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/

Father's Office

Ever since I moved here people have been talking about restaurant and pub Father's Office. With a second location now open in Culver City (original location in Santa Monica), we finally gave it a try with a couple of our friends. While there were a lot of great things about Father's Office (i.e. ample free parking, tons of beers, I'll get to the rest later), the biggest inconvenience is the way you get in/get a table. Only a certain number of people are let in at a time, even though the place never seemed that crowded to me, and when they are at capacity, you have to wait in line outside to get in. Once inside, there is still no hostess, but rather community seating and you have to hover over people until they leave. Even if your friends have already gone inside and save a seat at a table for you, you still can't hop to the front of the line, but rather have to wait your turn with everyone else. And when you do get a table, be sure not to leave it unguarded because there are no waiters either, everything is ordered at the bar. The beer menu far outweighs the food menu here, but the food is pretty great for gourmet bar food. We all had the Office burger with the carmalized onion, applewood bacon compote, gruyere, blue cheese, and arugula, and of course, a side of sweet potato fries. Normally I feel like blue cheese overpowers whatever it's paired with, but apparently at FO it's mixed into the meat before they cook it, so it's pretty mild. Overall, the burger was fabulous and definitely worth the $12 or so that it costs (eat your heart out Carls Jr.). The bar has about 20 beers on tap and that's only the beginning. There is an entire selection of rare beers that come at rare prices (up to $75 for 750mL!). The strange thing is that a good portion of these pricey beers are described as "grassy." Yeah, not sure about that, and certainly not willing to spend $75 to find out. My advice for this place is to come early and don't come in a big group unless you intend to rent out the private space, otherwise, you'll never all be able to sit together.

http://fathersoffice.com/
http://losangeles.citysearch.com/profile/11416036#
(menu is only available on Citysearch)

Bistro Du Soleil

Not far down the road from Cafe Pinguini and Dockwieler Beach is the quaint little French cafe, Bistro Du Soleil. Serving up traditional French fare like sweet and savory crepes, croques monsieur and madame, and quiche, BdS is delicious! They have an assortment of hot coffee drinks and a strong iced tea for beverages, some starter salads, hot and cold sandwiches, and also offer some of their dinner menu for lunch. Everything sounded so great on the menu I had a hard time deciding what to get. I ultimately decided on the croque madame, a sandwich served warm with buttered and toasted sourdough, turkey, and swiss. You can opt to add fried egg on top (the true French way to eat it) for an additional cost. Most menu items come with a choice of pomme frites (fries) or salad. Be warned though, the only dressing option is dijon vinaigrette, so if you are like me and don't care for mustard, opt for the fries. They come with just a bit of seasoning on them and are quite good. Other people in my party had the calamari salad (which was really an entire order of calamari on top of a normal sized salad), and the chicken crepe with a light mushroom cream sauce, all of which looked fantastic. The portions are considerable and not one of the four of us were able to clean their plates. We finished up with a small assortment of desserts. The chef was more than willing to substitute peaches for pears in the brie quesadilla, and the owner even had her make two because she thought it sounded so good that she wanted to try. And it was great! A light, fresh way to conclude your dining experience. The other dessert we tried was a chocolate mousse crepe topped with whipped cream and raspberry sauce. My only suggestion to BdS would be on this dish, make your own whipped cream, or at least use Cool Whip, but please don't use whipped cream from a can. Though the dessert was tasty, it looked like a recreation of the pancake special at IHOP. BdS, I know you can do better than that! I've only dined in for lunch, but I've heard from others that Bistro du Soliel is a prime place for Sunday brunching and they even have a bar to serve up mimosas and bloody Mary's!

http://www.bistrodusoleil.com/