CRAFTKitchen
Cinnamon Roll
Sticky Bun
Apricot Peach Pop Tart
Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake
Nutella Kouign Amann
Almond Cream Kouign Amann
Coconut Chocolate Coffee Cake
Mixed Berry Coffee Cake
Already a fan of CRAFTkitchen from past visits, Jaret Blinn’s baked goods amongst the best in town, it was for a Saturday clinic that six new items plus two classics were collected, a 6:30am pick-up showing the team already prepping for another busy Saturday serving the citizens of Las Vegas and Henderson.
Taking the items in three large boxes, most of the goods still warm, it was between patients that each of the items was tasted and whether one prefers extra sweet or something more mild CRAFTkitchen offers something for all tastes, the city’s best Cinnamon Roll and Sticky Bun both featuring golden curls of pastry with plenty of spring to the interior wrapped around butter and cinnamon lingers long after the Caramel Frosting or Sugar Glaze.
Moving on to novelties, Jaret’s Poptarts one-upping the commercial original by some degree at the Chefseries Potluck, a seasonal switch to local Apricots and Peaches shined particularly strongly inside of their warm pockets and although the Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake came off a touch dry compared to CRAFTkitchen’s other efforts the decision between two Coffee Cakes largely comes down to whether one craves fruit or chocolate, the Mixed Berry mostly filled with bursting Blueberries on this visit while the alternative tasted a lot like and Almond Joy with toasted Coconut providing smooth finishing notes.
No doubt a baker of considerable talent, Chef Blinn’s Kouign Amann rivaling Johnathan Pluvinet’s Croissants at Rosallie for Sin City’s best laminated pastries, Jaret has seemingly found his fastball in recent iterations of the Breton Butter Pastry, one with a Nutella packed core amongst the most decadent versions of the pastry found to date while the light Almond Cream cooks to an almost Nougat like center that is smooth and rich, but not particularly sweet.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS: Long overdue for a return visit, the weekend specials always an impetus to come back even as the menu has not changed dramatically in recent months, CRAFTkitchen has accomplished more in its first year of existence than many local restaurants do in their lifecycle largely as a result of the Blinn family’s passion and skill – if you have not been, now is as good of a time as ever to find out what so many others already know.
RECOMMENDED: Any/All Kouign Amann, Cinnamon Roll, Apricot Peach Poptart, Coconut Chocolate Coffee Cake.
AVOID: Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake.
TIP: For those interested in Catering or Private dining, don’t hesitate to contact the restaurant with inquiries, their Social Media feeds frequently offering glimpses of what the CRAFTkitchen team is capable of.
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: 5 World Class, 4 Excellent, 3 Good, 2 Fair, 1 Poor.
http://craftkitchenlv.com/
