Crave restaurant is located in the beautifully restored Castle Hall building in the heart of downtown Akron’s historic district. Photo by Laura Torchia | Daily Kent Stater

Credit: Ron Soltys

CRAVE RESTAURANT

57 East Market St., Akron, OH

Hours M-Tr 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.,

Sat. 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Stater rating (out of five):****1/2

American is too modest of a word to describe the food at Akron restaurant Crave.

With selections such as espresso-braised barbecued pork with creamy, caramelized red onion and pineapple slaw on a pretzel bun, and the lobster, papaya, apple, avocado salad with macadamia nut vinaigrette and cucumber sorbet, how could a modest description suffice?

Crave has the appeal of a high-class restaurant, but still makes you feel comfortable. Contemporary art hangs in the industrial, art-deco room with blown glass light fixtures. On the tables are little, white square plates, cloth napkins and heavy-duty silverware stacked in the center patrons you can grab their silverware themselves.

And the prices don’t hurt either.

Many of the appetizers and most of the sandwiches cost about $8, and with an appetizer and an entr‚e, the bill came to $15 without tip.

I began with their Calamata olive-infused goat cheese cake baked in smoked tomato sauce with crispy garlic ciabatta bread wedges. Wow — there could be nothing the chefs could change about this appetizer.

Everything was seasoned perfectly, right down to the bread. The goat cheese cake was hot and creamy, and when dipped into the tomato sauce, the blended flavor of the sweet and spicy tomato sauce and creamy cheese was irresistible.

For my entr‚e, I had a BLT with peppered bacon, smoked salmon, avocado, watercress, white cheddar and gazpacho aioli on Texas Toast.

For this type of dining, $8 for a gourmet sandwich and a $7 appetizer is more than a steal, and more of a reason to go back to Crave on several different occasions.

Crave is one of the few restaurants that made me wish I wasn’t so full so I could keep eating the food — a definite must-go.

Contact all correspondent Jenna Gerling at [email protected].