The exclusive look at Crawford Brothers modern steakhouse in Cary you’ve been waiting for
2024 is ending with a sizzle.
Crawford Brothers, a modern steakhouse from acclaimed Raleigh chef Scott Crawford debuts this week in Cary’s Fenton development as one of the Triangle’s final major openings of 2024.
The restaurant opens to the public on Friday, Dec. 20.
Crawford landed in the Triangle a decade and a half ago to lead the culinary operations at Cary’s Umstead resort. In 2016 he opened his flagship restaurant Crawford & Son in Raleigh and has since added a handful of stunning and specific genre projects: the French bistro Jolie, the Adriatic-minded Brodeto, the underground cocktail bar Sous Terre.
Now he’s opened his steakhouse, a restaurant built for the big occasion meals, wrapped in wood and leather and glass, winking at nostalgic institutions, yet modern in every way.
“I feel like steakhouses are kind of sexy,” Crawford said. “This is a variation on the classic steakhouse....There are no gimmicks — it’s the classics with modern technique. The best steakhouses do what they do because this is still popular, it’s stood the test of time.”
Long-awaited, much-anticipated
The entire world changed in the time between Crawford Brothers announcing in 2019 it would join Fenton and the opening this week. It opens in the era of counter service and fast casual, but Crawford Brothers is filled with reminders to slow down. There are tucked-away tables you might never want to leave, month-long dry-aged beef, a wall of wine fridges. All things in due time.
Four for Crawford in 2024
It’s been a year for Crawford. In 2024 his restaurant group added Brodeto in Raleigh Iron Works, a restaurant built on the flavors of Italy and Croatia and devoted to the sea. Then Sous Terre, Crawford’s first cocktail bar. Then Crawford Genuine at RDU, which will be operated by a group specializing in airport restaurants. And now Crawford Brothers.
In addition to the openings, Crawford & Son was a finalist for the James Beard Award for Outstanding Hospitality, a national award.
Crawford hopes to take a breath in 2025.
“I didn’t take any vacation in 2024 at all,” Crawford said. “I worked several 30, 40 day stretches, straight, no days off. It’s the hardest I’ve worked in a really long time.”
The steaks at Crawford Brothers
As a steakhouse, beef is at the heart of Crawford Brothers. Crawford said he wanted a steak experience and price point for everyone. The menu ranges from a $40 6-ounce filet mignon to a giant 40-ounce prime Porterhouse for $220. There are dry-aged steaks, Wagyu-style beef from the US, Australia and Japan, plus veal and pork chops.
If you notice a nutty unctuousness, Crawford Brothers finishes their steaks with brown butter mixed with beef fat.
The sizzle, the crust
The truth is there are a million ways to make a great steak. Crawford Brothers goes with an intensely hot broiler, as in 1,200 degrees hot. Crawford thought about going higher.
“I wanted the crust of a cast iron pan,” Crawford said. “So we tried several different broilers — 1,600, 1,800. It was great if you like char, which I do, but we felt 1,200 gave a nice crust, but still kept the integrity of the steak.”
The menu beyond steak
There are small touches of tradition built into the service at Crawford Brothers. Dover sole is filleted tableside, sauces are poured in front of you. There’s the pageantry of seafood towers passing through the room.
Other steakhouse favorites on the opening menu include shrimp cocktail, creamed spinach, steak tartare. For the first time at a Crawford restaurant there will be a burger, here made with ground bites of dry-aged beef.
Crawford said he challenged himself to make a crab cake almost entirely made of crab.
“The idea is to have as little filler as possible and still hold together,” Crawford said. “That means something to me because it’s hard to do.”
The ‘Gangster Room’
There are two private dining spaces at Crawford Brothers.
The larger one shares a large glass wall with kitchen, where diners can watch the quiet flurry of action that is feeding a busy restaurant.
The other is a six-top tucked behind the dry-aging meat locker, with red tiles on the floor and table, and deep red walls. Crawford calls this one the “Gangster Room” — a table, he said, fit for a character in a Martin Scorsese movie.
Eventually the room will be booked for private dining with a food and drink minimum, but that figure hasn’t been set yet, Crawford said.
Patience
From its announcement to its opening, Crawford Brothers has been nearly six years in the making. You might have to wait a little longer for a table. Due to literal years of anticipation, Crawford said the restaurant booked 3,000 reservations in 15 minutes. There are still plenty of reservations to be had, but a Friday night 7 p.m. slot may take a few weeks.
Get more info or make a reservation at crawfordbrotherssteakhouse.com.
This story was originally published December 19, 2024 at 10:41 AM.
