BREAKING: Crafted reveals new restaurant theme

It’s been months — a few short of a year, actually — since Crafted owners announced they’d open a second location. This restaurant, also downtown and located next to Preyer Brewing, will have a different culinary theme than tacos, but the specifics have remained a secret.

Tonight at a private launch event at the new Crafted location, owners Kris and Rhonda Fuller finally unveiled the concept: “the art of street food.” The restaurant’s cuisine will be global in scope, with an emphasis on Asia and Latin America, but with regular revamps to the menu.

Triad City Beat editors Brian Clarey and Eric Ginsburg were among the invited guests at the five-course meal, where an opening date for the restaurant was also formally announced: two weeks from today, on May 19.

The first two courses covered Mexican and Malaysian cuisine.

The new Crafted will have a cocktail list with regular changes, as well. The restaurant will make ice cream in house, and stay open late at night on weekends.

Preyer Brewing, which is under the same roof but totally independent, said last week that it will open on May 8. Taproom patrons will be able to order Crafted’s food through a doorway counter connecting the spaces and eat it in the bar if the restaurant is full or they so choose.

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The new Crafted feels markedly different than the original taco joint just a few blocks away. Rolling garage doors make it possible to open up the space in two places, and chic decor aligns with what Preyer looks like as well. Large windows along the right wall let patrons look into the brewery’s taproom, and a colorful mural splashes across the restaurant’s left wall.

Unlike the Elm Street Crafted, the kitchen is at the back of the restaurant, allowing for ample space to wait in line for a table or slip out without bumping into people in a narrow corridor alongside the kitchen.

Check back later for more details.