Crawford and Son is a casual neighborhood restaurant in historic Oakwood.  It is medium sized, with dim lighting, loud music and a long bar across from the wall of small tables.  It was packed in the middle of the week so the crowd added to the noise level.  It also has no dedicated parking so allow time to hunt around the local streets.  It opened in 2016 and offers a full bar.  The small wine list has a pretty hefty mark up, albeit a nice selection.  Brick walls, exposed duct work in the ceiling and a few sets of antlers make up the interior.  Reservations are a must, even for the counter seating.  It was buzzing with people and the food was amazing.  Also the service was spectacular.  Our server, Sydney, really knew how to pace the meal and add just the right amount of conversation to enhance the evening.  Strong recommendation here.

Place

 

Food

Manchego-Herb biscuits were served hot.  The delicate biscuits were well flavored with a bit of glaze on the top.  Nicely browned, they were very buttery.  The cheese was a wonderful subtle taste that was accentuated by the salt and maybe a hint of rosemary.  Really good.

 

Marinated Snow Pea salad was with black pepper yogurt, pecorino and cured lomo.  This was an excellent dish.  The good dressing was a bit stiff but went great with the peas, mint and lettuce.  It was very refreshing and full of flavor and crunch.  The lomo or cured pork tenderloin pieces added another good flavor.

 

Potato Gnocchi came with short rib, spring peas, carrots and horseradish.  The tender gnocchi were browned on one side and really light in texture.  The beef was extremely tender and blended perfectly with the gnocchi and vegetables.  This was a  wonderful dish.

 

Seared Monkfish was in a bowl of clam chowder with celery root and potato.  The thick slab of fish was tasty and nicely cooked.  The chowder sauce tasted of clams but you really couldn’t find any pieces of them.  Hushpuppies were the fried balls and they were too gummy for me but there was so much else to love in this dish, who cares.  It was terrific.

 

Charred Beef Rib was served with green asparagus, spring onions and steak sauce.  The steak sauce was more a barbecue like sauce (a bit of smoke and sweet) which was really good with the tender beef.  The short ribs had been cooked in a sous vide for 24 hours.  The asparagus were cooked nicely as was the charred onion.  The mushrooms in the dish had a scoring on the flesh that was interesting and I’m not sure what it was for but they were good with lots of chew.  This one was heavy but also great.

 

Sticky Toffee Pudding incorporated walnuts, figs and honey rosemary ice cream.  You couldn’t really see the figs but you could taste them and detect their texture in this totally moist cake.  The lovely ice cream was great with the sweet cake and sauce.  This was a really great dessert.  Yum x 2.