Places to Eat
Posted on 03. Jan, 2010 by Bryan Coller in Gourmand
The Crow Bar and Kitchen
2325 E. Pacific Coast Hwy.
Corona Del Mar, CA 92625
949.675.0070
I can appreciate the populism behind wanting to serve gourmet food without the gourmet context and the upturned, French noses we so readily imagine hovering over the foie gras. And it seems to me that most cutting-edge shit done in the everyman’s kitchen trades that traditional suit-and-tie milieu for ideas of Robin Hood-ing food to the masses, and browning farm-raised scallops with some locally, sustainably grown produce–which is a great trade, most of the time.
However, there is a point where this becomes an ambiance and not an ideology. When a sort of bougie atmosphere starts to ruminate, or was there from the start. I feel as though The Crow Bar falls into this group: the fronting group. Which shows in the food. While it’s definitely not something that I am going to pass up, duck fat fries are about as trendsetting as iPhones or the newest Dave Eggers book. Except that the duck fat fries are actually way good. Also good are the moules frites, which were mercifully plentiful and only suffered for not having been served with any bread to sop up the sauce; which was full of flavors pleading for sopping: garlic, wine, even bacon–another indulgence as guilty as the duck fat fries.
In accordance with the gastropub moniker, The Crow Bar features a respectable beer-and-wine list, giving the diner a chance to make an apt pairing if inspiration strikes just right: What red will make my steak frites totally bomb-ass? Although, what the hell do you pair with a grilled-cheese sandwich stuffed with pear slices and an impossible number of cheeses? Honestly? And yet this is a sign of an establishment that is trying to do something more with food, to make it great in an earnest and welcoming way. But I think they’ve gotten lost in the gastropub idea. Ketchup-infused buns on a “gourmet burger” are kind of too much, like the staff’s matching T-shirts. And if The Crow Bar is really trying to attract the everyman diner, then maybe I need to reevaluate the level of “everyman” in Orange County (which is probably even truer in CDM, the real OC). At the end of the day, unless you think being called “foodie” sounds as cool as “hipster” (which means you’re pretty loaded, or have a five-year plan to get super loaded), there are plenty of places where you can get equally good or better food in a less contrived atmosphere at a better price. But the duck fat fries did rule.
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Photo courtesy of 944 Magazine
Popularity: 30% [?]
i guess good food now encompasses dave eggers books and has something to do with iphones or the such… so… you like the food… but you dont like the matching tshirts??? next time you do a restaurant critique, spend a little more time on the food and less on the restaurant.
and fyi, i like RED wine with my burgers.
duck fats look wonderful from afar. much like a rich fat white kid. and they taste mighty.
yet, those poor ducks should be thanked not for their fat, but for their awesomeness in pairing with potatoes.