Filed under: Culver City, Food | Tags: Ben Ford, Culver City, flatbread, Ford's Filling Station, Indiana Jones, onion rings, polenta
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 end of the month is dineLA’s Restaurant Week and a Half wherein participating restaurants have special pre fixe 3 course meals for $16-28 for lunch and $26-44 for dinner. The idea here is to try different places you normally wouldn’t go to, usually for cost reasons. But, is it really worth it? I’ve found that sometimes you end up paying what you would have paid had you just ordered the items off the menu, except you don’t get the benefit of the full menu; sometimes all you save is a buck or two; sometimes you save lots more; sometimes you save a lot but the portions are noticeably tinier. Let’s take an example.
Here’s one place that caught my eye – Akasha in Culver City. Have heard great things, have been wanting to try it for a while. They also give you a coupon for coffee in their bakery when you sign up for their email list. Hurrah!
Akasha: dineLA lunch menu for $22. The menu cost of these dishes are in brackets ([ ]).
Appetizers: Choice of
- soup [$7];
- cannelinni Bean Hummus, Truffle Salt, Flatbread, Marinated Olives [$8]; or
- Grilled Artichoke – Smoked Paprika Aioli [$9]
Entrees: Choice of
- Grilled Steak – Bibb Lettuce, Picked Red Onions, Oregonzola, Tarragon Mustard Vinaigrette [$16];
- Masala Spiced Wild Shrimp – Local Greens, Red Leaf, Pistachios, Picked Onions, Yogurt-Tomato Chutney Dressing [$16]; or
- Punjabi Mung Beans and Rice – Local Greens, Tandoori Flatbread, Tomato Chutney, Raita [$14]
Desserts: Choice of
- Assortment of Mini Desserts from Akasha Bakery [not offered on their regular menu, probably around $8-9];
- Ice Cream Trio – Choice of three: Vanilla Ice Cream, Soy Vanilla Gelato, Pumpkin, Toasted Almond, and Chocolate Hemp Gelato [$8]; or
- Sorbet – Choice of three: Tangerine, Coconut, Acai, Pomegranate [$8]
Assuming you get the most expensive things offered – grilled artichoke + grilled steak + any dessert – had you ordered these items off the menu, the total would be $33. That is $11 more than the pre fixe menu, or approximately the cost of the dessert (approximately). So, you end up ahead with dessert, plus two bucks to help cover the tip. Not too shabby!
By the by, dineLA’s dinner at Akasha is $34, a little high for my range right now. It’s high for a lot of our price ranges right now and five months from now.
The only catch is that Akasha is only open for lunch Mondays through Fridays. Grumble grumble grumble. As the international law student once said to me when I explained how the law school curve works: That is suck.
dineLA Restaurant Week
January 25 – 30; Feb. 1-6, 2009
must check website for participating restaurants.
Filed under: Culver City, Food | Tags: bar exam, beer, burger, California bar, Culver City, Father's Office, Father's Office 2.0, hamburger, scallops
Waiting to see if you’ve passed the bar is a horrific end to a horrific process. With about a month to go, the California bar puts up a mean, mean, mean countdown (hours:minute:seconds:i’m surprised they don’t do nanoseconds). Everyone around you expressly or silently reminds you about how many days are left. And you cannot put more absolutely helpless pressure on yourself and you absolutely can not stupidly help but retake the exam in your head and again.
Last Friday was bar results day, and there was one girl who was not-so-eagerly awaiting her bar results. Father’s Office (“FO”) was this year’s anticipated celebration locale. Since I wasn’t the one waiting to see if I passed, I went.
I feel compelled here to apologize (for the second time in a row) about the crap pictures. I did remember to bring my camera this time, but no one at work knows about this blog (I like to keep my blog life and my work life separate, a la George Castanza), so I was trying to take these pictures as inconspicuously as possible. Turns out I take blurry pictures when trying to avoid attention.
We went to Father’s Office 2.0, which really is the better, bigger version of 1.0 in Santa Monica. The Santa Monica location was my first foray into the FO experience/cult, but it was so small, so cramped, and the douchebag level was so high, that we had to leave without tasting a burger or a beer. Two point oh is infinitely better: much, much bigger (although on the big nights, you still have to wait in a line, because only so many people can be inside at a time – sort of like a club, or the Haunted Mansion), which means that the number of preppy, yuppie, and very white scenesters are nicely dispersed amongst the rabble.
What do you get? Of course you get the burger. Of course. ($14.50)
