That's One Elegant Taco

If you like food, then you'll love Crafted. Kristina Fuller, culinary wizard behind Crafted tacos, has been so successful in matching flavors with our taste buds that we can be sure to see more of her inventiveness with her next restaurant come May. What started as her love of tortilla, being the utensil of choice, has led Fuller into her cozy nest on Elm and onward.

Her menu reinvents the taco bringing in an explosion of unfamiliar flavor combinations. Seemingly unlikely pairs (perfected duck confit, cabbage slaw with a fishy BBQ glaze) that complement each other tenfold. Each bite feels like a new taste sensation, almost like a wake up call- "hey, I didn't know this existed."

This is not your beef-lettuce-cheese-sour cream taco. These creations body slam and consistently put to shame that guy. For instance, the “Messenger” taco consisting of chorizo, scrambled egg, potatoes, red gravy, avocado slices and crumbled queso, puts a completely new twist on this Mexican inspired cuisine. Although the egg was understated and a hot sauce definitely needed, the Messenger was fresh, light and delicious.

Members Only and Messenger

Fuller has not just created one hellofa taco, she did it ten times. If you’re not one for going wild with ingredients and prefer a more old school meal, Crafted lets you build your own (though probably less glamorous) taco.  The menu is so intriguing that it is almost guarantees a return visit. Luckily, the menu lets you mix and match your taco order, yet the decision is still very difficult. I was stuck between four tacos before the waitress came to the rescue (though I opted for two to go).

I had the “Oxford” which is compromised of fried chicken, spaghetti squash slaw and spicy asian mustard. I don’t usually choose chicken when it comes to tacos, but the spaghetti squash slaw had me interested. It was a good taco. It didn't taste spicy, but after a moment the Asian mustard punched in and my nostrils filled with a magnificent burn. Almost so that I couldn't pick up the rest of the flavors; it was indeed the Jet Li of mustards. The second taco that made the cut is the “Wayfarer.” Fuller hit it out of the park. A perfect balance of sweetness from the BBQ pulled pork paired with a Korean red sauce that has just the right amount of kick to it. The corn salsa provided a nice crunch consisting of sesame marinated cucumbers- a staple to this taco- definitely helped bind the juicy flavors.

Bowtie and Wayfarer

Other favorites, such as the “Hoodie” introduces falafel to tortilla. I haven’t tried it, but have heard great reviews. The “Big Truck” which is made with pulled pork BBQ, mac and cheese and topped with onions, didn’t need my trying. It is obviously a winner, and if you have a picky child, this would be the one to choose. You just can’t go wrong with those ingredients.

Oxford and Wayfarer

Hopefully this fusion of flavors, which has also taken heed in burger joints, will continue to inspire chefs around this great state. You will not be stuffed- the portion sizes seem small at first, but these are gourmet tacos and along with your pick of sweet potato chips, beans, salsa and more (made daily), you will leave satisfied. It is a meal that can be enjoyed on a regular basis, perfect for lunch with a friend. The restaurant is narrow so the noise tends to bounce quite a lot, but the ambiance is still there. For a relaxed, fun meal that is worth every penny (most entrees under $10) you will walk away a happy camper.

Crafted has done truly that: crafted a taco filled with unique ingredients to make a fusion of flavors. And if you can’t get enough, you’re in luck, Crafted will be expanding with a new concept menu and to a new location on 600-C Battleground Ave 27401.

Details:
219-A South Elm Street
Mon.- 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Tues.-Sat. 11 a.m.- 10 p.m.
Sun.- 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
craftedtheartofthetaco.com
336.273.0030

Attempts to get past Auto Focus

Jax and Mojo 4/28/15

Burmil 4/28/15

Burmil 4/28/15

Stone Mountain, GA 4/24/15

Kelly and Steph 4/24/15

Top of Stone Mnt. 4/24/15

Ambella Collection 2015

Tibetan lamb

High Point Furniture Market 2015

High Point Furniture Market 2015

Ambella Collection 2015

Sharks Finished

First you have to get the shark to bite. Once it is hooked and reeled close to the boat, start clubbing or stabbing the shark so it cannot harm those on board. Lift the shark up, using a pulley system to help raise its strong body. Then, steady the shark and slice off its fin- their skin can be tough so apply the proper force. Put the fin in storage and throw the shark back to the ocean it can no longer swim. This process is easily done, hundreds of times a day. The complicated part comes with the actual preparation of shark fin soup, which requires multiple days of boiling, drying and draining.

Lots of people do not see finning sharks for soup as such a bad thing (they kill people, you know?). Sharks are still more beneficial to the marine environment than many know. Not only are shark populations drastically declining, the fins offer no taste to the soup, solely texture.



Shark Fin Soup dates all the way back to the Sung Dynasty (968 AD) when an emperor invented the dish to express his power, wealth and generosity as he served it to his elite guests. Since, it is still rendered as a dish that is cooked for special occasions and represents respect; it has now become much more popular and is served more commonly. What started out as a polite gesture has turned into sharks fighting for their species' survival. The fin soup industry is huge in Asian cuisine, but even American restaurants are partaking in the "delicacy." And although it is 'hip' to try new, culturally renowned dishes, many don't know they are consuming endangered species. The Pew Environment Group found at-risk sharks being served in every single restaurant they tested, from Boston to Los Angeles and twelve more cities in between.




But seriously, why should we care if some sharks go extinct? They do kill up to five people every year. But this is the funny part. Death from choking on a hot dog is 14 times more likely to happen than becoming human leg soup (get it?). There are literally hundreds of species of sharks, and only ten of them are remotely dangerous to humans. Three species of shark - the great white, bull and tiger sharks are responsible for over half of all lethal attacks. So stay away from those three and you're pretty safe- I'd worry much more about applying sunscreen, strong currents and jellyfish. The movie Jaws has really set up some backwards stereotypes: sharks don't eat people, people eat sharks.

Shark fin soup is a dish for special occasions, so that many sharks can't be in harm's way, right? Well, if you think about it, being a favorite Asian dish, and seeing as there are 4.3 billion people living in Asia, as well as many other cultures taking part, you end up with a lot of dead sharks. And not all shark deaths go to soup. Killings happen when sharks become bycatches of fishers' lines and nets. As a result, shark populations have dwindled extremely low. Based on an analysis of average shark weights, about 97 million sharks are killed each year. This has exceeded the average rebound rate for many shark populations, estimated from the life history information on 62 shark species (rebound rates averaged 4.9% per year), and has explained the ongoing decline in most populations for which data exists. Sharks are unfortunately being killed even when they aren't hunted, but added to the number of people partaking in the soup, many species face extinction.

These 97 million dead sharks are a result of the high demand for the fins, which are very valuable (usually $100 a bowl), as well as the lack of effective finning regulations in most fishing areas. Thus is was estimated that 80% (908,000 tons) of discarded sharks, were finned, while the remained (227,000 tons) were released alive. Here is a big difference between fishing and shark finning. Fishes are completely eaten, usually their heads and spines are the only parts discarded. Sharks are finned and tossed back. A portion of the sharks that are released alive suffer post-release mortality due to injury and stress. These fisherman take away sharks' ability to swim, so they sink until their hearts stop. To environmentalists, a pack of dead sharks is a scarier picture than a pack of circling sharks. Why? Because sharks are important.

It is the case of the butterfly effect. You take one thing out of an equation and this change disrupts the rest of the process. So if we take sharks out of the ocean, which at this point is not hard to imagine, our marine ecosystem takes a hit. Sharks are apex predators, meaning they are at the top of their food chain, and they provide a sort of order to other marine animals. Apex predators also provide greater biodiversity and higher densities of individuals, while areas without apex predators experience species absences. Sharks help maintain the health of ocean ecosystems by promoting biodiversity. They have a mutualistic relationship with coral reefs because they eat the fish who deplete the seabed grass, yet the reefs provide a buffet for the sharks. By preventing one species from monopolizing a limited resource, predators increase the species diversity of the ecosystem. So having this healthy food chain will actually promote other fish populations and keep our seagrass beds around. There are more environmental reasons to protect our friends, but they also hold economic benefits as well.

Sharks are a huge attraction for tourists, and divers cite sharks as the main appeal when choosing their travel destination. A study in Palau quantified the economic benefits of its shark-diving industry. The estimated value of an individual reef shark to the tourism industry was $179,000, annually, or $1.9 million over its lifetime. On the other hand, a single dead reef shark would only bring about $108, around the usual cost of a bowl of shark fin soup. So take away the sharks, take away an industry, take away a healthy ecosystem.

The importance of sharks is clear. They are worth far more alive than dead. So in order to stop shark finning, laws must be in place and appetites must be eased. The former chef de cuisine at the French Laundry in San Francisco has proven that shark fins can be replaced by other non-endangered seafood or faux shark fins. The taste comes from the soup, while the fins are valued for their texture; it is essentially symbolic. So there is a way to still enjoy tofu shark fin soup, while saving an extra $90 bucks on a meal and you know, preventing further upset to our marine ecosystems. The demand for shark fin soup is threatening one-third of open ocean sharks with extinction; it is incredibly hard to replenish shark species once they are lost, and it is only a short time before other species start feeling the negative effects of their disappearances.