11.06.2013

Crazy Water - Dining Review

As a foodie, a lot of people ask me for recommendations on restaurants and I am glad to give my opinion. However, I've never wanted to add restaurant reviews to my blog. Well, last year I saw an opportunity to be a guest writer for a local restaurant review blog and I thought it would be a lot of fun! To apply for the position I had to write a sample review (300-400 words) - so I decided to write about Crazy Water.
Well, the position seemed to have fallen through and I don't want my review to go to waste, so I'm posting it here.

Crazy Water

A few years ago I was at William Sonoma talking with one of the workers about which stick blender I should buy. After chatting for maybe 1/2 hour, the conversation eventually led to her sharing what she thought were the best restaurants in Milwaukee, one of them being Crazy Water. 

Ever since, I’ve been meaning to try Crazy Water and finally my husband and I decided to make the venture out there this past monday night. When I first walked in, I was hit with the aroma from the kitchen. However, it wasn’t coming from the back of the restaurant. Crazy Water's kitchen is located in the front for all to see. You can even see it from the street because it’s nestled in a bay window between the end of the bar and the front door, in a space only slightly larger than most people's cubicle. This home-style kitchen adds a lot to the cozy, candlelit atmosphere.

The menu is not big, but offers enough variety with groupings of small plates ($8-$12), large plates ($12-$34), and sweets ($8-$9). We ordered more food than we normally do, but I wanted to make sure we had a decent sampling. We ended up sharing the chorizo stuffed medjool dates [wrapped in bacon and smothered in a chipotle sauce] ($10), yuzu marinated pork belly ($10), Niman Ranch flat iron steak [with frico caldo and a blue cheese fritter] ($26), and then finally a Door County cherry chocolate chip bread pudding ($9).

Overall, the flavors were spot on. The steak was cooked to our order, the pork belly was tender, and even the blue cheese fritters were bursting with flavor. We also found the smokiness of the chipotle sauce that covered the dates to be a surprising touch (though I could have done without the bacon) and the cherries were a refreshing surprise in the bread pudding. Each dish was simply plated and the sauces were delicious. However, the only thing I cannot speak highly about was that our dishes were not served hot. It was almost as if they were made earlier and sat around too long (but not under a heat lamp). Either way, the service was good and I am looking forward to trying this place again. One comment on Foursquare mentions that this place should be kept a secret...well, the secret is out.

It was pretty dark in the restaurant, so I wasn't able to get great photos, but here is a sampling of our meal.
Bread pudding 

Dates

Pork belly

Steak

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