Sanitized Chicken: Honey's Kettle in Culver City

Inspired by Tony's Fried Chicken Civil War, I thought I might share my own Honey's Kettle experience. Except I didn't venture into Compton to get my deep fried poultry, not because I was scared to go, but because Culver is right next to my friend's Battlestar Galactica party. If you haven't been watching BSG, you should; if you haven't been to Honey's Kettle, then go immediately.

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As I said, I wouldn't be scared away from food by the neighborhood. Anyone who has had decent soul food can tell you it's best served from behind bullet-proof glass. But for hipsters looking for a taste of the wild side without leaving the comfort of the Westside, Culver City's Honey's Kettle is perfect.


Even before LA Magazine crowned Honey's the "best fried chicken" in LA, I've been meaning to try it. As a lifelong fan of fried chicken, seemingly irreconcilable terms given the shortened life span, I would gladly check out any place that's good enough to move out of the hood. Hopefully, the Jeffersons of the chicken world is just as amazing as its Compton counterpart. I knew I had to get three things to properly evaluate Honey's--a drumstick, coleslaw, and a biscuit.


Normally, I don't choose extra crispy at KFC because I don't believe in fluff. Every part of the perfect fried chicken, meat, skin, batter, and even bone must be essential to the finished product. Double battering and frying at KFC doesn't add anything but fat. At Honey's the fried coating is different, enhancing the texture and flavor. The skin was crisp, not detracting from the flavor of the meat. I settled on a thigh and leg, and for those of you who only eat white meat, you're banished from eating poultry ever again. White meat is as close to bare sustenance as you should get. Of course, my disdain for white-meat is well documented. However, perhaps Honey's chicken is just juicy enough that the white meat may be somewhat palatable too.

The coleslaw and pickles were nothing to write about, which is a shame since my guilty pleasure is KFC coleslaw. I've been trying to find something to wean me off such a nasty habit, but so far nothing has the consistency and comfort of that industrial slop. The biscuits however, can only be captured by trying one yourself. There may have been an entire stick of butter in each biscuit to get that tenderness, but it certainly wasn't weighed down by fat. Biting into each tasty morsel delivered made me feel things that biscuits shouldn't make me feel. We'll leave it at that. Oh, and there were fries.


The best picture I could get with my iPhone

Honey's Kettle
9537 Culver Blvd,
Culver City, 90232
(310) 202-5453
$19 for 4 thighs, 4 legs, a pint of coleslaw, 4 biscuits, fries
Park at the Cardiff parking garage for two hours free

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Secret Pork: Ford's Filling Station's Special Pork Dinner

What do pig eyes taste like? It's more texture than taste. Last week FoodDigger graciously hosted a special menu dinner at Ford's Filling Station. These FD invites have gotten so competitive; I was certainly lucky to get a spot at Chef Ben Ford's Culver City restaurant.

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I won't write an encyclopedic entry on every minute item I had at Ford's. For that, you're better off reading Kevin's entry. I could tell you about the unbelievably supple pork confit or the mouthwatering porchetta roasted pig with fennel. I could even tell you how panchetta wrapped pork loin is an amazing idea. Wrap pork with more pork; how can that fail? But the best memories of the night weren't the things on the table, they were the people seated around it. Fiona, HC, Kevin, Ila, Matt, Javier, Matt, Sarah and of course Will, Thi and Marshal truly made the night.

The dinner started with a flourish as Ben Ford came out to introduce himself and the menu to our table of hungry bloggers. We gave him the paparazzi treatment of course with questions and camera flashes going off in all directions. Of course, he could always take celebrities cues from his father Harrison Ford. He explained that the pork dinner is special for him--much fun to do and eager to present. The menu is by special request only with advance notice. After all, he needs to buy the two fifteen-pound baby pigs and brine overnight. Nightly, he makes his own headcheese, but rarely does he get the opportunity to work with the whole animal.

We had a few side dishes to start: brussel sprouts, cavalo nero & escarole, roasted carrots with pomegranate, and kabocha risotto. The risotto was a letdown, undercooked and underflavored. It's a pity since the kabocha, or Japanese pumpkin, has such a great flavor. In answer to the universal childhood fear of brussel sprouts, Ford says cook with bacon.



The stars of the night came dressed in their finest--on a silver platter served by Chef Ford himself. The fancy platter consisted of the porchetta, whole roasted pig with fennel and onions, pig's tongue and ear salad, deep fried pork eyes stuffed with ham hock, and panchetta wrapped loin chops, pulled pork and pork rinds. I was personally most impressed with the salad, since beef tongue is so common now, pork was a different treat. Fried eyes tasted how I imagined Rocky Mountain Oysters would be like. Breading and frying any gelatinous organ can cover up the taste of eyes as well as testicles. The texture was the only thing that set it apart. Eyes have a gummy resistance, best reserved for non-organ foodstuffs. Amazingly, none of these pork products relied on heavy sauces. The meat was tender and juicy enough to stand with relatively simple seasonings. The pulled pork was no exception; the only good pulled pork I've had was doused in sauce or in the form of carnitas.

Pork rinds, pork loin, and confit flanked by carrots and risotto

Porchetta, whole roasted pig with fennel and onions

The second platter of pork had the confit cooked in goose fat, crispy smoke pork legs, and a rather unhappy looking pig head. As a rule of thumb, when eating the heads of animals, empty eye sockets make the creature much more menacing. The confit was certainly as notable as its reputation would suggest. After being featured on Bizarre Foods, this was a dish I couldn't overlook. It almost had the flavor of a roasted turkey leg, smokey and deep. The night finished with a moist Hawaiian bread pudding and a disappointingly dry chocolate torte. Dessert wasn't the key to the dinner. Maybe if it featured bacon more prominently...

By the time we finished our late meal, the restaurant was all but empty. We gathered up and headed across the street for a round of drinks courtesy of Tastespotting. Food may have brought us all together, but it certainly wasn't the only thing keeping us there. It's not enough to love food; you still have to be a genuinely good person to be a part of the community. For all you quiet bloggers out there, all I can say is reach out join the fun.

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Oh Yum, a Big Heaping Plate of Macrobiotics

Melrose Muffaletta with Scarlet Quinoa Salad

M Cafe de Chaya
(310) 838-4300
9343 Culver Blvd,
Culver City, CA 90232
$10 salads and sandwiches

Out of my element. That's the thought that came to mind when I stepped into M Cafe. The exterior seemed tame enough, patio seating and a chalk A-board displaying the daily specials. But once I saw the menu, I felt a little lost. Granted, I've been to Native Foods in Westwood and health food hasn't been completely left off my radar, but this was a far cry from my usual calorie and fat-laden meals. This was macrobiotic cuisine; it was supposed to be good for me and taste good too. For me that's almost always been a paradox. The truth is, fats and sugars carry flavor. That bold little triangle at the top of the old food pyramid was the source for all gastronomic indulgence. So admittedly, the seitan and whole grains were a little off-putting.

Macrobiotic, as sterile as it sounds, is described on the M Cafe website as "stressing the importance of whole, natural foods eaten in season, and as minimally processed as possible." The basis is "a theoretical foundation rooted in traditional Oriental medicine" with attention on balance and purity. I can believe this, no one ever has anything bad to say about natural diets. I was more concerned about how they're going to make all those nice-sounding words taste delicious.

I chose the Melrose Muffaletta, recalling my muffaleta experiences in New Orleans. I've been to Central Grocery, which claims to be the origin of the Sicilian loaf with olive spread, salami and provolone. Curiously, I ordered the macrobiotic version to see how good their fake meat could be. In retrospect, I probably should have just ordered something that doesn't pretend to be anything else, enjoy it for what it is, but I've never had seitan before and it was something I was curious to try. Seitan (pronounced Satan, as humorously pointed out by Scott Gold in The Shameless Carnivore) is processed wheat gluten. Wait, processed wheat gluten? Doesn't sound that macrobiotic to me, at least according to M Cafe's definition. And in fact, the fake salami tasted bland and had an eerie texture to it. The miso-cured tofu cheese was also a turn off. Not only did it look like cottage cheese run-off, but it tasted more like tofu than cheese. That wouldn't be a bad thing, if it wasn't posing as cheese. The order came with a side of quinoa salad. It was cooked with beets and had a shocking deep red. It actually tasted pretty good, but I couldn't get over the unease of not knowing what it was at the time I had it. The texture was similar to cous cous.

I think I approached this macrobiotic thing from the wrong angle. I shouldn't have ordered a food posing as something else. Rather, I should've embraced it for what it was. I liked the quinoa salad because I wasn't eating it while thinking of something else like I did with the seitan salami or the tofu cheese. I might come back in the future for the organic fries which looked delicious, but I doubt I'll frequent places like this until I cannot sustain my current diet anymore. I'll save the health food for when I'm dead...or close to it.

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Great, Another Fro-yo Place...or Maybe Not?

Cantaloop
3835 Main St,
Culver City, 90232
$2.75-6.25 + $1.50 for three toppings

As I see it, the frozen yogurt market is oversaturated. In Westwood alone, I can count six yogurt places off the top of my head. It's the new frozen treat that's low in fact and healthy because it's yogurt right? Well I don't know exactly how nutritious it really is, but then again, when is the food I eat about nutrition anyway? If, unlike me, you do care about nutrition, you might be interested in NutritionDegreeOnline.org. But just because a market is oversaturated, that doesn't mean there isn't room for a new competitor to dethrone a reigning yogurt king.

What I like most about Cantaloop, is the difference in yogurt texture. Too many of these fro-yo places are too similar to differentiate. They are highly elastic goods, almost pure substitutions to most people. Given the choice between Pinkberry and Red Mango, I would simply choose the cheaper. Due to this factor, the yogurt shops have been tinkering with formulas to achieve some sort of individuality in their flavors. Cantaloop realizes this and sells a yogurt skewed to the tart lovers. The texture is icy, not as creamy. It reminds me of frozen Yakult. While that flavor may not be that popular to the American palate, I know plenty of Asians that would enjoy it.


Cantaloop currently offers two other flavors of yogurt--mango and pomegrante. While the pomegrante lacked dimension, the mango definitely had a personality of its own. It may be a little tart, but swirled with the original, the two make a balanced taste.

When I get frozen dairy treats, whether off the marble slab, scooped from the tub, or dispensed by a shiny metal lever, I like gummy bears as a topping. While the fresh fruit is satisfying for tongue and piece of mind, nothing quite beats the chewy texture of a frozen gummy bear. However, I would gladly trade gummy bears for mochi topping. Both harden in the frozen treat and soften in your mouth, a sensation I long for in yogurt or ice cream. Therefore, I ordered the mango and original swirled with mochi and fresh mango topping.


Least phallic yogurt swirl picture

Besides the yogurt, Cantaloop is in a great location. Culver City seems to be the new dining central with restaurant openings all the time. In fact, La Rocco's Pizzeria, which serves delicious NY style pizzas, opened the same day next door to Cantaloop. I'm looking forward to trying Ford's Filling Station, Honey Kettle, Rush Street, Ugo, Bottle Rock, among others. Cantaloop offers free wi-fi, a big incentive for people to hang out at this new yogurt sensation. The interior is sleek and modern, though the color scheme looks vaguely familiar. Still, it looks like a pleasant place to spend an evening.



While the frozen yogurt market may be oversaturated, Cantaloop's yogurt flavors certainly are not. It is a welcome addition to the fiercely competitive market, and I'm confident in this one.

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Japanese Maid Waitresses and Tartare Tartare: Destinations in Culver City

Fraiche Restaurant

Living on the West side, I find myself frequenting Santa Monica when looking for restaurants. Granted, there are some great ones like Father's Office and The Counter, interestingly both burger restaurants, but I have been overlooking another Food Destination as well--Culver City. For the longest time, the only thing of interest has been the film studios, formerly Columbia-TriStar, now Sony. Now, the downtown area has been revitalized with many new restaurants and boutiques that are worth an adventure on their own. I have discovered great lunch and dinner places sure to satisfy the taste explorer.

Rooibos Tea at Royal/T

Royal/T
(310) 559-6300
8910 Washington Blvd.
Culver City
$10 per person for lunch

I didn't know what to expect when I got in the car to go to Royal/T. When I arrived, I realized this huge building, 100,000 square feet, is more art gallery than cafe. The place looked like a converted warehouse with high ceilings and open rafters. Large Plexiglas walls separated exhibits of contemporary, mostly Japanese, art. Art majors would love this place. The cafe is located, not much more than a counter and a few tables. They do not skimp on quality here; the glasses were double-walled bodum glass that break easily and don't come cheap. I believe the flatware was Wedgwood as well. For this set-up, the food was not extraordinarily expensive.

Of course Royal/T is also the first Japanese maid cafe in Los Angeles. For those of you aren't familiar with meido kissa cafes where the service staff dress as French maids, this has been a phenomenon in Japan catering to those who want to feel pampered in a high tea environment. In fact, Royal/T does offer a high tea option for around $20, which includes choice of tea, finger sandwiches and simple sushi rolls. Although the target audience is intended to be women wanting to indulge in princess fantasies, that's like saying that the target audience of Victoria Secret is only women shopping for fashionable underwear.


Spicy Tuna Tartare and Royal Tea

I ordered a delicious tuna tartare with radish sprouts, a spicy mayo blend, and avocado on a crispy slice of toast. Since this is a tea house, I ordered their house Royal Tea from their extensive tea menu. The Royal Tea is a black tea brewed in soymilk with a hint of fruit. Although it was refreshing, my friend's rooibos tea was much more fragrant and complex in flavor. Rooibos, pronounced "roy-boss," is an herbal tea from African that is naturally decaffeinated. I smelled the flavors open up at across the table as our maid poured it for my friend. Fragrances of strawberries filled my nose, and the taste was impeccable. A small cube of raw sugar made the experience even more satisfying.

Although this was a fun experience, I would feel awkward going there without female accompaniment. Despite its fantastic art, great food, and attention to quality, Royal/T is just not somewhere you go with the guys. I also would like to note if you do visit, bring your iPod and plug it into the Porta-Party in the back for your personal dance party.

Corkboard Menu

Fraiche
310-839-6800
9411 Culver Blvd.
Culver City
$50 per person

Seeing as how I already put up the exterior photo of Fraiche at the beginning of this post, I
used a picture of their corkboard menu with insignia for this section. It was either that, or this picture of their bread.

Four Types of Bread with Tapenade

Fraiche has been on my try list for quite some time since I kept hearing about how popular this place was. The new "it" restaurant, serving rustic French and Italian food. I decided to come here with my girlfriend to celebrate my graduation from UCLA. I made the reservations online, came 15 minutes early, and was seated at a comfortable table outside with no problem. The restaurant interior is actually not that big; they have several tables for patio dining with appropriate heat lamp climate control. Maybe it was the hanging lights, or maybe it was the friendly staff dressed in pink shirts, but I felt at ease in the restaurant. Actually, it was probably just the older crowd than the usual places I eat at.


Beef Tartare and White Corn Soup

The dinner started with a bread plate of four different types served with a simple, but tasty tapenade. The olive spread was a refreshing change from the all-too-common butter. I started with the beef tartare as my appetizer. Now I haven't had beef tartare enough times to really compare, but compared to everything else I have ever eaten, this dish definitely ranks among the most memorable. Prepared with bacon Sabayon, chives and accompanying a side arugula salad, it had all the complexity in flavor and texture that made me smile after each bite. Good thing this was my graduation dinner, because I truly thought I had to work for four years to deserve something so delicious. The chewy beef contrasted nicely with the crunchy toast, keeping my tongue busy as I worked my way through the flavors. My girlfriend had the white corn soup with basil cream and a floating corn fritter. The soup was delicate and sweet, the corn flavor dominant but not overwhelming. Visually, the cream swirling around the fritter looked almost tranquil or balanced.


Monkfish and Lamb

Going on the recommendation of a friend, I ordered the monkfish Francaise with spinach and potato puree in a white wine reduction. Now I didn't know it at the time, but fish prepared a la Francaise means coating in an egg batter and pan-roasting. Unfortunately, I have a disdain for egg, and the flavor detracted from the fish. The potato puree saved the dish however, it was smooth and velvety, rich with surely the pound of butter they used to make it. The lamb spezzatino was a stewed lamb with gnocchi. The gnocchi resembled my potato puree in texture, but the lamb was nothing spectacular. Actually, for the amount I'm paying, I expected a bit more.


Paris-brest

For dessert, I ordered the Paris-brest, which was something that resembled a puff pastry filled with almond praline chantilly cream and topped with saffron golden raisin sauce. Now I couldn't figure out if saffron was just to describe the color of the sauce, or if there was really saffron in the sauce. Either way, I didn't like the sauce. The pastry itself was sweet and not too rich. The spun sugar topping was also a visual treat.

All in all, I have a fairly positive impression of Fraiche, pronounced "fresh" by the way. I didn't mention that to sound pretentious; I just made the mistake myself when I talked to the hostess. While the entrees failed to meet my expectations, I would definitely go back someday, just not soon. There are so many other places to try. And after this experience, some of those places might just be in Culver City. Honey Kettle and Ford's Filling Station, here I come!

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Fassica - CLOSED

10401 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232

Adequately Fed: $15

Ordered:
Fassica Special****
Honey Wine***
(Out of Five Stars)

Ethiopian cuisine has yet to hit mainstream stomachs for the most part, but this quaint little restaurant across from the Sony Pictures Studios is quite a find. This Mom and Pop establishment has a homey feel to it with the tacky decor, but the ambiance is hardly enough to deter the true food enthusiast. Having only been to two Ethiopian restaurants before, I cannot really compare Fassica to other Ethiopian eateries, but evaluating it for the food alone, I have good things to say.

We ordered two glasses of their tej, honey wine, following the recommendations of several online reviews. The wine is homemade and tastes relatively high in alcohol content. The aftertaste is pleasant with the aroma of honey without the saccharinity.

For two people, I recommend ordering the Fassica special. This dish is a sampler of a variety of menu items including beef tibs (saute), lamb tibs, chicken wat (stew), collard greens, lentils, a cottage cheese that our host insisted was freshly made that morning, and several other items. This is a great size for two people and is served with injera, a pancake-like flatbread of spongy consistency. Since this is a sampler platter, it gave us a great sense of the variety of their food. The tibs were sauteed well and most of the other sides were stewed. Although most stewed foods tend to be bland or overcooked, Fassica serves these dishes up well.

The food is eaten with the right hand, so be prepared to get a little messy. If you run out of injera, just ask for more.

Being a small family operation, there was little service. However, when we went, there were few customers so the hostess who served us adequately tended to our needs. In fact, she was especially cordial and ready to help us out in any way, including explaining the eating method.

Recommended: Because this is a communal dish, pick a dining partner in whom you can trust his/her hygiene.

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Gaby's Mediterranean

10445 Venice Blvd
Culver City, CA 90034

Adequately Fed: $15

Ordered:
Leban* (yogurt drink, not sweet at all if that's what you expected like me)
Jillab****(raspberry date drink, tastes like you're drinking a Bath & Body Works)
Baba ghanoush** (resembles eggplant hummus, too intense without sufficient pita bread)
Lamb Kabob****
Chicken Shawarma****
(Out of Five Stars)

First impression: "where the hell's the restaurant? Oh, it's this tent looking thing in the parking lot." Gaby's Mediterranean does indeed consist entirely of outdoor patio seating. On the particular night we went, it was a little cold for outdoor seating, but the tent was well heated with multiple heat lamps placed throughout the complex. The outdoor atmosphere was conducive to the hookah that the table next to us was using however.

We were served a basket of pita bread with a side of something resembling bruschetta. They refill the basket, so make sure you don't fill up completely on that. I ordered the baba ghanoush because I always wondered what it was. It complimented the pita quite nicely, but it gradually became overwhelming.

The portions of their entrees were generously large. This is when you should have heeded my warning before and avoided eating too much of the bread. Both the chicken and lamb came with salad and rice. The chicken dish had a dallop of what I conjectured to be garlic paste and sour cream, but it went excellently with the chicken. The lamb was well-marinated and grilled to perfection.

For a little Mediterranean tastes away from the overpopulated Italian peninsula, consider what Gaby's can offer you in Lebanese food. From what I understand, Gaby's is also opened late. It would make an excellent place to get good food after normal dinner hours.

Recommended: Good place to hang out with a group of friends. Go on a warm night however.

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