Rush Street

I have about a million things to blog, and I'm home relaxing after a particularly long day at the dentist, getting a cleaning and a chipped veneer fixed, so I figured, no time like the present.

Last weekend while I was in LA, I met up with Chaz, a Foodie friend of mine for dinner. Chaz is such a foodie, he was actually in a commercial where he IS the food. (Insert Shameless Promotion here.) He hasn't been in the blog yet just because we haven't really hung out in forever, so we had to make up for it by going to somewhere super awesome. Plus he read my blog about the crazy Chinese restaurant and figured this would be a nice change of pace.


We had reservations at 6:45, at Rush Street in Culver City, a new Gastropub, which basically means a bar that serves "fancy food". If you want to, you can follow them on Twitter, they offer really awesome deals and discounts, plus lots of food porn twitpics to gander at.


They have a great beer list, with tons of awesome stuff I'd never even heard of. I'm not the hugest beer drinker, so I just got a Corona, but Chaz opted for the Old Speckle Hen. Here he is showing you the lovely cascade.


Chaz started off with the Tataki Nachos.


Wonton "Chips" topped with Asian Cabbage Slaw, Avocado and Seared Ahi. I am allergic to most seafoods and usually just stay clear, but Chaz seemed to enjoy these very much.


I decided to start with their Eggplant Hummus.

It was a much smaller portion of any hummus I've ever gotten, but it was so unbelievably insane and tasty, it didn't even matter. It came topped with a sweet pomegranate molasses and toasted pine nuts. The hummus itself was smooth and creamy, with a surprising spiciness, yet the interesting combination of the molasses calmed it a bit and made it very enjoyable. The "pita chips" it came with were flash fried, so they were crispy on the outside with enough firmness for dipping, yet soft in the middle. An instant favorite and worth the trip alone.

For our meals, Chaz went with the Lamb Shank, served on top a bed of cous cous.


I got a little bite, and the meat was fall off the bone tender, juicy, and very flavorful.


I have an affinity for fancy burgers, so I decided to try their Dry Aged Burger, cooked medium, served with the cutest shoestring fries and topped with Applewood smoked bacon, arugula, cheddar, shoestring onions and confire sauce. Usually I get all bratty and special order the hell out of it, but I figured what the hell this time and got it as is. Very Good!

On the side were these house made pickles that we're too sour, or briny, but just enough to give it some kick. They reminded me a lot of the juniper marinated onions at Absinthe.

Being the gluttons we are, Chaz and I decided to check out the dessert menu, and then order the Red Velvet Cake off of it.

It's got White and Dark Chocolate Ganache in between layers of the freaking thickest cake I think I've ever had. It was decadent and sinful and we didn't finish it at all, but oh man was it good.

For all of you out there in Southern California, make sure you follow these guys on Twitter. Right now if you can find Patrick, one of their oldest bussers (hes the guy with the cute white mustache) and take a picture of him, then twitpic it, they will send you a $30 giftcard! Seeing as my meal was $38, that's a pretty sweet deal.