Many restaurants have patios. Few have fantastical secret gardens. It wasn’t until my third visit to Flying Cranes, a smallish storefront café on Larchmere Boulevard, that I discovered this hush-hush hideaway concealed behind the building.
After taking our dinner order, the staffer asked if we planned on
dining inside or out. We followed his gaze outside the front door,
around the corner and down a slender path. “Who knew?” we asked one
another, gazing at the lush oasis that unfolded before our eyes.
Interspersed among the trailing vines and sweet-smelling lilies,
alongside the prodigious vegetable patch and elegant Japanese maple, is
a higgledy-piggledy collection of tacky and uncomfortable patio
furniture. As is the case with many experiences at Flying Cranes, an
initial burst of glee is tempered by the sharp elbows of reality. But
there is so much to like about this casual Asian-infused café
that the occasional hiccup and headache is shrugged off as a cost of
doing business. Run on a shoestring by a husband-and-wife team, the
pinch points are exposed for all to see. The occasional slow service,
the improperly assembled order, the tepid soup — none of these
things appear to shoo away the loyal customer base. I guess I fall into
that category too, seeing as how I can’t seem to stay away from the
place.
Diners often bemoan the scarcity of moderately priced eateries that
don’t specialize in burgers and wings. Flying Cranes, which opened a
year and a half ago, attempts to plug that hole by offering cheap,
wholesome food. Nothing on the menu climbs above $10, while most
settles in the $8 range. Better still, many items include salad and
chips.
The eclectic menu reflects the café’s multi-cultural owners,
Kayoko Irie-Frye and Bill Frye. Miso soup is offered as a starter to a
grilled panini. Salads are topped with tofu and crab stick. Sandwiches
are stuffed not only with tuna fish and egg salad, but also
panko-breaded tilapia and Japanese pork cutlet. It’s an odd assemblage
of foodstuffs, to be sure, but rare is the occasion when something
doesn’t hit the spot.
Katsu-don ($10) is a near-perfect one-dish meal (and the item that
beckons me back). The popular Japanese lunch arrives in a covered
pottery bowl and features breaded pork cutlet and veggies atop steamed
rice. When popped, a soft-cooked egg mixes with the slightly sweet
sauce to envelop the ingredients in a delicious hug.
For just $8.50, a diner can tuck into a meaty chicken curry, also
ladled atop a mound of fluffy white rice. The dark-brown sauce is
thicker and less complex than an Indian curry, but no less enjoyable.
Like other meals, this one includes a fresh green salad topped with
house-made ginger dressing. Add a bowl of perfectly seasoned miso soup
($2) and you’ve got a healthy, affordable meal.
A thick wedge of mushroom and cheese quiche ($7.50) is on hand for
those who prefer something less exotic. The moist and filling savory
pie is paired with salad and fruit. Calling anything the “ultimate”
will always lead to comparison, and Flying Cranes’ Ultimate Grilled
Cheese ($7) does fall short of others. But still, the ham, cheese and
pesto sammy is grilled, pressed and sufficiently melty in all the right
places.
To wash it all down there are fruit smoothies, iced coffee drinks
(with whipped cream), and Izze sparkling juices. Desserts, including
homemade caramel cheesecake ($3.50), are on prominent display in a
glass-fronted cooler. Diners who come for a lazy Sunday brunch can
build a meal of soup, toast, fruit and coffee around an omelet, quiche
or waffle for a flat fee of $10.
Patience is more than a virtue at the Crane — it is a
requirement. Frustration is always lurking around the corner, waiting
to turn a pleasant meet-up in the garden into a vexing time-suck. Meals
are sometimes slow to arrive, a complication compounded when an item is
cold, wrong or just plain missing. Tables inside and out lack salt and
pepper, soy and hot sauce, adding unnecessary delay for those who
desire them.
And then there are the peculiar bits. Miso soup is served in a
graceful wooden bowl alongside sandwiches presented on paper plates.
Some items are accompanied by fresh fruit, while others receive a
handful of bagged tortilla chips. For no apparent reason, salads are
served before some entrees but on the same plate as others.
Am I nitpicking? Well, a little. But given the paucity of unique,
affordable and delightful places to eat a quick, healthful meal, this
joint truly is a neighborhood asset. It just needs to work on the
“quick” part.
This article appears in Aug 12-18, 2009.
