Crafted! The Art of Street Food

Located at 600-C Battleground Avenue in Greensboro, Crafted! The Art of Street Food offers snacks, dishes, and desserts with Latin American and Asian influences. The restaurant is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday and offers a full bar.

Crafted! Art of the Taco is a much-loved spot in Downtown Greensboro, so the news that Chef Kris Fuller has added a new eatery next door to the also-new Preyer Brewing Company is cause enough for celebration. Add to that an exciting concept (street food from around the world), and expectations rise faster than federal spending. Thankfully, the food measures up to the hype though there are a few potential drawbacks to eating here.

The new Crafted! is considerably more spacious than the Elm Street location, but that doesn’t mean that it fills up any less quickly. We went during its first Saturday in business and found the place unsurprisingly packed. This meant grabbing stools at the bar, which ended up being a blessing in disguise as it gave us views of the décor (pseudo-industrial with bright splashes of color), the kitchen (placed conventionally in the back, unlike in the original Crafted!), and, via a glass partition, Preyer next door. It also helped that the bartenders were extremely efficient and none too harried despite the high volume.

The menu here is divided into snacks, desserts, and dishes from Asia and the Americas. Everything from poutine to banh mi enters the mix here, and you would be hard-pressed to find something that doesn’t catch your eye. For the culinary dilettante, this is a dream come true. However, do not come here expecting traditional. The dishes are more heavily sauced than you would find in authentic eateries, and there is some variation in ingredients as well. But if you can let go of a notion of what a dish should be, you are in for a treat. A starter of plantain chips was perfectly crisp and paired well with the accompanying chimichurri sauce. A vegetarian samosa used mint effectively to balance heat. A cubano sandwich, apparently one of the best-sellers, was moist, meaty, and full of flavor. Though I would likely go with different dishes next time for variety’s sake, everything I tasted merited a future reorder.

Of course, taste and value are two separate considerations, and Crafted! 2.0 rates as nearly as poorly in the latter as it rates well in the former. Dishes are offered in both large and small sizes, but if the quantity yielded from our orders of “large” cubanos and samosas is any indication, medium and tiny might be more appropriate appellations. Quality food doesn’t come cheaply, yes, but paying more than $10 for a large sandwich that was not particularly large and included no sides dulls the appreciation considerably.

This and the boisterous atmosphere may deter some diners, but on food alone, the new Crafted! is well worth exploring. For anyone who has ever tired of burgers and dogs, has had a favorite food truck or stand, or has wanted to sample different global cuisines in the same meal, fear not: Chef Fuller has you covered.

8/10