Enchantée to the 2026 edition of Crudo Nudo. My husband, young daughter and I visited on February 21 during a slammed reopening weekend before heading off to watch Chicago at Chrysler Hall. Based on the recommendations of friends, it’s been at the top of my long Hampton Roads restaurant list since we moved here last spring and impatiently waited through fall delays to the February 19 opening.
A devastating kitchen fire the morning of February 5, 2025 with heavy black smoke requiring forced entry and three fire trucks closed Crudo Nudo after seven years, though it only briefly affected the adjacent businesses. As Crudo Nudo owner Eric Nelson shared with WKTR’s Jay Greene on February 27, 2025, “...Hopefully we'll come back fresh and new and have something exciting for everybody to experience again.” Thank goodness the charred furniture and broken glass are long gone and this has come true. “When we ‘wanted’ to open and when we ‘could’ are always going to be different. I was never disappointed in the process. Instead we used the time to focus on what we could,” said Nelson.
After a Jul 24, 2025 public hearing about the space and twelve and a half months of renovations, the restaurant is wearing a fresh coat of lavender adjacent to rosy paint with evocative yellow botanical chandeliers. The bathroom was so pretty that it made me briefly want to redo my own recently redone bathroom. The regulars next to me commented that it used to be quirkier than it seems now, but I rather enjoyed the 2026 look.
Their website snarks, “A drink is a drink until you order one here.” I’m glad to see that they have ten “cocteles” listed in addition to 16 wine options that range from a $12 glass of 7 Pams Garnatxa ‘22 to a $121 bottle of Psi Wines Pibera del Duero. There weren’t many fruity cocktail options–my usual pick–but I look forward to trying their take on red sangria in the future. Five beers, Coyote Hole passionfruit cider, and the elevated, kombucha Unified Ferments Jasmine Green Tea that I’ve confirmed to be delicious round out the drink menu.
The current food menu lists sections I-V, designed to be eaten roughly in order. “We do have plans to add new dishes and evolve the menu more than what we did in the past. Change is a good thing,” shares Nelson. Three changed-up crudo options ($14-15) are also offered along with four sliced-to-order Iberico meat options ($15). The avocado cheesecake and crème de catalan have returned from the prior dessert menu, in addition to new-to-the-menu churros with chocolate. Nelson adds, “A lot of the dishes we kept and tweaked them…we were able to find an artist to make us new plates, which has been exciting.”
We ordered something from all but one numbered section: the salt cod fritters, quicos (new to us), patatas bravas with aioli, new-to-the-menu piquilla peppers stuffed with herbed goat cheese and the spinach and goat cheese agnolotti, cumin-dusted pork belly with mojo picon and a refreshed version of shrimp black rice, which our waitress remarked to be “the perfect lineup.” I’ll take it. Forgetting exactly what type of pasta agnolotti was (sincere apologies to my former National Pasta Association colleagues) and ready to eat, I didn’t realize until after I had happily polished it off that the quickly arriving, beautiful bucatini with garlic shrimp and green onion was a bonus intended for the couple next to me. The patatas bravas that I usually order at José Andres’ Jaleo were extra crispy at Crudo Nudo, but my husband loved them. The forbidden rice and agnolotti were the highlights for me, with the energetic ambience and leopard-print-wearing, tattooed waiter reminding me of favorite restaurants around DC. Making sure to try everything, I got a bit fuller than intended and happily took home leftovers, but the original order would have likely been the perfect amount of food for 2.2 people (our toddler was extra distractible but enjoyed nibbling shrimp, cod fritters, quicos, patatas bravas and pasta).
After a few third-day-reopen hiccups where meals almost went to an adjacent table (and once did, whoops), dinner was excellent and everyone in the full restaurant seemed to be having a good time. As an avid fan of roast carrots, I was happy to hear that the couple having date night to my left remarked that the harissa yogurt carrots were as good as they always were. The quartet of foodie regulars celebrating a birthday party to my right shared their friend’s glowing endorsement of the flatiron with quince while lamenting the loss of the old sardines appetizer, charcuterie (A Taste of Spain Tapas Board), and the seats by the kitchen. Nelson’s personal favorites include patatas bravas, garlic shrimp and the lumache that he has always loved. We’ll have to try everything in menu section III another visit.
I’m excited to return. I hope the black sesame ice cream does, too.
727 West 21st St., Norfolk, VA 23517 - Crudonudo.com - 757.904.0987
