Named after the base used to make gelato, Crema Craft Kitchen & Bar is where you want to be the morning after a long night (ahem). It’s where you bring your friends for Sunday brunch or for an Arizona craft brew on a Saturday afternoon. We love to kick back in the courtyard with its centerpiece bar created out of a repurposed – and bright orange – shipping container. The interior features dark wood tables, lime green accents, Edison bulbs hanging from the ceiling and a coffee counter where you can drool over baked goods lovingly displayed under glass domes. The restaurant is actually housed in two historic buildings connected by tunnels once used for bootlegging. There’s a black-and-white mural of the bootlegger who operated from the site in the courtyard.
Crema is the sixth restaurant in Cottonwood and Jerome for Eric and Michelle Jurisin, the driving force behind The Haunted Group of restaurants. Chef Michelle’s menu at Crema focuses on breakfast, lunch, fair-trade coffee sourced from Prescott, gelato and booze (try the Ultimate Mimosa). If you’re craving a taste of New England, the Boston Lobster Roll features chunks of lobster, celery and chives in a lemon aioli tucked into a pillowy brioche roll. The star of the Farmer’s Chopped Salad is the crunchy red-chile-glazed bacon. The salad also showcases greens, grilled chicken, black beans, roasted corn, avocado, cotija cheese, tomato, cheddar, green onions and pepitas. Translation: There’s something for everyone in this bowl. It’s lightly coated with a creamy cilantro-lime dressing. The slightly spicy Cubano sandwich includes chile-rubbed pork, smoked ham, Gruyere, stone mustard and pickles. Hearty appetites should order the cheesy hash browns on the side.
When you visit a restaurant named after a gelato ingredient, you can’t leave without sampling the homemade goodness (though we won’t fault you if you fall for the Big Gooey Cream Cheese Cinnamon Roll or the gigantic white-chocolate macadamia-nut cookie). This gelato is the real deal – it isn’t ice cream with a fancy Italian moniker. During our visit, available flavors included chocolate, vanilla and pistachio. You can’t go wrong with any of them. – Erika Ayn Finch. Photo by Kerrick James.
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