In yet another knock to Victory Park, Shannon Swindle, pastry chef of Craft Dallas, has joined the cavalcade of Dallas chefs moving onward and upward. Swindle will leave for his gig at Madera Restaurant in Menlo Park, California just before Valentine's Day. (We would say a croissant at Craft would be just the thing after a romantic night at the W Hotel Victory, but...)
Craft, for the many of you who haven't made it there, is a family-style fine dining establishment (oxymoron?) owned by Top Chef heavyweight Tom Colicchio with locations in New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. But his name hasn't had much pull in Dallas -- the place has been revising menus and tactics since Colicchio addressed an air of struggle this summer.
Will the main restaurant finally be scrapped to make way for Craftbar, the abridged version of Craft? The W already has the lines forming outside the swanky rooftop Ghostbar.
It's not been said whether a new pasty chef will rise in the ranks of Craft or from outside the restaurant. We nominate Samantha Rush, chef-owner at Rush Patisserie, in the new-blood category. If anyone could make Craft famous for desserts, it's her, with that sparkly almond mini-cake (the new cupcake!) she makes in Deep Ellum.
