Cranes: Spanish Kaseki

I hope you are having a fantastic day and thank you for spending time reading my post. During DC’s Winter Restaurant Week, I had a lovely dinner with some friends I met in high school. We went to Cranes: Spanish Kaiseki, a culinary marriage between Spanish and Japanese cuisines, which starts off strong with an atheistically pleasing artisan front door that leads into a stunning and sleek bar, a bright open kitchen, and grand dining rooms.

During normal business, Chef Pepe Moncayo demonstrates his culinary experiences in Spain, Singapore, and Japan through a ten-course Omakase of mouth-watering dishes. As for us, we got to sample five of those courses through the restaurant week $55 dinner special.  But don’t worry, we ordered off the normal menu too!

 Outside the menu, we ordered the short rib bao buns and the unagi paella.

We also split this dish, which helped push Cranes into its first Michelin.

For the bao buns, the group of six was split on the mayo. I’m usually anti-mayo, but the tartness and lightness to this mayo kept my taste buds engaged. The meat was cooked well and the tobiko was a great add on top. As for the unagi paella….UMMAMI! I’ll say, if you like eel, this is one of those that will leave you crying that there’s not enough if you agreed to share it with the table. Recommend sharing among three people at most. Or better, yet order for one 😉

Now going through the menu, I found it a fun idea to serve a sliced scallop in a rich broth. The Scallop Aburi really warms up your tummy and gets the mind ready to eat. There must be a love for broth, because the poached chicken came along with a dark duck consommé to pair well with lightly seasoned chicken. I saw what Chef was doing here, it took me back to my visit to Singapore when I had the cheapest Michelin star dish I’ve ever had for a couple of bucks—Hainanese Chicken. This recreation without rice and cucumber, but pate spread over toasted bread with gelatinous cubes of flavor, left us quite satisfied. 

The Fideua wasn’t for me. Rather than the Valencian specialty—often compared as the noodle version of paella—this dish left more to be desired. The semi boiled and fried noodles’ expression of texture left me more in a daze than in awe. This dish was fortunately graced by very good quarters of brussels sprouts. I would have just preferred the brussels sprouts alone, only one other person found the texture game and newness very enjoyable. 

There’s always a risk of a wagyu dish not living up to it. You might even question: how much wagyu will I get, which cut, and how will it be served? We loved this Wagyu cheek! Done, juicy cut of meat that required little effort to enjoy. The garnish of the chicharron was a take it or leave it, but this dish did not disappoint. In fact, some at the table dared to say that the maitake mushroom stole the show. It was made to perfection, after all.

Lastly, dessert. I never had goat ice cream before and I was ultimately blown away. It paired well with the milk chocolate cream, and cute caramel chunks. Smooth, chunky, crispy, and best of all, not overly sweet. As opposed to ice cream made with cow milk, goat ice cream is less sweet (more protein and vitamins =  gains?), may come off with a little tang, and feels creamier. Considering what additional health benefits it has, I may be looking for goat milk ice cream next time I am at the grocery store.

Overall, the environment, quality of the food, attention from Sam and KC, made this a really great dinner to share with great friends. If you’re looking for a Michelin starred place deserving of the award, give Cranes a look. You won’t be disappointed. There is a uniqueness in merging Japanese and Spanish cuisine and Chef Pepe crushed it. On the Chuk Eats rating system, we’re at four and ¾ suya sticks!