Culver City: City Tavern

City Tavern in Culver City opened in April. It’s owned by the team that brought you Rush Street a couple hundred feet away. City Tavern as the name implies is a beer joint. I was invited to come check out what they were cooking up in Downtown Culver City. I took a friend who is a craft beer lover and she had fun with the list. I, being a fan of cocktails, decided to take a look at the cocktail list.

I went with the Sneaky Pete (Buffalo Trace bourbon, Aperol, lemon, grapefruit, simple syrup).  Some other cocktails that appealed to me where the Gin Gin Mule (Bombay Sapphire gin, lemongrass syrup,  lime, ginger beer), Summer Solstice (VeeV, orange juice, lime, honey water, black cherries, jalepeno) and the Smokey Margarita (Casa Noble silver, St. Germain, agave, lime and grapefruit).

But since this is a beer joint (some booths even have their own beer taps), I decided to at least try a taster. I had the Oyster Porter.

We started with a couple of appetizers; the oysters and the portabello fries with bleu cheese dressing. I loved the unusual vodka mignonette for the oysters. However, I wasn’t into the portabello fries. I admit I probably shouldn’t have ordered them considering I don’t like bleu cheese but I thought I could have the fries without the dressing. As it turned out, these really are best with the dressing.

We also had the white asparagus with poached egg. While I loved this dish because of its piquancy, my friend didn’t like the tart flavors. I found this kind of funny as she drinks lighter beers that I find a bit sour while I like dark beers because I like flavor.

For entrees we ordered the Opah, a softer white flesh fish served with figs and baby artichokes in a reduced port sauce. My friend had been to City Tavern before and loved the NY strip steak. She was right, of the two entrees, the steak was my favorite. It was perfectly cooked.

Of course we had to have a couple of sides. I loved both the light curry flavor of the cauliflower and the buttery cioppolini onions. The cauliflower was a great addition to the fish and the onions were a classic pairing with the steak.

 

Although I normally would have gone with the chocolate tart, we decided to go with the lighter-sounding  rustic apple tart. It was the perfect light, sweet bite to end our night.

 

City Tavern

9739 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232 – (310) 838-9739