City Tavern in Culver City: Food Needs Work, Space Needs More Elbow Room and Better Service

Poutine is probably one of the greatest inventions by Canadians. It is heartening that every self-respecting gastropub in the city now has its own take on this beautiful dish and City Tavern in Culver City is no exception. Although the garlic in the fries wasn't as noticeable, it did hit the mark on the fries but missed on the toppings. Did I mention the toppings are as vital to the success of the dish as the fries serving as the base? I had semi-high hopes for this place but it hopelessly let me down. The biggest culprit: the underdone short ribs. We were expecting tender and juicy pieces of shredded short rib meat, daintily strewn all over these babies. 

You may recall my rant about tough short ribs when I went to a pop up called Amalur Project. Short ribs should be tender. These were tough little cubes that didn't quite gel with the perfectly cooked fries. What a downer. Besides the fries themselves, the only other dish I liked was the special, roasted carrots with ricotta cheese, salsa verde and hazelnuts. The server neglected to tell us it'd be a medley of carrots including purple, so I initially thought that one carrot had been burnt. They weren't as good as the ones at Son of a Gun (ditto for the oxtail poutine at Animal, for that matter) and a tad overcooked but the sweetness from the carrots went very well with the neutral ricotta, strong parsley flavor from the sauce and the nuttiness and crunch from the hazelnuts. 

We were excited about the arugula, grilled leek and burrata salad with romesco sauce. The menu actually said romanesco sauce so I was a bit confused but maybe that's another term for it. I'm a huge fan of romesco sauce, which hails from Spain and is made with roasted red peppers, almonds and a delicious accompaniment to grilled leeks and crusty bread. When it came, the leeks weren't fully cooked. Some of the stalks were too raw to bite into and we got the skimpiest portion of burrata if there ever was one. Two tiny little dots buried under the mound of greens and undercooked leeks. My biggest complain, however, was how they skimped so much on the romesco sauce. I understand it takes a lot to make but we literally got less than a teaspoon of the sauce. The grilled bread that came with it was good though -- the only thing about the dish that worked.

The pan seared steelhead trout didn't look, smell or taste like trout but our server insisted it was. Whatever it was, the point is that it didn't taste fresh. It came with some mushrooms and microgreens but because the fish didn't taste fresh, I didn't want to even venture into the other components. What a downer.

The space was too tight (elbow to elbow with neighboring table -- where do you think this is, Balthazar? At least the food there is superb!) and the service was not great. Our server didn't tell us about the specials until we probed and only because we overheard our neighboring table's server tell those patrons about them. When asked, our server said the specials were attached to the menu. 

Didn't know they had a downtown outpost but what I do know is that I won't be returning.