| rev:text
| - I was there for the soft opening Friday night and it was packed. Before I start let me say that I love Crudo and I want to love Chef Cullen's newest venture just as much. Southern food generally speaking is simple food for simple palates, this is not a criticism, just an observation. Southern food is comfort food and usually comes in heaping servings, it comes with grits, collared greens, big biscuits, mac and cheese, fried green tomatoes, red beans and rice and fried potatoes of some sort. It comes out big, glistening and hot. This is not exactly what you will get at Okra.
I started with the fried chicken skins for my first appetizer and it was as delicious it sounds. It was not a big serving but it was enough. The honey drizzled on top was a nice touch. My other appetizer was the okra, the namesake for Crudo #2 and I expected something special. It was perhaps the most tender non woody okra I have ever chewed on and I appreciate that, but it was also lacking in flavor. Maybe it was boiled too long, or left on the grill too long or the combination of boiling and grilling, I don't know.
I ordered the fried chicken and it was very good, fried to the point where it was more brown than golden. I do not know if the chicken was organic but I expect it was because the breast and leg were not huge and plump like the kind you might pull out of a red and white bucket. I keep going back to size and portions not because I am a gourmand, but because of the incongruity with the theme. I would have enjoyed a side of grits, collared greens and a biscuit to go with those two smaller than expected pieces of chicken. Lastly I ordered the Johnnycakes because I was craving something starchy. The johnnycakes were a bit of a disappointment, essentially small pancakes without butter or syrup or powdered sugar or fruit or jam, but instead it came with something I recognized from my years in Richmond, pimento cheese. I used to eat this on crackers mostly at parties, but it just seemed odd sitting there cool and stiff next to the johnnycakes which were not nearly hot enough to make the cheese melt.
Lastly, I have to give very high marks to the bar. The drinks were exceptional and this was no surprise. I noticed that one of the cocktails the "Folk and Americana" incorporated Old Overholt rye whiskey and I have to give props to whoever made the decision to use this much maligned (and unfairly so) working man's rye to make such a wonderful cocktail. The Greenpoint too hit the mark, a higher octane version of the Manhattan (rye in place of whisky and Chartreuse substituted for Vermouth) yet smooth and aromatic as could be.
I would like to see a dimmer room and some traditional comfort sides and this would be a real winner.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)