What You See is What You Eat.

The girlfriend got a high score on her GMAT this weekend. She was bragging to all her friends, our dog, acquaintances, and people she just met. To celebrate, we went to Ford’s Filling Station, a place she’s wanted to try for a while (more so because of the son-of-a-celebrity-factor, as Ben Ford owns it), but was hesitant previously because of negative reviews regarding price and portion size.

Sometimes I forget what it’s like to walk down Culver City’s main drag. It’s part European, with its restaurant row and plentiful patio sidewalk seating. It’s part Disneyland, with its restaurant row and plentiful patio sidewalk seating. In all cases, I always forget how many white people there are in Culver City. Go gentrification!

I need to have a full-fledged post on this topic, but for better or worse, gentrification and economic revitalization of a neighborhood results often – not always – in good food. Or, was it that the good food resulted in gentrification and economic revitalization? In any case, Ford’s Filling Station opened up when Culver City just was being christened the Westside’s old-but-new Awesome Place to Live. Located right next to Honey’s Kettle, which itself is planted next to Akasha, which I would like very much to try but have not gotten to just yet, Ford’s Filling Station is owned by Harrison Ford’s son. This alone probably got it through its initial stages.

The menu we had that day was unfortunately pretty limited. Not sure why; we should have asked. In any case, what we did end up with was pretty good, but overpriced. Typical for the area. First up, onion rings. $4.

8 onion rings @ $4.00 = Were they worth 50 cents each? Well – yes and no. If you want to splurge on onion rings, these would fit the bill. I hate overbreaded onion rings – or, overbreaded anything, though one could make a pretty good argument in favor of overbreaded fried chicken – and these were thinly breaded red onion rings. The batter was light and clung onto the rings well. Pretty damn tasty, if pretty damn expensive.

We also got the sturgeon; at $8 for two pieces, it reminded me of when we got two seared scallops at Restaurant Zoe in Seattle: amazing … ly expensive.

The bread was way too toasted, but other than that, these were really damn good. Not fishy in the least, cooked flaky, good juice. But at $4 each – sashimi expensive. Not really worth it. $2 each maybe.

Entrees:
The waiter recommended the polenta cake, which the girlfriend fretted over, because polenta is not meat. Non-vegetarians fret about getting vegetarian dishes, for fear that it won’t fill them up sufficiently. Sorry, vegetarians, it’s true. We don’t know how you get full.

Underneath all that frisee was an excellent polenta dish. Polenta is hard – it’s usually either too gummy (as result of overmixing), too uneven (as result of non-constant stirring), too soggy (as result of too much liquid), or too flavorless (as result of everything). This was none of these. On its own, without the accouterments (roasted tomatoes, mushrooms), it was still perfectly cooked: a little crisp on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside, good flavors that accentuated the corn without being too gritty. The girlfriend was very satisfied and satiated. We understand you vegetarians now.

I got the pesto flatbread with toppings that I can’t remember – burrata, bacon, scallions, I think. It was actually called something way fancier than that.

The thin crust was great; not so thin that it couldn’t hold up the enormous weight of the cheese and toppings, not too thick that it became all about the crust and took away from the toppings. It was crispy without being hard. The toppings themselves were delicious – not very heavy at all. Best of all, it was only a buck or so overpriced, and it was more than enough to fill me up.

For dessert, a pear crisp.

This was probably the most disappointing part of the meal. As the girlfriend said, it tasted like it was out of the can, even though I really don’t think it was (the imperfect shapes gave it away). The crisp crumble was a bit mealy, didn’t taste like anything, and was a little too crispy in places. Overall, it was ok at best; next time, if we really needed dessert, we should stick with the chocolate

I wanted to like Ford’s Filling Station so much than I did. There were good parts that really took off, but in the end, it just didn’t really end all that well – the pear crisp, the total bill. Really, if it was just a few bucks cheaper, it really would have made all the difference. Damn. So close.

Ford’s Filling Station
9531 Culver Blvd.
Culver City
Mo-Tu 11-10
We-Sat 11-11
Su 10-10