"Craft restaurant" news and stories

Atlantans who have developed a craving for the signature Hen-of-the-Woods mushrooms at Tom Colicchio's Craft will soon be left to forage for themselves. Colicchio has announced that he will close the Atlanta outposts of both Craft and Craftbar in early 2011 -- reportedly on Valentine's Day, no less.

The restaurant titan and head judge of Top Chef expanded his empire to Atlanta's tony Buckhead area just two years ago, and the city enthusiastically embraced Colicchio's philosophy of celebrating "the very best local and artisanal ingredients prepared simply and executed to perfection," which he had debuted at Craft's first incarnation in New York in 2001. Craft Atlanta received raves from local critics, including four-star reviews in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Alas, this must just be another of those casualties of a bum economy, right? Not so, according to the Journal-Constitution's website. It seems the bald and burly chef was no match for his new landlords, and the two sides couldn't reach an agreement to keep Craft and Craftbar in their current location, across from the Mansion on Peachtree hotel.

It may be more of a loss for Atlanta than Colicchio. After all, his burgeoning empire still includes New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Las Vegas. Who knows where he'll pop up next?

Just when we were hoping Tom Colicchio could see his way to opening a Craft branch in Queens. But it's not to be. With the opening of his newest upscale eatery, Riverpark, in a Manhattan biotech complex overlooking the East River, the celebrity chef, who spent a decade building his Craft empire, says he's retiring the Craft brand to preserve its caché.

"I don't see opening more Crafts in New York City or anywhere else in the U.S.," Colicchio told Crain's for a piece on Riverpark. "The assumption is that it's a chain, and that dilutes the brand."

In addition to the original on East 19th Street in Manhattan, Colicchio has opened Crafts in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Atlanta and also has 'wichcraft and Craftsteak restaurants, Eater NY reported.

What, like you thought the host of "Top Chef" was gonna haul his cookies cross-country in a Kia? Porsche handed Tom Colicchio the keys to a brand new Panamera 4S -- into which he promptly stuffed his assistant Liz and Craft's executive chef Damon Wise. The trio set off on a 1,200-mile, six day food odyssey stretching from Atlanta to Columbia, Charleston, Chapel Hill, the Chesapeake, Washington D.C., rural Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and back home to New York.

Said Colicchio in the inaugural post of his six-day stint on Food & Wine's 'Mouthing Off' blog, "It was about paying visits to some of the food producers who make my restaurants what they are, and discovering new ones the old-fashioned way. On this trip, the stops were the destination."

Yo, Tom? Next time, we call shotgun. The ham is welcome to sit on our lap.

[Via: Mouthing Off at Food & Wine]