Crave on 12th

[Fish]

we went for brunch today. there were no tables available when we got there, so we sat at the counter. i ordered the crave omelet (duck confit, goat cheese, shiitake mushrooms) and a side of sausage and my s.o. ordered the french toast and a side of green chile hash browns.

(rest of the bad experience at Crave deleted)

OK, I'm totally going to regret this when I can't get a table but ... why bother with Crave when you can go to El Greco ? Good service, delicious food (it's what Crave aspires to be) and a breakfast cook (Romero - great guy!) who, like any competent chef, can put out six meals with sides at the same time.

Oh, and the French toast, which is soaked overnight, is easily the best in Seattle and believe me, I've tried many of the other supposedly good examples (Cafe Campagne, Etta's, Coastal Kitchen amongst others).

We go to El Greco often. OK, very often. Every now and again we feel we should try someplace else to keep things interesting, and we're always disappointed.

OK, now forget everything I said. Keep going to Crave or wherever, and make sure the lines at El Greco stay reasonable

As for Crave, I was very excited to see their menu when they were about to open. We went there for dinner a few weeks after they opened, and were very disappointed. I had the roast chicken, my SO a gnocchi dish: the chicken was boring boring boring, and the gnocchi were unremarkable. The desserts were OK - certainly nothing remarkable. We won't be going back.

[MsRamsey]

OK, I'm totally going to regret this when I can't get a table but ... why bother with Crave when you can go to El Greco ? Good service, delicious food

Funny, that's what I always say when people talk about the wait at Glo's!

I can't agree about the service, however. Their service has always been borderline, and I've had breakfast there probably 50 times.

[Ling]

The brunch menu looks great. Any recent reports on the food/service?

[dandelion]

It's very good. If you go for brunch, it's better to go earlier than later. I've gone after 1pm a couple of times, and they have a tendency to have run out of things.

Dinner is absolutely divine. I would die a happy girl if their goat cheese gnocchi was served as my last meal.

[brandtbl]

I actually eat here about once a month for dinner and just about as often for brunch. I think Crave is really quite good! (I guess I wouldn't go there that often if I didn't. )

The service at brunch is sometimes a bit spotty. If you do go for brunch try to get there well before noon on a weekday. The (small) place gets very packed on weekends and during the weekday lunch hour.

Dinner service is much more reliable than brunch service. If one were to go to dinner at Crave I'd probably recommend going Tuesday-Saturday. That's generally when the owner/head chef is cooking and it often really shows in the preparation. Once again though, it does get pretty packed for dinner on Fridays and Saturdays.

Oh yeah, and Tuesday is half price wine night! Yay!

I think even if I didn't live about 3 blocks away I'd still go here pretty often! Just about everything on their menu is very thoughtfully made with a lot of care, though some dishes just aren't quite "there." The daily fish specials are sometimes not quite as well conceived as the regular menu, but they're never inedible and sometimes a little more adventurous than the standard stuff. I'd classify it pretty much as described on their website, "contemporary comfort food" with occasional flashes of delicious excellence. I think they've improved quite a bit since opening.

The chef changes the menu 3-4 times a year, generally to good effect. The online menu isn't at all up to date right now. She just added this sort of interesting lamb shepard's pie that I'll probably order at least one more time. It's basically a spicy lamb stew topped with mashed root vegetables. Quite good. I think the flavors reminded me of Indian food a little bit but I can't really remember the actual spices used. (hence my desire to order it one more time.)

The desserts generally sound interesting but are usually pretty much just very sweet, and I often find them fairly dull. There are a few interesting things, but I think the chef is more successful with the rest of the menu. There was a goat cheese cheesecake with raspberry reduction recently that was pretty tasty.

Anyway, good stuff, and this is my first post in the PNW forum! Hello! I've been reading here for a long time (3 years? 4?) and I finally decided I could/should contribute a bit. Thank you all for the excellent recommendations over the years.

(whoa, I just wrote way more than I'd planned.)

--Ben

[Ling]

Welcome, Ben, and thanks for all the suggestions. I've heard about their half-price wine on Tuesday. Sounds like that's the time to go! I have a batch of brioche proofing right now so I'm going to have to steal their idea of making blue cheese butter to go along with the french toast until I can make it in for brunch.

The goat cheese gnocchi sounds really good, dandelion.

[noambenami]

Heh, I live about fifty yards from Crave. Very decent food, good coffee, good desserts - the chocolate banana terrine is a lot of fun.