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| - No matter how you look at it Graft is one of the more fine dining restaurants that is instantly recommended to you in Madison. Now I've come to learn the hard way that Glowing Reviews often at times can be deceptive. Graft, on the other hand, did justice to its own!!
The decor of this place throws across a trendy industrial vibe which I find a lot more inviting than a vintage or classic one per se. So well done on that front!
Service is an interesting conundrum coz if it were a "normal" restaurant I'd be totally fine with it. For a fine dining one, it didn't hit the mark. Inattentive and rather confusing is how I would describe our experience. Every round was served by a different person and we had to actually ask to remove plates and subsequent orders. No checking in on us or any other formal service etiquette were shown. Again not to nit pick but I expect such nuances from a Fine Dining place.
The food, however, turned it all around for us! Scintillating is how I'll describe the tapas style dishes and their play on flavors and ingredients. We kicked things off with Fried Chevre and Graft Mac n Cheese. The goat cheese with its pairing of a pepper honey glaze was a star! With an almost non existent fried coating, it simply melted in your mouth so much more elegantly than say a mozzarella. The saltiness of the goat-cheese with the sweet spiciness from the glaze was a sensual dance in the taste-buds! The Mac n Cheese was a more up-scaled version one and I love the thicker consistency of Gouda holding the spatzle together. Not the best of dishes but really good interpretation of Mac n Cheese!
Moving ahead, we tried their tuna salad, the pork belly, chicken liver mousee and finally the Quail. The tuna salad was fresh, light and reminded of a form of poke. Apple shavings were a surprising pairing which actually made it better. The Pork Belly was exquisite! Melt in your mouth goodness. What really took me by surprise was that accompaniment of Asparagus with pickled mustard seeds & szechuan peppercorns. The little bubbles burst in your mouth and give a whole new dimension to the otherwise nice but bland asparagus. The Chicken Liver Mousse with its onion marmalade and crostini's was a refreshing departure from the other "hot" entrees. The mousse itself was seasoned very well and the sweetness from the marmalade balanced the saltiness perfectly. The Quail was my first. The bird itself is very small but the meat was a lot more defined than say a chicken. Cooked al dante, it brought out its strong flavors. The accompaniment of farro with fig n bacon was so so good that I couldn't keep my hands of it!!
Service aside, the food here is very flamboyant and true to a fine dining establishment. Far more that some of its competitors I've been to recently!!
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