If Two Vegetarians Are Arguing, Is It Still Called Beef?
Culver City will always have a bit of a tough gig. Cornered by two of the biggest freeways in Southern California, the area is quite literally cut off from the rest of Los Angeles. But it's also full of cool shops, galleries, and movie theaters—not to mention Sony Studios and a whole cavalry of tech offices. Plus, there's a Metro station that takes you to and from DTLA and Santa Monica, which means you can't use Culver's location as a reason not to visit.
And that's crucial, because perhaps more than anything else, Culver City has become a major food destination. Old restaurants are thriving and new ones pop up every day. It's an exciting time to be in the neighborhood—here's your guide to hitting the best restaurants.
THE SPOTS
Lonzo's makes some of the best Peruvian food in the city. Half-bakery, half-restaurant, this Culver City staple serves beautiful honey bay oysters, made fresh and spicy with a drizzle of rocoto pepper sauce and ponzu, plus decked-out marisco cocteles piled high with seafood and a glass of leche de tigre. There's a patio in the back, complete with heaters, just in case it's an especially cold day on the Westside (a.k.a. below 65 degrees), making it a perfect place to stop for a quick lunch break or casual dinner with a few friends.
Here, in a colorful strip mall on Venice Blvd., you'll find thin-crust Brazilian pizzas topped with Portuguese calabrese sausage, shredded dried beef, hearts of palm, and catupiry cheese—a soft, spreadable cheese that's mild and milky and tastes good on just about anything. There's also an all-you-can-eat pizza option here, a part of Roma's 'rodizio'-style menu, which means you can mix and match slices from different pies. Fill your plate with pizza sprinkled diced ham and sliced hard boil eggs; eat as many slices as the buttons on your jeans allow. Maybe they'll let you play the old wooden piano in the corner. We haven't seen it yet… but maybe today's the day?
This isn't your run-of-the-mill ceviche—a few fish chunks plus a light lime squeeze—that you might find at other LA restaurants. CevicheStop is a Peruvian spot in Culver City that's doing incredible things with cured fish. It's run by a former Lonzo's chef, and serves dishes like The Hangover, an elaborate striped bass, tiger milk, calamari concoction offered up in a vintage soda glass. Or The Black Mamba, a weekend-only special that comes in a charcoal gray color and packed with bloody clams. Order at the counter for lunch or an early dinner, grab an ice cold can of Peruvian soda, and try as much as you can on the menu.
Whether it's the restaurant's all-day breakfast options or delicious feijoada, all the food at this Brazilian café has been feeding the neighborhood for the past three decades. Late mornings at Café Brasil usually involve scrambled eggs with collard greens, fried plantains, pão de queijo, and fresh passion fruit juice. And if you're coming for lunch, expect some great pasteis—fried empanadas stuffed with ground beef, cheese, or hearts of palm.
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Citizen is a food hall in downtown Culver City that opened in November 2020. You can think of it as an immediate upgrade for any studio or tech worker looking for a decent lunch. The place isn't overwhelmingly large (there are only seven stalls), but it's the range of vendors that sets Citizen apart from other food halls. There are plump bivalves and uni trays at Jolly Oyster, shrimp ceviche and carnitas tacos from Mexicology, and pizza made by Nancy Silverton at Pizzette. But perhaps our favorite feature here is Bar Bohemien, the rooftop bar with excellent cocktails. It's also a great spot to eat all the food you bought from downstairs.
Hatchet Hall is the rare small plates restaurant where sharing isn't just a suggestion - it's a requirement. From savory shaved country ham and deep-fried cabbage leaves to white cheddar cornbread topped with an ice cream scoop of butter, the food at this Southern-leaning spot is so hearty and stick-to-your-ribs delicious that small plates are the only way you're going to get through it. The space can best be described as barnyard gothic, and there's a secret bar - appropriately called Old Man Bar - hidden in the back, just in case you needed another reason to check this place out.
Located in a part of Culver filled with very cool people who work in very creative offices, Destroyer is a daytime cafe unlike any other. We're pretty sure the coffee machine was brought here from the future (it's built into the counter), and it's entirely possible the food was, too. Seemingly simple dishes like raw oatmeal and almond milk or chicken schnitzel into works of abstract sci-fi art. The whole place is straight-up weird, and also oddly Zen, but in the kind of way that has us planning a return trip as you read this.
In nearby Palms, Madre is a tremendous Oaxacan restaurant that originated in Torrance that now has a third spot in West Hollywood. We like this location though, because it's a bit more laid back than the other two, but with the same great food and cocktails. Order any of the memelas, the negro mole, and a cauliflower taco you'll definitely order again the same night. From there, explore their seemingly endless stock of specialty mezcal and tequila.
This tiny bakery with a handful of tables is your best bet for breakfast in Culver. There's not much in the way of eggs, but that's fine, because instead there are huge slabs of avocado toast, a cured fish platter, and the world's largest cinnamon buns. A newborn baby could probably use one as a very soft (and beautifully scented) mattress. They also make great pizzas, including a pan pizza that will unquestionably sell out unless you get there early.
Whatever the difference between a great restaurant and an elite restaurant means to you, there's no arguing that n/naka is one of the elite. And a meal at this Palms spot comes with an elite price tag - for $285, you will be served a perfect 13-course kaiseki menu, one of Japan's most revered culinary traditions. So no, this is not your weekly chill spot. But it is a must-experience event. And it's worth every penny.
The second location of one of LA's best pasta spots, Pasta Sisters at the Helms Bakery complex might be even better than the original - mainly because it's the one where you can drink wine on a patio. Two patios, actually. Most of the bowls are build-your-own, meaning you get to choose the type of pasta and sauce (except for the clams and garlic, which they'll only serve with spaghetti). Our favorites are the pesto with tagliatelle and bolognese with pappardelle, but when you've got freshly made pasta and sauces this good, you really can't go wrong. If you're there on Sunday, make sure you get the carbonara - it's fantastic, and only available one day a week. We suspect that's a good thing for our health.
Great tacos had long been the mythical creatures of the Westside... at least until Loqui opened up. The office workers of the area are clearly pleased they've arrived (there will be a line at lunch), and so are we. Lots of them order at the counter and take their food to go, leaving more room on the cute patio out back for you to have a transcendental taco experience. It is not an exaggeration to say we have dreams about Loqui's flour tortillas. Because yes, we regularly have dreams about tacos - and that's not weird at all.
Annapurna is a vegetarian southern Indian restaurant in Culver City with a menu featuring specialties from the chef's home city of Chennai. Dishes across the menu here are spicy, rich, and deeply aromatic. The biryani is a standout. Filled with carrots, potatoes, peas, cauliflower, green beans, fresh mint, and dozens of spices, this is our favorite vegetarian version in town and should be considered a must-order, along with the crispy and slightly sour masala dosa.
There's a reason that Margot continues to be so popular - it's one of the best places on the Westside to catch a sunset. It's on the roof of Culver City's Platform complex, and has excellent views of the adjacent train junction. There's also a wide-ranging menu filled with solid tapas, pasta, and big plates of meat, but you're really here for the gin and tonics - because they're fantastic. And the sunset, of course.
This Culver City spot has been cranking out supremely crunchy fried chicken for nearly 20 years. You can't go wrong with any of their chicken combos, but we love the spicy wing basket - the skin is beyond crispy, the meat is moist, and they're coated in a sweet and spicy sauce you'll be licking off your fingers until halftime. Oh, and that basket comes with fries and one of their buttermilk biscuits, which are so good, you can purchase the mix on Amazon.
Mayura is a fantastic Indian restaurant that specializes in dishes from the Southern state of Kerala like fish curry, cheese uthappam, and avail, a mixed vegetable dish cooked with coconut and curry leaves. The dining room is much larger than it looks on the outside and is filled with long purple tables that are ideal for a family dinner when you know people will be joining at the last minute. There's also a separate vegetarian section on the menu.
Located in the Platform, Bianca is an all-day French/Italian/Argentinian spot that kind of does it all. You can get a solid meal here any time of day - particularly during lunch when they serve excellent focaccia sandwiches - but we love their early morning bakery the best. Here is when you can sneak in at 9am, grab some coffee, a moist Basque cake, and some croissants, and start your day off right on their serene front patio.
The really great spots that remind us of old Frank Sinatra hangouts are largely concentrated in Hollywood and Weho - except for Dear John's, the recently resurrected sort-of steakhouse on Culver Blvd. with serious Old Hollywood vibes. The drinks are strong, and the food is surprisingly interesting. There's a bone-in chicken parm, fried and stuffed with mozzarella, and a perfectly briny tableside Caesar served by a person dressed like an old-timey butler. It's also one of the darkest restaurants in LA, which preserves the illusion that Frank could be just down the bar throwing down martinis.
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No burger in the city has caused more friendship implosions, breakups, and multi-generational family disputes than the one at Father's Office - especially when it comes to the infamous "no ketchup" policy. But here at The Infatuation, we'll track this classic down every time we're near its sprawling Culver City location. Topped with caramelized onions, gruyere and Maytag blue cheese, bacon compote, and arugula, this is the perfect combination of sweet, salty, and extremely tangy. Some could argue that it's actually just a sandwich - and they might be right - but couldn't you argue any burger is just a sandwich? Bonus: There's also an excellent tap list.
Located on Sepulveda, Maple Block is a cool and affordable BBQ spot that arguably set off the modern LA BBQ craze that's still ongoing today. The brisket is tremendous, but it's everything else on the menu that keeps us coming back: the smokey chicken wings, the pimiento cheese sandwich, and whatever dessert they easily convince us to order. We want it all.
If you're roaming around downtown Culver and are craving a good sandwich, head to Potato Chips. This is technically the second location (the original is in Beverly Grove), but even so, it's still one of the most underrated sandwich shops in the city, with house-made ciabatta rolls stuffed with everything from tuna salad to Impossible meatballs. Favorites of ours include the roast turkey with havarti and herb aioli and the crunchy chicken Milanese, but we've never eaten a sandwich here that we haven't liked.
The most underrated Westside ramen spot is Kotoya, the only place we gladly let charge us $2 for green onions and $2.50 for nori sheets. Every penny is worth it to support this tiny Palms noodle counter, which offers a top-tier tonkotsu broth that's rich, flavorful, and fatty while still being light enough that you can carry on with the rest of your day. Piling on tableside spicy pepper and oil is also an essential move.
Is Jackson Market actually too good to be true? Located on a hidden residential street, Jackson Market serves as deli, apothecary, wine shop, snack bar, and probably a few other things we don't even know about. With its incredible back patio, this is the ideal place to catch up with friends after a long week.
As one of Culver City's most iconic food spots, Tito's has endured the test of time (over 60 years) and remains near and dear to the heart of the neighborhood. The walk-up, no-frills location still has long daytime lines that wait for the cheese-covered crunchy tacos and a whole helping of nostalgia.
Source: https://www.theinfatuation.com/los-angeles/guides/the-best-restaurants-in-culver-city
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