so far it's been the best place I've been to in Seattle. It probably helped that we sat at the counter and flirtedwith a cute sous chef.

my review from yelp:
I seriously adore this place. Excellent food, excellent service and two cute boys in the kitchen.

This what a bistro should be. A simple menu of perfect dishes, a cheese course with a good variety, a small but well rounded wine list.

we went on Friday night without reservations at eight. In San Francisco this would have the kiss of death but in Seattle all is possible. We were quickly seated at the only seats left in the tiny, tiny place, at the bar. I love watching and at times talking to the chefs so I was happy that the bar was facing into the kitchen. It was a noisy place but I could still here both the chef and my wife so it wasn't all that bad.

Service to me is always secondary to food and is really only an issue when it interferes with me enjoying the food. It amazed me how well the two servers handled the packed house. They were helpful without being intrusive, answer questions about cheeses and about the dishes.

We had a meal full of cheese. We ordered the cheese selection picking three cheese from the selection of a dozen or so. For me the highlight was a the Bermuda triangle, we also had a creamy blue that had the texture of a brie and the third was Minolette a french cheese that is mild in taste but has the texture of a good Parmesan. We were surprise by all the accompaniments that came with the cheese. Most were sweet and it would have nice to have some savory treats too. What was included was candied nuts, figs, apple slices displayed in apricot preserves and a reduced balsamic sauce. I was surprised to have the cheese course served first as I would have expected it second or third.

For our second course we had the crab gratin. The toast was perfectly crispy and an excellent vehicle the crab gratin. the crab and cheese were a lovely blend and the dish a success.

For our third course my wife had the shitate mac and cheese while I had the duck confit, one of my favorite dishes. duck confit is a seemly easy dish, basically just duck poached in duck fat yet so many chefs in the US seem to over cook it. Not so at crave. It was one of the tenderest pieces duck I've had in the US while skin was perfectly crisp. The cakes of couscous and figs were nice and I enjoyed them but the star was the duck.
Mac and cheese is another simple dish that can go very wrong. Again that wasn't the case here. The cheese was rich without being too heavy and the mushrooms added to the mixture rather than being an afterthought.

We had tickets to a show and were frankly too stuffed to try dessert but I will be going back on a regular basis.

dinner for two pre-tip without alcohol and one bottle of mineral water was 60 dollars and worth more.

10/20