Restaurant: Rush Street
Location: 9546 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232. (310) 837-9546
Date: January 30, 2017
Cuisine: American
Rating: Pubby
Just down the street from my new restaurant, Ramen Roll, are a wide swath of Culver City places.
Rush Street seems a fixture on the main drag so I decided to see what the deal was.
The space is big, attractive, like a giant brick sports bar — which it is.
But not being the beer type, I came equipped with real wine :-).
From my cellar: 2005 Château Rayas Côtes du Rhône Château de Fonsalette Reserve. Parker 93. The 2005 Fonsalette Cotes du Rhone is a blockbuster. This blend of 50% Grenache, 35% Cinsault, and 15% Syrah has a dark ruby/purple color and a beautifully structured style with notes of black truffle, licorice, black currant, and sweet cherry intermixed with some crushed rock and flowers. The wine is beautifully broad, savory, and exceptionally well-delineated and focused. This is a magnificent wine that should be at its best between 2010 and 2025.
The menu is a bit too American for my tastes.
mediterranean hummus. marinated tomatoes, kalamata olives, cucumber, warm pita.
lobster & shrimp egg rolls. napa cabbage, ginger, sweet soy & spicy mustard dipping sauces. These tasted like… well egg rolls. Decent middling egg rolls, but I couldn’t tell if it was lobster & shrimp or just cabbage. I’m sure it was the former, but under the fry, hard to discern.
Rush street dry-aged burger. Applewood bacon, cheddar, soestring onions, arugula, confire sauce. This was a fine pub burger. I’m not much of a burger aficionado. Unless they really stand out they are just lost in this middle ground. It was probably slightly more well done than I like (medium maybe as opposed to medium rare).
Same with fries.
grilled asparagus. Parmesan cheese, caper vinaigrette.
Overall, I was expecting something more interesting and artisanal. Rush Street was fine, but it’s just American pub fare which isn’t my thing. Execution was fine though. But there wasn’t much regionality. If I have to do pub, I’ll take something with a bit more local style. Fortunately too I was facing away from the TVs. Not a TV fan in restaurants. Prefer those in my living room.
