Rush Street

So July was a bit of a hiatus for EatingOutLA, but August is back with a vengeance! Let's start with Rush Street, one of Culver City's newest pubs. I had heard good buzz from opening weekend, but didn't really know what to expect when I went with a group of friends. I was counting on more beers on tap, but instead the bar serves a pretty wide variety of 750 mL bottles. Being lovers of Hefeweisen, we were drinking the Pinkus Organic Hefeweisen, which was by far the best hef I've ever had. One 500 mL bottle fills about 2 glasses for $13. As for food, the boys both got burgers, I got the parmesan calamari and the baked mac & cheese, and my friend got the white pizza. I tried a bit of everything, but thought the only thing I'd get again would be the burger. Topped with bacon, cheddar, confire sauce and, natch, fried onions, the burger was just crispy and sweet enough. The shoestring fries that came with it were pretty delectable as well. The calamari batter was too delicate and kept falling off so we were just eating rubbery fish. The lemon aioli and marinara were both pretty bland and leant little support to the appetizer. The waitress claimed to swear by the baked mac & cheese, but I was unimpressed. The cheeses weren't entirely complementary of each other and it could have been much creamier. Lastly, the white pizza & truffle oil came with spinach on top, something that wasn't called out in the menu. The spinach wasn't good and overall the pizza was really tasteless, which was surprising for something with truffle oil. That's pretty hard to mess up. I'd prefer Johnnie's white pizza. When the time came, no one really cared for dessert, so I can't speak to that. Before we left, we spent a little time looking around the rest of the space since our table was right up front. Probably the best seats in the house are those on the front patio, but the majority of tables are next to the downstairs bar. The back area is reserved for big parties, and with bottle service you can reserve the upstairs bar area. The sofas make the upstairs bar space really inviting, but while we were there the outdoor patio only had one light for the whole area. Additionally, there's usually free parking lots in downtown Culver City, but they were all full when we were there and we had to valet. All-in-all, Rush Street is pretty overpriced for what it is: a bar with an underwhelmingly exaggerated bar menu. For $15 drinks and $15-20 entrees, it's just not worth it.

http://www.rushstreetculvercity.com/