The Corner Door is the most recent snazzy new restaurant to help make a once-strange corridor of Culver City one of LA’s best food hotspots. But with the likes of A-Frame, the Alibi Room and Waterloo & City, the competition is undoubtedly intense. To find out if The Corner Door could stand up to its competition, I had to check it out for myself and see if it could handle the unvegan.
The first thing I noticed was that the place was packed. But not packed with diners, rather it was full of people hanging out for an after work drink. I was a bit surprised, but despite all these people we were seated immediately. I also noticed that the acoustics weren’t especially good. As our awesome waiter told us, the space had previously been a law office, so the walls weren’t really made for drunken yuppies.
But, I was there for food, not architecture. And after much deliberation, I settled on their Cider Glazed Chicken Wings and French Fries. No, this wasn’t one dish, but two appetizers that added up to a not-so-small amount of money for what could often be had as a combo meal elsewhere. The wait was a bit long, and our awesome waiter explained that this was due to their small kitchen. Since the restaurant had been a law office, the kitchen was basically a converted storage closet. Awesome story? Yes. Good for speedy food? No. Yet, what they lacked in speed they made up for with their service.
Both my apps came out eventually and looked mighty good. The wings had been grilled before being doused in their chipotle, brown sugar and cider sauce. Despite a bit of char, I was a big fan of the grilling of the wings. It was a wise choice and added some unique flavor that doesn’t come in regular fried wings. The sauce itself was interesting and had great flavor if you’re into sweet wings. I prefer more kick, and while the chipotle added a bit of this I would have liked more.
The fries, though, were seriously awesome and I’m not sure why. They looked like pretty regular fries, were tossed with herbs and served with ketchup and aioli, but we just really took a liking to them.
It seems like The Corner Door will have a great future in its little corner. The food is a bit pricy for what it is, but it is pretty tasty. And while sweet wings may not be my cup of tea, there is certainly a contingent of (terrible) people out there who are into them.
