Comfort Loaf

Crayton's gives you a reason to go out for meat loaf. That's right,meat loaf.

A A A Comments (0) By Mark Stuertz Thursday, Jun 17 2004

This heightening of the droll meat isn't as successful when chicken is thrown into the mix. Yet the slippage was minimal. Grilled garlic-marinated chicken breast is robust and chewy, but a little dry. Yet this wasn't a fatal blow, thanks mostly to an ingenious plum sauce. Though most of the sauce seemed absorbed by a dull plume of herbed rice pilaf, enough of it survived to give the breast slices the moisture they craved. Thin half-moons of plum, brandishing a searing ruby stain, protruded like shark fins in the herbed rice swells. The slices raced with tangy intensity, supplying the needed acids. Still, the marinade did infuse the breast with flavor; not in the form of an overt garlic bite, but as a smooth, brothy richness that worked well with the plum.

Key lime pie was weird in that it conjured images of sushi. Not that it looked like it, and certainly didn't taste like it--a blessing if there ever was one. The sushi kinship was buried in the meticulousness of the thing: a perfect square topped with a perfectly symmetrical thin shaving of lime flanked by ruffles of whipped cream. The pie punched with a furious burst of citrus tang, but it rested on a soggy crust. Still, it's hard to care.

Peter Calvin

Crayton's is as dark as hot fudge, but the meat loaf sings.

Details

Fried green tomatoes $7.95
Shrimp po' boy and gumbo $7.95
Fried catfish $12.95
Meat loaf $10.95
Chicken breast $13.95
Pork chop $14.95
Key lime pie $5.95

Closed Location

More About

Crayton's is a place to unburden your brain of cares and thoughts. Sit down in the clubby cave and let everything slouch and flow: from loafing meat to cloudbursts.

841 Exposition Ave., 214-821-8200. Open for lunch 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday. Open for dinner 5-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 5-11 p.m. Friday & Saturday. $$-$$$