass sauce/broth with Kobe beef mini-dumpling, baby shitake mushrooms, sugar snap peas, & red peppers

Troy and I thought this was the best dish of the evening.  The fish was cooked absolutely perfectly, the veggies were a good complement, and the sauce was amazing - tangy & slightly spicy.  I thought the Kobe dumpling was a bit of an odd addition since the richness of the beef threw off the lightness of everything else.  Troy didn't have a problem with it.

3rd course: King salmon on pepper jack grits with jicama slaw, pepita pesto and cayenne tomato butter sauce

This was also excellent.  Again, the fish was cooked perfectly.  I thought the cheesy grits would be weird with the salmon, but the flavor wasn't so overwhelming and I liked the contrast of textures.  I also liked that the slaw had strips of tortilla chips in them, which gave ti a nice crunch. 

4th course - Sangria sorbet with a golden raspberry (forgive the extreme lack of focus)

I thought this was a bit of cheat, calling a palate cleanser the fourth course.   The flavor was nice, very much like sangria, although it was a little bit sweet for my taste, especially after being dusted with powdered sugar.  Also I hate to nitpick, but the texture was a lot rougher than what I'd expect from a sorbet.  I'm not sure if the runner who served this mis-spoke or not, but I'd say it was more like granita.

5th course: Seared foie gras over duck confit blintz with madagascar vanilla sauce

This was my other favorite dish of the night.  The foie gras had a gorgeous seared crust to it which really gave it a nice texture.  I was a bit wary about the vanilla sauce since I generally feel like vanilla belongs in dessert, but it actually went nicely with the richness of the foie.  There was another flavor in the sauce that I couldn't quite make out.  I thought it was pear, but it turned out to be granny smith apple!  The duck blintz was also very good, but I thought it didn't go as well with the sauce.

6th course: Venison with butter poached potatoes, pearl onions and duck(?) confit

On this dish, my memory has failed me a bit.  This had a lovely sauce on it, but I cannot for the life of me remember the description.  I want to say it taste like some kind of wine reduction, but I could swear that the server said something about cherries.  Also, I'm fairly certain that he also told us this had duck confit, however the version on the menu said rabbit.  We weren't entirely sure, even as we were eating it. 

Again, this was beautifully cooked.  I can't say there was anything wrong with this dish, but it didn't really knock my socks off and make me want to lick my plate.  The butter-poached potatoes were probably my favorite part.  Also, they were a little inconsistent in plating as I had WAY more confit on my plate than Troy.  I think he also had cherry tomatoes on his plate, and I did not.

7th course: Antelope with Gorgonzola fingerling potatoes, demi glace sauce

I loved the gaminess of the meat, and the contrast of the sauce to cut the richness, but the potatoes were weird.  I absolutely hated the gorgonzola - it was way too overpowering.  I also found it odd that each of my three potatoes was different.  I'm not sure what I was supposed to get out of that.

8th course - cheese course

Again, apologies for my failure to write down the names of all the cheeses.  Basically, the only one I really remember is the semi-soft pictured to the left was a Chimay.  On the right was an aged cheddar, and in the center, a blue cheese.  The cheeses were served with a small tumbler of wildflower honey, quince gelee, spiced nuts, artisan bread crisps, and thin slices of apple.

I really enjoyed this course.  All of the cheeses were quite different and delicious.  I also really liked the cubes of quince gelee.  I do wish there were a few more bread crisps though.

9th course - Dessert

 

Berry galette with goat cheese crema and lemon curd ice cream over mixed berry sauce

We were told this was a bit off the usual tasting menu; apparently these was made as testers for a dessert special but were too small, so they gave them to us instead of the nutella & kitkat concotion we were supposed to get.  I was very glad for it.

I loved the galette, especially with eaten in conjunction with the goat cheese crema underneath.  In fact, I wish there had been a little bit more of that.  The ice cream also very good but was already almost totally melted when it was served. :(

 

All-in-all, this was a very good meal that fell just short of being great.  I felt like every dish had one element that just didn't belong there, like the beef dumpling, or the Gorgonzola cheese.  Troy says I'm overcritical, but my big hangup is that everything should all taste good together.  So if you put a bunch of different items together on one plate, I should be able to put a little bit of each item on my fork, take one bite and not be like, heh? Is that too much to ask?  

I was a little bit surprised that with all the sushi on the menu, there wasn't any sushi as part of the tasting menu.  However, I will say that the seafood courses were far and away the strongest part of the menu.  

They do have happy hour specials, so I'd definitely like to go back sometime to hang out at the bar and nibble on appetizers. 

Craft Dallas

With my mom in town for a visit last week, the hubby and I decided to take advantage of free babysitting and celebrate our anniversary a little early.  We usually try to go someplace nice and this year we settled on Craft.

Craft Dallas is located inside the W hotel, right across from Victory Park.  I have to confess, Troy and I are rather woefully unhip, especially after being sequestered in the 'burbs with a kid for the past 3 years, so it was a little bit of a culture shock to go to the W, which is fairly trendy hipster-y.

I was pretty shocked to find that the place was almost completely dead.  Our reservation was for 7:30 and there were only maybe 4-5 other tables seated.  I have no idea if that's normal for a weeknight or not, but I figured there'd be a few more people out and about on a Thursday.  It was pretty weird, but not totally unpleasant.  Just...odd.  The ambience was otherwise just fine.  Inside, it was pretty dark, but not so dark you couldn't see your food. 

The entire menu is pretty much a la carte, and everything is served family-style, in the center of the table.  There is an option for a "Market Menu" which is $45/person and you get to choose from a 3-4 different options for a starter, main & side dish.  We briefly considered it, but ultimately opted not to do it because A. the whole table has to do it; B. there weren't all that many options, especially for starters; and C. it didn't seem like very much food.  We figured that if we went to the trouble to get all dressed up for a night without the kid, we may as well do it up in style and really EAT!

Here is what we ended up having.  (Sorry, no pics again.  It was way too dark for my camera phone and I hate ruining the ambience at a nice restaurant with flashbulbs.)

Bread: 

While we were still mulling our options, they brought out a bread course, which consisted of thick slices of a dark, rye-ish bread, an Italian-style bread with sesame seeds, and salted butter.  Both breads were very good, but were not baked in-house.

Amuse bouche:

Butternut squash & foie gras soup, served in small white ceramic cup, almost like a shot glass. Soup was garnished with couple drops of balsamic and toasted pine nuts.  Even though you couldn't really taste the foie gras, it had a very rich taste to it, almost like a bisque.  Texture was perfectly smooth and creamy.

Starters:

Half dozen oysters, half one kind (buttery), half another (briny) - sorry, I've forgotten the names.  Served with tiny lemon wedges and mignonette sauce.  We ordered these on a whim since I had just been saying how long it's been since I've eaten oysters.  They are sold individually, which is why we decided to mix it up a bit.  I loved the buttery oysters, Troy loved the briny ones, so it worked out perfectly.  I preferred the lemon over the mignonette.

Seared foie gras & pineapple.  Troy had never had foie gras before, so we decided to try this one out.  We chose this version over the torchon because we thought he might prefer the texture of seared.  It was served with a pineapple puree and small chunks of pineapple.  I liked the contrast of the tangy pineapple and the creamy/rich foie gras.

Baby spinach & applewood bacon salad.  It also had pickled red onions and some kind of creamy/sweet vinaigrette.  I know this sounds ridiculously simple, but it was SO delicious!  One of our favorite dishes of the evening.

Main courses:

28 day dry-aged NY strip (21 oz, bone-in).  Served with some kind of red wine demi/reduction sauce, giant rosemary sprig on top; served sliced.  This was excellent.  Absolutely perfectly cooked - beautiful sear on the outside, medium-rare throughout the entire center.  In fact, the inside was so perfectly even that Troy and debated whether it had been cooked sous-vide first.  Sauce was a tiny bit over-reduced, but otherwise a perfect complement to the meat.

Diver scallops, seared and served with some kind of brown butter sauce.  Again, these were absolutely perfectly cooked.  They melted like butter in your mouth.  And I wanted to take a bath in the sauce. 

Sides:

Sauteed baby broccoli.  This was good, but not my favorite of the evening.  It was more like broccolini than broccoli, which is technically different.  It had a small squeeze of lemon over it that was nice.  And again, it was perfectly cooked.  Nothing worse than overcooked broccoli.

Gnocchi, served in creamy butter sauce.  This was absolutely TO DIE FOR.  I absolutely love gnocchi and this might have been the best I've ever had.  Perfectly soft and tender and melt-in-your-mouth perfect.  Sauce was creamy and rich with a tiny bit of cheese sprinkled in there.  Troy and I both agreed that we would easily drive down there just to eat plates of gnocchi. I think this was our top dish of the night.

Dessert:

We were pleasantly surprised to get a little dessert amuse of pear slices with lavender caramel.  I'm not normally a fan of lavender in my food (it usually feels like I'm eating potpourri), but it was subtle enough to still be enjoyable.

Sticky toffee pudding, with caramelized pecans and clotted cream.   We had a hard time deciding on dessert, but this turned out to be the perfect choice.  It was served in a cup, almost like a parfait.  Rich and gooey, with a nice bit of crunch from the pecans, and the clotted cream (mostly on the bottom) cut the sweetness nicely.

Maitre'd course: This consisted of six tiny little mini-cookies - two each of salty peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, and double chocolate.  The chocolate was almost brownie-like in texture, very rich.  And the peanut butter was very interesting in that it had almost no sugar in it.  I normally like salty-sweet combos (salted caramel is a fave), but this was only salty, which was a bit odd.  I think I would have liked it better if I hadn't eaten it first - it would have been a nice contrast to the chocolate cookie.  Oatmeal cookie was good too, with a nice brown sugar crunch to it.

Last, but not least they gave us a little take-home treat in clear cellphane bags.  I'm fairly certain our server told us it was an espresso muffin, but when I ate it the next morning it was actually a banana chocolate chip muffin.  It was good, but I'm not sure where that there was any espresso in it at all.

All-in-all, this was a very very good meal.  Nothing crazily inventive like our L2O meal, but simple, straightforward cooking, done at a high level.  Amazing how something that seems so simple as proper cooking can make such a difference.

Service was very attentive.  I don't know if this is the norm or just because it was a slow night but I think we had no less than 3 different servers or bus boys coming by to check on us, but it was never intrusive or annoying.  My one minor complaint was that they served our entrees while Troy was away from the table.  I know it's probably not a big deal to some people, and if we were at some random Tex-Mex joint, I wouldn't care.  But in my opinion, this is a faux pas at a high-end restaurant.  Luckily, he came back very shortly thereafter, while the food was still hot.

I've heard some people complain about leaving Craft still hungry.  Troy and I were a little baffled by this because we left absolutely stuffed.  But I will confess that some of the entree portions can be a bit small.  Those diver scallops?  There were only 4 of them.  If we hadn't also ordered the steak, those 4 scallops definitely would not have cut it as an entree for one person.  So you may want to put a little thought into how you mix and match your entrees.

However, it's an a la carte menu, so if you're a big eater, you'll need to order more food.  Yes, it's pricey, but if you're already dropping a pretty penny on the meal, it seems silly to cheap out on spending another $10-$20 for an additional starter or a side.  

This meal probably ranked as one of our top 10, mostly based on the fact that everything was cooked so perfectly.  I love the philosophy of not getting overly fussy with your food and letting the ingredients shine on their own.  Based on our usual dining budget, Craft is going to be best reserved for special occasions, but I think it's safe to say that we'll definitely going back.  I do have a birthday coming up soon, hmmm....