Apparently they opened yesterday. Open for dinner only. Service was good – staff was friendly. The interior space is awesome but some weird steps here and there near the piano and fireplace area.
Ambiance:
The interior space is AMAZING. The open kitchen is really neat to see. The wood oven for the pizzas is really neat. Definitely the most upscale restaurant in the area. I was actually trying to think of anything similar to it nearby and couldn’t come up with anything. Maybe in Century City Mall there’s that steakhouse Double Eagle, with prices almost that high.
Dishes:
Started with Hot Bread, which wasn’t that hot. Think it’d been sitting out for a bit before it was served. Also the A/C was on full blast which wasn’t necessary.
8oz Petite Filet with Marsala sauce (which I had them put on the side – I’m not a fan of sauces on good steak) and charred broccolini that was nice and smoky and added a nice complexity. Again, wasn’t piping hot when it came out which was a bummer but they’d only been open for a day so I’m cutting them slack.
Gnocchi with applewood bacon and mushrooms and peas and reggiano. Bit salty for my taste but not bad, again food wasn’t piping hot when it came out.
Banana crème pie which was super heavy on the banana and tasty. The graham cracker crust was the best part.
The bill:
$185 before tip for two glasses of wine plus the food. Definitely charging this on the company card. Not gonna be a regular spot for me for dinner but I could see sitting at the bar and getting an $18 pizza and a drink every once in a while maybe.
Special mention: the bathroom was amazing. Japanese toilets with heated seats! No instructions tho so I’m willing to bet there’ll be a sign put up pretty soon about how to use it (I’ve spent time in Japan so I was good).
Overall: I’m really glad they’re open and I’m glad I went. I’m glad it exists. But I can’t help but wonder why it was built when it was built. Maybe the nearby studio execs will come here with their clients? But Sony Imageworks where I used to work (with 1000 other artists) is all but gone, and Amazon Studios is nearby so maybe they’ll make use of a high end place like this? It’s definitely the most high end restaurant within walking distance of downtown Culver and the place was perhaps 75% full when I went tonight, which is impressive considering I haven’t seen anything on social media about it.
Anyway, if you’ve got the money for it, check it out. It’s definitely classy.
I didn’t get any pics of the interior but there are some on Yelp: https://yelp.to/ceC06tGw8l
by behemuthm