BBQ is a wonderful thing. And while most great BBQ is nowhere near LA, there are certainly great spots to be found. A newcomer on the scene just recently popped up in Culver City (in a corner where restaurant seem to die), calling itself Chop Daddy’s. The place has all the makings of trying to become a chain, which isn’t always the best when you’re looking for authenticity, but all I cared about was getting some good ‘cue.

I wasn’t in the mood for a slab of ribs, so I can’t speak to those, but a number of their sandwiches really caught my eye. None moreso than the Big Daddy, which was a brioche bun stuffed with pulled pork, bacon, tater tots, cheese sauce and a spicy aioli. It almost seemed like too good of a sandwich to be true.

But it was true, and as I dug into my first bite I was overwhelmed with just how good it was. Pulled pork might be the easiest BBQ dish to make well, but when it combined with all that other deliciousness it just worked…really well. Each flavor, aside from perhaps the bacon, could be tasted in each gratifying bite.

Unfortunately I don’t live in Culver City anymore, but if I did I’d probably be taking down a Big Daddy weekly. It might not be what you would find at a more traditional BBQ joint, but in this case there’s no reason to complain.

Just a couple of weeks ago, a new pizza place opened in Culver City called Wildcraft. Their schtick is the use of sourdough in their pizzas, which is cool with me, but I’m not sure if it entirely qualifies as being wild. Nonetheless, I was eager to try it out and see just how wild and crafty it would be.

We started with an appetizer of their Meatballs. Made with a blend of beef and pork, these unkosher balls were served in a “tomato gravy” and topped with grana padano cheese. The so-called gravy was really just a marinara sauce and quite good. Also good were the balls themselves, having a great texture, flavor and moisture level.

For my pizza, I decided to get a little wild and ordered one called Carnage. This pizza wasn’t symbiotic (that’s for you, Spider-Man fans) and instead came with porchetta, house pepperoni, pancetta, fennel sausage. It was a cacophony of meat, plus provolone and scamorza cheese. Carnage was in the “Red” section of the pizza menu, meaning it came with tomato sauce and communism, as opposed to the “White” section, which I assume came with a vitamin D deficiency.

The result of this mix of assorted cured pig meats, cheese, sauce and dough was quite delightful. I enjoyed the sourdough, which added an interesting twist to the pizza, and I loved that each slice had to be folded in order to be eaten because of the shear weight of meat. In addition, I appreciated the use of provolone and scamorza cheeses instead of the typical mozzarella. This helped give the pizza an additional complexity of flavor that regular mozzarella doesn’t usually offer.

The only trouble with the pizza was the price tag. Yeah, I know it was good, but $16 for my Carnage $8 for the Meatballs means Wildcraft won’t exactly be a go-to pizza place if I want to preserve my savings account. Despite this, it is certainly worth checking out and I couldn’t be happier to have an upscale pizza place like this in my neighborhood.

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.

It’s not too often that food court food gains critical acclaim. Yet, in the case of 101 Noodle Express (my favorite college course), the only reason I went was by recommendation from Jonathan Gold. Like KyoChon, 101 Noodle Express can be found at the Fox Hills Mall, but also in other places where you would expect it more – like the San Gabriel Valley. Almost as surprising as finding such a place in a food court is the fact that Gold doesn’t even recommend the noodles.

Instead, the Beef Rolls are said to be all the rage. To test this claim, I ordered half of a roll. A product of Shandong, China, the roll consists of a pancake (like the scallion variety, but without the scallions), bean sauce, thinly sliced beef, cilantro and “onion.” I ordered mine without the onion, but the woman at the counter told me that meant I had to sacrifice the cilantro as well because they were mixed together. I wasn’t happy to lose the cilantro, but it is worth it drop the onion out. It was only when I got my order that I learned the onion was actually green onion. I’m not a fan, but it is certainly acceptable when mixed with cilantro. I got a side of it to test out and also some hot peppers to mix my roll if I needed.

Without the cilantro, the three slices of roll looked like a cinnamon bun gone wrong. The taste, though, was nothing like one. The pancake had an almost tortilla-esque quality to it except that it provided flavor to the roll instead of simply being a conduit. Inside, the beef was tender and flavorful, with the beans adding another burst of contrasting flavor. Had this been the full roll, I would have been a happy man, but I decided I had to try the cilantro-onion and hot pepper mixes I had on the side. This proved to be a wise choice, as these extra flavors provided extra balance and texture to an already superb roll. Would the cilantro mix have been better without the green onions? Most certainly, but they were worth having if it meant I had cilantro to go with my roll.

While it is hard to call a mall food court a destination, the one-two punch of 101 Noodle Express really does change that notion. For west siders like me, it is whole lot easier to get to Fox Hills than Koreatown or San Gabriel. While I can’t vouch for the differences between the neighborhood locations and the mall ones, I can certainly say they left me satisfied.

I have a confession and this may come as a surprise to all of you: I love Brazilian BBQ. Yes, I know it’s shocking that a menagerie of meat such as Brazilian BBQ could be one of my loves, but it’s true. Unfortunately, this isn’t an easy love. Firstly, it ain’t cheap like Korean BBQ, which is equally meaty. Secondly, I can’t go without eating an insane amount of food. Sorry, it’s just how I work at such things, which means my body usually needs a fair amount of recovery time before going back. But, when I saw a sweet Travelzoo deal for Libra in Culver City, at least my first problem with Brazilian BBQ was taken care of.

Upon entering, we were immediately seated and our head waiter came by to see if we knew the ways of churrascaria. We assured him that we did and set out to peruse the salad bar. This thing was vast and had surprising options like mac and cheese to go with the more typical items like yucca and beans. Per my usual, I avoided the entire salad bar (save for a little cheese and salami) as I planned on filling up completely on meat.

I shan’t get into each individual meat we were offered, but I will certainly highlight a few. In fact, one of the first things we were served turned out to be one of the best – garlic beef. This stuff was perfectly cooked to a medium rare and had just the right amount of garlic to add flavor but not so much to frighten off the ladies/vampires.

Another highlight was their picanha steak. As with every other churrascaria I’ve been to, the waiters referred to this as the house special and as always it really was special. I don’t know what they do with it other than lightly season it with salt, but it was as good as I expected it to be and I definitely went back for seconds.

One thing that was surprisingly good was their smoked sausage. This stuff just melted in my mouth and was packed with smokey awesome flavor (insert sexual innuendo here). It was sliced super thin (end sexual innuendo here) and completely blew away the other sausage offering, which was the Brazilian sausage. I tend to think based on the restaurant we were at that both sausages were Brazilian, but this full, unsliced Brazilian sausage was a poor comparison to the smoked.

I could go on about the chicken hearts, lamb chops, pork ribs and beef ribs, but that would be pretty long-winded. Just know that pretty much everything was awesome. Yet, one of the most awesome things of all wasn’t meat at all. It was their grilled pineapple, which I experienced for the first time at M Grill. Here at Libra, it was no less amazing. Sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and packed full of pineapple juice, my taste buds jumped for joy.

Oh, and I won’t forget about the salad bar, in which I certainly saved room to dabble. The best thing I found over there was a pan full of chicken adobo. Chicken adobo is a big deal in just about every Latin-influenced county and interestingly enough they all taste different. And also interesting is that they are all delicious. This stuff had a great taste to it and was just moist, tender and delectable.

Finally, the Travelzoo deal included a dessert and we opted for the berry meringue. This was a wise choice because it was not only light, but also worthy in taste. The strawberries and blueberries were fresh and perfectly ripe, while the whipped cream was simple, unsweetened and a perfect companion to the meringue. It was a great way to wrap the meal up.

In closing, go to Libra. If you eat meat, you won’t regret it. If you don’t eat meat, one sweet look at the waiters’ skewers will convert you. Plus, even the regular price of the place is a whole lot cheaper than a lot of churrascarias.

You can’t throw a stone* in LA without hitting a Mexican place that someone happens to call their favorite. It could be a shack, a hole in the wall or even an old-fashioned sit down restaurant. The variety seems only limited by the amount of physical space in LA and those damn zoning laws. As I’ve eaten my way through the city, I’ve creativity galore and more Mexican foods than I knew existed growing up on Taco Bell in Michigan. Some have been delicious, while others have failed me. On my latest foray into someone’s favorite Mexican place, I ended up at El Abajeno in Culver City.

El Abajeno shares its building with a liquor store and works with a counter-style ordering system. The menu is vast, but after a short stare down with it, I found the perfect unvegan fit – the Fiesta Burrito. I’ve always wanted a party in my mouth, and this burrito seemed to want to start it. This thing was filled with pork, beef, rice and beans, then topped with cheese guacamole and red sauce in a wet burrito style. But I didn’t stop there. I had heard their taquitos with carnitas were delicious, so I ordered one of those as well, with cheese and avocado on top.

When they were finished, I was astonished to find the Fiesta Burrito in unique form. Rather than dousing the whole thing with guac, red sauce and cheese, they had been spaced out in thirds. If only they had carved out an eagle shape in cheese, the burrito would have been the spitting image of the Mexican flag, but instead I was wondering why a burrito would display an Italian flag. These people were certainly patriotic (for the enemy), but I hoped that this strange distribution would make for good eating.

After a few bites, I completely forgot about my concerns. This was one packed, greasy and delicious wet burrito. The blend of steak and pork made for a nice mix and rather than being filler, the rice and beans made a nice addition to temper the onslaught of meat. And it tasted fantastic as well. As for that wet stuff on top, I definitely would have liked it better of they had been distributed evenly across the burrito, but the Mexican flag was a damn nice touch. Also, I found the guacamole to be a little disappointing. It was much wetter than your average guac and completely lost its texture in the process. The taste was still there, but this was more of an avocado sauce than what I would consider guacamole.

Then, there was the taquito, which was actually bigger than most authentic full-sized tacos I’ve encountered. The double tortilla was greasier than a watermelon, but the carnitas and avocado that filled it in were a delight. In surprising contrast to the tortilla, the carnitas were not greasy, but simple, delicious pulled pork.

So did El Abajeno become my new favorite Mexican joint? Not quite…that honor still belongs to La Paz down in El Segundo, but El Abajeno is certainly a worthy contender. It’s just that I felt the taquito was greasy just for the sake of being greasy and the guac could have used a little work. Yet, there is no question that I will be back to El Abajeno, for despite its minor flaws, its strengths are unquestionable.

*Please don’t throw stones at Mexican restaurants.

A while back, Sang Yoon opened up a place called Lukshon in Culver City. For some, this was a time to rejoice, as this was the man behind the Father’s Office burger. But for me, it was a time to…well…consider trying out Lukshon. You see, if you know me, you know my disdain for the Father’s Office burger. So it took until dineLA’s Restaurant Week to get me out to Lukshon. I went with a sizable crowd, collectively known as the Suppah Club, and we had ourselves a seat at a massive table on Lukshon’s patio in Culver City.

While we were there initially for the fixed price menu, a group of us decided to go rogue and order a bunch of things from regular menu, including some of those from dineLA. This was great, as it gave me an opportunity to try more than I would have otherwise, beginning with the Spicy Chicken Pops. These things start out as basic Shelton Farms drumettes before being topped with garlic, kecap manis (a sweet soy sauce) and spicy Sichuan salt. And yes, they were as good as they sound. I loved the combination of sweet, salty and spicy flavor and could not get enough of these. They also had a unique texture, being quite crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Next came the Lamb Belly Roti Canai, an incredibly unique dish with perhaps a few too many flavors going on. The roti itself is flatbread and the belly was topped with chana dal (a type of lentil), cumin, mint and raita (a South Asian yogurt sauce). There were also pickled cauliflowers on the side, which went right to everyone else. While I was happy with this dish, I felt like I couldn’t really taste the lamb belly itself. Maybe that was the intention, and while I was happy to get protein, I would have liked to taste the meat rather than just the yogurt, cumin and mint.

Then we got down with some Short Rib Rendang, a beef short rib dish cooked with Malay spices and served with a red chile lemongrass rempah (spice paste) mixed with coconut cream. While I didn’t eat much of this, I found it to be quite the opposite of the lamb belly, in that none of the flavors really popped at all. Perhaps my taste buds had taken a vacation after the lamb belly, but I expect some strong Malaysian flavor and was a little disappointed to find none. Nonetheless, the beef itself was cooked perfectly and had a fair amount of its own flavor to offer.

With that taken care of, we moved on to my favorite dish of the night – Heirloom Black Rice. Tossed in with the rice was lap cheong (Chinese sausage), roasted garlic, onion and a Lily’s Farm fried egg. I couldn’t order without the onion, as we were splitting this delicious rice, but if there was any onion in the final product, it went unknown to me. The fried egg was perfectly runny and got sliced, diced and mixed in with the black rice. The result was some spectacular flavor and texture. The black rice is a bit heavier than white and has a tougher feel to it, while the lap cheong is a slightly sweet and chewy sausage that goes well with just about any form of rice. With the perfect balance, the Heirloom Black Rice was the big winner of the night in my heart.

But wait, we weren’t finished yet. There was still Garlic Pork Belly to be eaten. Mixed in with the slivers of pork belly was do ban jian (a spicy paste), tubular rice cakes, cabbage and garlic chives. This made for a dish I needed to pick at. You see, I wasn’t about to be eating cabbage, I do have a reputation to protect. Unfortunately, though, the dish was lacking in pork belly content. When I did find that delicious pre-bacon, it was delicious, but it felt too few and far between. The rice cakes were a nice touch though. They may have been filler, but they were delicious filler with the great flavor of the do ban jian.

Now, Lukshon has a unique policy of offering free dessert at every dinner. Ordinarily I love anything free, but I have to think a restaurant offering free dessert for every diner is offloading the costs onto its patrons anyway. And since I’m not a dessert guy, I would prefer a cheaper regular meal. But that’s beside the point, and it turned out that our desserts were delicious. I couldn’t tell you what they all were, but rest easy that Lukshon comes through on desserts.

I left Lukshon a happy and full unvegan. While not every dish was a hit, I loved the thought behind them all, the emphasis on local sources and the overall variety of Asian influence. Plus, the great dishes were truly awesome. I also want to mention our terrific waiter, who knew the menu like the back of his hand, made some great suggestions and prevented us from over-ordering anything. With all that said, Lukshon was definitely a step up from the Father’s Office burger and Sang Yoon is moving in the right direction.

When Jonathan Gold’s latest rendition of the 99 best restaurants in LA came out, I was amazed to find an Indian place basically in my backyard. No, I don’t have an actual backyard because I live in LA, but you get my drift. Fortunately, my body had been craving Indian and I easily convinced my girlfriend that we had to order some carryout from there. While the menu appeared to have typical Indian fare, Mayura actually specialized in South Indian food. With that in mind, I was excited to get down with something new.

But before I could make it too far down the menu, I came upon the Kerala Special Chicken Curry. Chicken curry is usually my go-to Indian dish and I was excited to see what Mayura could do with it, but I didn’t stop there. I also ordered their Butter Masala Dosa and in a surprise twist opted for Poori instead of plain old naan. When I arrived to pick up my order, my meal wasn’t quite ready, so I took a moment to speak with the guy who seemed to either own or manage the place. He was pretty excited by the dosa I had ordered and asked me if I had ever had one before. I replied that I had and he was quick to assure me that whatever I had before would pale in comparison. It was quite a boast, but then he pointed to the issue of LA Weekly with the 99 best restaurants. It had been open to the page with Mantee on it and covered with a clear plastic tablecloth so anyone sitting at the table could see. I tried to tell him it was open to the wrong page, but failed miserably.

Soon enough, though, my food was ready and I got it home as quick as possible (with a short pause to pay).

When I opened up the bag of Southern India, my worst fear was confirmed – I had ordered way too much food. Yes, that is the thing I was most scared of. But everything looked and smelled amazing. Even better, it tasted amazing. The curry was a little more viscous than I am used to, but it was packed with intense flavor. It was definitely on the spicy side and I needed water to keep me cool, but it wasn’t overwhelming and definitely did not distract from the delicious flavors. The chicken itself was perfectly tender and made for a great curry conduit.

The poori also made for a great curry conduit. This fried flatbread had a sort of fried donutty taste to it, without all the sweetness. A bit of cinnamon and sugar would have made it into an Indian elephant ear, but as it was I just ripped and dipped into the curry and the coconut chutney that had come with my order. Speaking of the chutney, I love coconut and this did a great job of delivering coconut flavor without overdoing it. As for the poori, while I definitely liked it as a change of pace, I think I’ll be sticking to good old-fashioned naan as my go-to Indian bread.

Finally, there was the Butter Masala Dosa, which was an Indian crepe stuffed with spiced potatoes. It was also disappointingly filled with peas and carrots. While these were easy to avoid and hardly noticeable when bit into, I was still a bit upset. Yet, while this meatless wonder may have been fit for a vegetarian, we unvegans love our potatoes as well, and I must say the dosa was certainly fit to have a place next to meat. It was definitely large enough to be an entire meal, but I was happy that I ordered the chicken curry to have some real nutrients in my meal. Nonetheless, the man who told me I had never eaten a better dosa was correct. It doesn’t mean better dosas don’t exist, but I haven’t found any (not that I’ve exactly been searching for them…).

Mayura was definitely a delicious meal that I recommend for anyone with a stomach strong enough to handle Indian food. It’s some of the best Indian food I’ve ever had and has some unique flavors to differentiate it from your typical Indian. Being in my backyard, it’s going to be my new go-to Indian, but for someone who doesn’t live on the west side, similar if not better Indian can probably be found nearby. In any case, I know where I’ll be ordering from next time I’m home and in the need of food from the subcontinent.

Right around when I first moved to LA, essentially broke, I made a trip to Bottle Rock. Having little to no disposable income, I wrote the place off as overpriced and didn’t return until this past weekend. What I found was a restaurant and wine bar that was not only well-priced, but also delicious. Was I wrong the first time I went? Have I become jaded by the prices of LA? Did Bottle Rock simply change things up? These answers may never be known, but what is known is my experience there. Let’s start from the beginning.

The night before my visit to Bottle Rock, I had a few too many drinks. It had been a while since I put alcohol into my body and my body wasn’t exactly happy with me. Usually, my favorite morning after meal is grilled cheese with bacon, but I hadn’t eaten that. Instead I had just gone about my day like any other. That’s where Bottle Rock comes in, but not yet.

Before, I should talk about our server, who was awesome. He not only explained every beer on tap, but picked out a nice, reasonable bottle of wine for the ladies, which they loved.

Then, I found a shiny beacon of joy on the menu – Grilled Truffle Cheese. This sandwich was built on imported pecorino boschetto and filled with provolone and house made truffle butter. As if that wasn’t enough to get your mouth watering, you could drop an extra two bucks to get prosciutto inside to join the cheese and butter. Everything about the sandwich screamed, “I am a grown up, but not too old for grilled cheese,” which was perfect, because the night before I was thinking about how I was grown up, but not enough to kick back a few drinks, college-style. I ordered it at my first opportunity.

When it arrived, I was more than a little disappointed by what I found chilling on the plate next to the sandwich. It was some sort of leafy green salad. I know they felt the need to put something on the plate other than a single sandwich for 13 bucks, but it saddens me to know this was their choice. I’m not grown up enough for that. Plus, I was not aware that this salad would be there and had I known I would have at least tried to arrange for something more unvegan-friendly.

Fortunately, salad is far less devastating than pickles and other vegetables and despite taking up space, it did very little to affect my eating experience. And what an experience it was. This was a perfectly constructed grown up grilled cheese through and through. The bread was grilled to the perfect crisp, while the interior had a great truffle taste without being overwhelming. My only complaint is that it ended too soon, especially for the price. Were I a salad eater, the price would have seemed just about right, but I am an unvegan and in the end I paid 13 bucks for a sandwich. A delicious sandwich, but a sandwich nonetheless.

Yet, I must give credit where it is due. The Grilled Truffle Cheese has completely altered my view of both Bottle Rock and the possibilities of grilled cheese. Issues aside, this is a place I would recommend to unvegans and those crazy other people.

Not too long ago, a new bar/grill opened in Culver City called Rocco’s Tavern. If you are at all from my generation, the name Rocco evokes memories of one of the greatest Nicktoons ever: Rocko’s Modern Life. Okay, the name is spelled differently, which may explain why neither wallabies nor turtles were on the menu. Instead, the menu was chock-full of some typical bar food. With the Tigers game on the TVs surrounding the bar, I sat down, ordered a happy hour beer (2 for 1 from 3-7 everyday) and decided what to order.

I was with a buddy of mine, who sometimes goes by the name of Dan, and he and I decided we needed to order two apps, with one needing to be some sort of wings. I say some sort of wings because they actually had some options. We could choose from their regular “Rocco’s Famous Wings” with bones or Corn Flake Crusted boneless. Plus, there were a couple of sauces to choose from. We went with the Corn Flake Crusted because they sounded so damn intriguing, with hot sauce. Then, as our secondary appetizer we chose the Seven Cheese Mac-N-Cheese.

First, the mac came out. Bubbling with cheesy, oily goodness, this dish was filled with mozzarella, provolone, jack, brie, cheddar, American, parmesan and finally a garlic alfredo sauce. The noodles were not of the elbow macaroni style and more wide and hollow. It was an interesting noodle choice and an interesting mix of cheeses as well. I firmly support the use of as many cheeses as possible, but I was a little disappointed that the strongest flavor came from the garlic alfredo sauce. It would have been great if one of the stronger cheeses had stood out more, but I was at a bar and certainly could not complain.

As for the wings, they were surprisingly pretty awesome. The corn flake crust gave the little nuggets of chicken a great little crunch and also a touch of sweetness. The best part about the sweetness, though was that it did not detract from the heat and flavor of the sauce. It was an ideal combination of flavors and gave me a new favorite local buffalo wing. Now if only they could reproduce that flavor in a real bone wing, life would be even more awesome.

So for the newest tavern in Culver City, Rocco’s has some surprisingly good food. It falls just short of amazing, but still a place I am looking forward to returning to again and again for beer, food and sports.