Here’s a first look at Scott Crawford’s newest Raleigh restaurant, Brodeto

Brodeto, the latest restaurant from Raleigh chef Scott Crawford, is named for an Italian seafood stew that will taste different from town to town, its flavors and depths drawn from the shellfish and local catches found in the nearby waters.

In creating a North Carolina brodeto, Crawford looked to our own coast, sourcing mussels and clams gathered in the wild, building a stock made out of shells and fish bones.

“It’s not just a fish soup, it’s a representation of every town or village (in Italy), made with what they have available,” Crawford said. “It ties all the towns together. There might be different recipes, but it all creates something humble that’s craveable and soul-warming. We wanted to evoke those same kind of feelings.”

Brodeto opens this Friday, March 29, as the centerpiece restaurant of Raleigh Iron Works. Inspired by the Adriatic sea and the coasts of Italy and Croatia, Crawford’s latest project has a wood-fired grill at its heart and seafood in its soul.

Brodeto’s menu

The menu includes a crudo section with razor clams and sliced scallops; wild mussels roasted over coals, toast with ooey, salty Straciatella cheese; and a rich salad of grilled octopus and pork belly. There will be at least a half dozen nightly pastas and risottos, some turned a dramatic black with squid ink — like the spaghetti al nero, which has sea urchin butter in its sauce.

There’s a two-pound porterhouse, crusted with porchini mushrooms and slicked with mushroom garum, and a whole de-boned branzino, its skin crisped by flames.

Crawford estimates at least 40 percent of the restaurant’s menu spends some time with the kitchen’s wood-burning grill, which even touches the drink menu. For instance, beverage director Jordan Joseph turned charred strawberries into a non-alcoholic shrub.

“It’s common (in Italy and Croatia) to see people cooking with wood and coals and it’s something that’s been on my restaurant bucket list,” Crawford said. “I got to check that off and be authentic to the style of cooking.”

Crawford has been in the Triangle for more than a decade, once helming Herons kitchen at the Umstead Hotel, before launching a series of restaurants of his own, starting with Crawford & Son on Person Street in Raleigh, then the French bistro Jolie, named after his daughter, and the Johnston County outpost Crawford Cookshop in Clayton, an ode to casual Americana.

At 4,800 square feet, Brodeto is Crawford’s largest restaurant to date and kicks off his busiest year ever. This year Crawford will open the underground cocktail bar Sous Terre, help launch the airport restaurant Crawford Genuine and open the long-awaited and gigantic Crawford Brothers Steakhouse in Cary’s Fenton development.

“We never would have intentionally opened two big restaurants in the same year,” Crawford said. “But it all came together this year.”

The Brodeto dining room is bright and lined with honey-colored wood. On one wall is a 10-foot-wide clay-toned earth cast of the contours of the Adriatic coast, made by Raleigh artist Thomas Sayre.

“It really should be vertical, but it had to be horizontal to fit on the wall,” Crawford said. “It’s a stunning piece to look at.”

Since opening Crawford & Son in 2016, Crawford’s restaurant plans have gotten more ambitious, built in spaces larger and grander. But Brodeto is the first one that Crawford says helps center the rest.

“I do, more so than ever, think of Crawford & Son as a flagship,” Crawford said. “It speaks to our approach — we wanted to make a neighborhood restaurant, one that was elevated and could be our version of a great neighborhood restaurant. It was the same approach at Jolie, we’re not claiming to be from France, but we draw inspiration from French cooking and feel very comfortable cooking that food. And now (Brodeto), it may not be perfectly traditional for someone from Italy or Croatia, but this is our version.”

Brodeto makes its debut for dinner service March 29 and will be open seven night per week. For more information visit brodeto.com.

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