Long before Downtown Urbana began to revitalize, clearing the path for a new crop of developers and entrepreneurs, Scott Glassman, the owner of Crane Alley, saw potential.
Now, it’s a centerpiece, a truly welcoming space where people can socialize, shoot some stick, watch a game, enjoy a wonderful outdoor alley garden in the warm months, and yes, eat some really great vittles.
The menu hasn’t changed much over the course of two decades, and it’s something I am grateful for. They run enough specials that there’s something new to try all the time, but the staples are so well prepared that there isn’t any real reason to deviate from what works.
And Crane Alley works.
For their Restaurant Week menu, they are offering a hell of a deal:
$29 for a salad, entree, beer, and dessert is literally and exactly the sort of showcase that participating restaurants should be doing. So, three cheers to Crane Alley for doing it right.
But three more cheers for running a delicious and consistent kitchen for all these years. My picks here are the side caesar, the skirt steak, and I’d probably wait on my beer to have with dessert and pick a porter or a stout to make sure my belly was full and warm by the time I was ready to leave.
For this year’s Restaurant Week, Crane Alley is a can’t miss.
Crane Alley
115 W Main St
Urbana
11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily
Photo by Rebecca Wells