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| - I am giving this rating based solely on the meal. I strongly believe that in terms of service, Graft has a stellar staff. Everyone we interacted with was warm, friendly, and attentive.
We ended up going there at 6:15 PM because we had a show at 8PM at the Overture. We thought that this would be plenty of time for us to dine and still make it to the show on time. We unfortunately ended up having to quickly leave at 7:55 (without even getting to attempt dessert) because of some small mishaps in our meal. My husband and I ordered 5 small plates: Mac & Cheese, Pappardelle, Hanger Steak, Pork Belly, and Tuna Tartare. This this is more a review on the food, I am going to go through each plate individually.
When we asked our waiter about how the courses should be served, he said that he would take care of lining them up to provide the best pairings. This was how the meal came out:
1.) Mac & Cheese and Tuna Tartare
2.) Pappardelle
3.) Pork Belly & Hanger Steak
I think in the end, there were some major issues in the kitchen that night because I don't think this was how the plates were originally suppose to be served. My biggest issue with the pairing was the Mac & Cheese with Tuna Tartare. I feel like it is a fundamental faux pas to serve cheese and fish. I didn't enjoy the combination of a fatty fish like tuna with a heavy cheese and buttermilk that was in the mac.
Mac & Cheese: The biggest issue here was the macaroni was overcooked and the dish was incredibly mushy. Also, there was not a large enough textural difference. They added some croutons on the top, but there weren't enough to counter the overall mushiness of the dish. In terms of the flavor, I think it was really one-note. Perhaps if the mac was topped with a very different cheese like parmesan or something with a sharp bite, that could have helped. But the cheese sauce was made with buttermilk so the dish has a underlying sourness to it. Overall, I was not very impressed with this dish and I think that other places in Madison do better Mac & Cheese.
Tuna Tartare: I really enjoyed the freshness of the tuna and generally thought this was nice. The only unfortunate parts were the apparent lack of acidity and salt. The tartare was served with rice chips. I think the rice chips, while very unique, are not practical. The chips easily got stuck in your teeth and turned glue-like. That being said, the initial crunch of the rice chips and the saltiness of it is really awesome, I just didn't like how I was constantly trying to pick the chips out of my teeth for the rest of the meal.
Pappardelle: I am going to be honest, this was a train-wreck but I think this may just be a fluke. I was really excited about trying this dish because I saw some really promising reviews about it. When the dish came out, there was a very large hair on top. Hey this happens, I am not here to pass judgement on the what I would considered to be a random accident. I immediately informed the host and waiter and I could tell they were very embarrassed. They took the plate and ordered a new one completely (and I didn't realize until later that they actually didn't charge us for this dish! Plus they gave us a complimentary dish while we waited). When the dish finally came out, the pappardelle was...gummy. The pasta was a semolina-based noodle but I think there was either too much water or egg in the dough. We took a bite each, and had to push the dish aside because it was not very good. The mushrooms on it were very nice though. But going back to the sauce, I have the same comment as I did about the Mac & Cheese: it was one-note.
Pork-Belly: The pork belly was pretty nice. The sauce was salty and acidic enough to counterbalance the fattiness of the belly. The meat could have been more tender to my taste but my husband appreciated that it had some chew. We both agreed that the skin could have had more crunch and there was definitely a lack of sauce on the plate in proportion to the thickness of the pork. They served this with purple potatoes but there was nothing really special about that potatoes.
Sweet Potato Pave (complimentary dish): This was the dish we were provided for free after the mishap with the pappardelle. It was a simple and rustic dish of layered sweet and regular potato. This was served with a side of spinach and caper. I think my husband and I enjoyed the greens more than the potato at this point in the meal just because we are starting to become full. Overall though, it was an okay dish and a very nice sentiment.
Hanger Steak: We asked for medium-rare minus and we got medium-rare minus! The steak was very good and I really enjoyed the parsnip fries it was served with. I really liked the leek bread pudding but was so filled that I couldn't really eat much of it. The mornay sauce was nice as well but by this time in the meal, it was just too rich for us. If I were to recommended one dish, I would recommend this one.
Overall:The staff was great but the food was meh.
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