365 Places to Eat

I had heard mixed reviews, which is the best way to get me to try a place. If I get a bad review, I usually skip it, if I get a great review, my expectations are usually too high. To cut to the chase, my review was that the food was great!

My wife ordered a Buffalo Burger and I went for the Haute Dog. The menu is limited mainly to salads and sandwiches. All of the options looked appetizing and even without a ton of choices, it wasn’t easy to narrow things down. I angled for the sandwiches but that Haute Dog caught my eye.

The Buffalo Burger ($8.95) was juicy and flavorful. It came on their panini bread, topped with onion, arugula, tomato, Fiscalini white cheddar and
Sweet Harissa Mayo. As far as I can remember, it was my first taste of ground buffalo. I agree with my wife who described it as “a more flavorful turkey burger”. The meat was leaner than a beef patty, but much juicier than a turkey patty. Over all the buffalo burger was a winner, well cooked, well topped and with great bread.

My Haute Dog ($7.95) was a smoked venison sausage, split in half lengthwise and sandwiched between two pieces of a French baguette. The dog is topped with horseradish mustard, blue cheese cream, and cioppolini onions. I liked the idea of the blue cheese cream, but the horseradish mustard way overpowered it. The flavors came together though, and the nicely toasted baguette was a perfect wrapper. Like the buffalo burger, I hadn’t had venison sausage before. 2 for 2 on new meats.

There were two soups on the menus that day, potato leek and lima bean. I ordered a cup of the potato leek to share. The soup was good, but was the very thin and brothy, I like my potato leek soups a little thicker. As far as I could tell, there wasn’t any cream either, the broth was the color of the stock (chicken, I assume). The soup wasn’t bad, but wasn’t remarkable either.

We did love the burger and dog. Two unique takes on American classics. I would have pictures, but there were no fewer than three 8×11 signs saying “no photography”. I’m always curious what spawns those types of signs. Is it blogger/yelp/chowhound backlash? Fear of copycats? Seems a little silly to me.

It does take a little while for the food to be prepared, but there is a nice patio to sit on. There isn’t much indoor seating, other than a small bar area.

Service was friendly and courteous. A lot of customers from the main store were in and out of the cafe. Most for some great looking coffee drinks. Others ordered meals and the servers at the cafe announce when the orders are ready over the PA system so customers could hear no matter where they were.

Cafe Surfas
8777 W. Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
310-558-1458
Breakfast Served 8:30AM- 3PM Monday - Saturday, 10AM Sundays
Lunch Served From 11AM- 3PM

Who knew that enjoying a burger could be a full contact sport? There are two things that everyone tells you about Father’s Office. First, the burger is unreal. Second, that it’s a giant pain in the ass to get a table. Everyone is right on both counts.

Father’s Office II is the newest incarnation of the well known Father’s Office in Santa Monica. Father’s Office II is in Culver City at the Helm’s Bakery complex.

Your best bet for dinner is to get there early, like 6:00 if you can make it. After you secure a table, then you order your food and drink from the bar tender and grab a table number so that they can find you.

Father’s Office II has a nice long row of stylish picnic tables outside. Most have heaters above them, so it’s comfortable when it drops into the chilly 60’s here in Southern California.

You have to order a burger, or at least taste one. The burger lives up to the hype. Also add an order of sweet potato fries. One order is plenty for two.

The other reason that Father’s Office is well liked is their wide selection of specialty beers.

As the night gets later, Father’s Office gets more and more crowded. The rules say that you can’t order food unless you have a table. There isn’t anyone to control who gets a table and who doesn’t, so there is much lurking and standing over those who do have a table. If you want to make a friend, give someone a heads up that you are leaving.

The real secret is that in addition to the burger, Father’s Office II has some terrific tapas and small dishes. Duck prosciutto salad, beet salad, smoked eel or white anchovies. I had a special of fried brussel sprouts with Serrano Ham (crispy like bacon) and pine nuts. Delicious.

For all the pomp and rules (no ketchup, aioli only), prices are fairly reasonable. Dinner is under $20 and the special beers are worth the $6-10. Is it worth the hassle? Once in a while, in my opinion, if you go in knowing that it’s going to take a while. At least you can enjoy great beers while you jostle for a table.

One note to remember. FOII is technically a bar. This means no one under 21, even if they are just there for dinner.

Father’s Office II
3229 Helms Ave
Los Angeles 90034

We were looking for a spot in Culver City for dineLA’s Restaurant Week. Akasha seemed to have the best menu of the choices, and we hadn’t been there before.

Overall, our dinner was very good. Would we go back for another meal? Debatable.

Akasha is aimed at a very specific clientele. For lack of a better term, yuppies. It is possible to cater to yuppies and serve good food, and Akasha does just that. The interior is dark except for the small spotlights shining down on the middle of each table. That’s where you get to put your menu if you want to be able to read it.

I have a small suspicion that for the dineLA diners, Akasha was speeding service to increase table turnover. I hope. If not, the place is going for a Culver City record for how fast you can serve three courses. The soup and mixed greens came out soon after we ordered. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the main courses came out just as the first course was being cleared. We had to throttle the main course as we ate, just to be able to have a complete conversation. Once those plates were gone, though, the dessert was there in a snap.

I don’t have to have a slow, drawn out dinner, but this felt a bit rushed. The other three tables right next to us also had the dineLA menu and were being driven at the same pace.

Back to the food. From Akasha’s website:

At AKASHA we feel that local, organic, and handcrafted ingredients are the key to great tasting cuisine. Our purveyors include small family farms, organic growers, sustainable and fair trade companies , and artisan food makers.

And the food is good. My greens and the dressing were fresh and delicious. Scallops were well cooked and seasoned nice, portions a bit small ($28 for three on the normal menu).

The drinks and wine list have some unique options. The cocktail selection has creative martinis and there is a descent selection of wines by the glass. I had a couple glasses of Castello di Farnatella, a Super Tuscan at $10.

The desserts may have stolen the show. My apple tart had an amazing crust and the tangerine sorbet with my wife’s carrot cake was wonderfully fresh.

The food at Akasha really was terrific. I think, though, that this is the type of restaurant that is really going to have a tough time in a tightening economy. Its appeal is not broad enough. You wouldn’t come here for a festive dinner with a lot of friends, it would be too hard to see and hear everyone. You wouldn’t bring you grandparents here, it’s too dark. You wouldn’t come here for an every day meal, the prices are a tad too high for that. You would come here for an occasional romantic meal though, and occasional diners are not going to pay for the rent and staff for this place.

I wish them the best. I don’t want to see any restaurant have trouble, and Akasha does serve great food and has a noble mission around their ingredients.

Other Reviews for Akasha:

• Reservation for Three
• Bites and Bolts
• Eat Food With Me

Akasha
9543 Culver Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232
310.845.1700

For all of the great Mexican food I eat around town, my quest for the perfect breakfast burrito remains unfulfilled. Admittedly, my search has mainly consisted of driving around in the morning, looking first for an open restaurant, and then to see if the menu offers a morning burrito. I have had some good burritos at sit down breakfast places, but I am looking for a great burrito to go, one that I can pick up occasionally on my way to work. My biggest problem is finding somewhere that is open before 8:00 am.

That’s where Cinco De Mayo Tacos comes into play. Located on the corner of Sepulveda and Washington Pl (not Blvd), sandwiched between Johnny’s Pastrami and Tito’s Tacos, Cinco De Mayo is open 24 hours a day. No matter how early I leave for work, I know that I can pick up a burrito. There are three main offerings for the breakfast inclined, a machaca burrito, a breakfast burrito with your choice of meat and the #19, a burrito with eggs and onions. Shame on me, but I always order diez y nueve, their most basic burrito. For $3 you get what you expect, scrambled eggs and soft onions wrapped in a thick flour tortilla. There is a mild salsa inside the wrap and some spicy salsa on the side to apply with each bite.

The tortilla is what makes this burrito for me. It may be because I don’t eat it until I get to work, but it is soft and chewy, like a steamed tortilla and probably made with lard to give the thick consistency that I enjoy. The chips served in the bag are greasy enough to coat the top of your mouth and salty enough to make you salivate.

I haven’t tried anything else at Cinco De Mayo other than the #19, which I have enjoyed maybe a half dozen times. Surely, the Tito’s Taco cabal will poo poo the idea of eating at Cinco De Mayo. It’s obvious that there is a rivalry, with warning signs in the parking lot and entering the restaurant about using Cinco’s property to enjoy Tito’s gut bombs. Tito’s isn’t open at 6:30am though, and eggs aren’t on the menu, so give Cinco De Mayo a chance.

Cinco De Mayo Tacos
11204 Washington Pl
Culver City, CA 90230
(310) 391-5354

On the corner of Culver and Cardiff in Culver City is Ugo Cafe, an Italian eatery that aims for the feel of a European sidewalk cafe.

With a simple style and basic menu, Cafe Ugo is a relaxing spot to enjoy lunch and a glass of wine or beer with friends. When the weather is nice, it’s imperative that you grab a seat outside and watch the people walk by.

The menu is basic, as I said, but there are plenty of choice options. I had one of my favorite chopped salads at Ugo. Everything was cut up with near scientific precision and uniformity, plus the dressing was light but flavorful so that it didn’t overpower the ingredients.

Service seems to be spotty, in the sense that it can take a while for the server to stop by, and perhaps takes a while to get your food, but in the end the atmosphere and the food win over.

Prices are very reasonable, with most dishes in the around $10 plus or minus a few bucks. There is a range of Italian beers and Italian wines by the glass or the bottle, plus a dessert menu that will transport you back to Rome.

Ugo Cafe
3865 Cardiff Ave
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 204-1222