The Verdict
CRAFT holds a Michelin star in the Flatiron for Tom Colicchio's American kitchen — the restaurant that pioneered the à la carte compose-your-own-meal format in 2001, allowing each guest to select their protein, their starch, and their vegetable from individual preparations rather than pre-assembled dishes. This specific philosophy communicated a respect for the diner's specific preferences and a confidence in the kitchen's individual preparations that influenced how a generation of American restaurants thought about their menu structure.
The contemporary American menu at Craft reflects the kitchen's specific approach: seasonal sourcing from direct farm relationships, classical technique applied to American ingredients with the precision that a two-decade-old institution has accumulated, and the specific quality that each individual preparation achieves when it is treated as the primary culinary argument rather than a component of a prescribed plate.
One Michelin star and the Flatiron address provide the institutional quality confirmation and neighbourhood prestige that the Craft format's philosophy requires: the à la carte compose-your-own approach communicates that the kitchen is confident enough in each preparation's quality to present it individually rather than hiding it within an assembled dish.
Why It Works for Closing a Deal
The Craft à la carte format creates the business dinner whose specific flexibility — each guest composes their own meal from the individual preparations, accommodating every dietary preference without conversation — facilitates the evening's conversation rather than interrupting it. The Michelin star confirms quality. The Flatiron address confirms institutional seriousness.
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