Here we go again, another couple of weeks of great restaurant deals right before my birthday. This rounds picks were gastropub intensive: The Parish downtown, Ford's Filling Station in Culver City and The 6 in Studio City. Plus one diner, Blue Plate Oysterette.
The Parish is new, I've heard good things about it. It's located in a skinny triangular plot of land in the old garment district of LA. The spot has been empty for awhile. Back when my friend Cindy and her husband were living on Spring St. We used to walk by here to get to various new restaurants. The dine LA menu had a great mussels dish and while the rest of the food was good, there was nothing particularly special about it. If I were working downtown, it might be part of my circuit, but I wouldn't go out of my way.
Ford's Filling Station is run by Harrison Ford's son. It's been open for awhile, but I never got around to dining there because when it first opened, it was constantly packed. It was probably on the leading edge of the gastropub wave in LA. The food was great, the server was familiar with the restaurant's food and they were willing to make a substitution for one of our party who has celiac.
The 6 was chosen strictly for location. It's in the Coldwater Curve shops in the location where there used to be an Italian restaurant. The gimmick is that there are 6 of each of the categories on the menu (starters, pizzas, red wines, white wines, etc). The food was fine, and the place had a decent ambiance with a covered outdoor area. Again, not something to go out of one's way for, but nice if you need a place to meet people in the area.
The final location, Blue Plate Oysterette, is a diner that serves seafood. The restaurant made a bad first impression when the hostess failed to mention that they don't take reservations which confused the heck out of me and caused me to wait outside for 5 minutes when my friend was already inside. Grrr. The place was very crowded but my friend had found a spot at the bar. The server was excellent and started to help make up for the ridiculous hostess. Then the food ended up being amazing! I had clam chowder (the one dish that was not particularly special, but was good), shrimp pesto (yummy huge shrimp and enough pasta for dinner the next day). The key lime pie was a great way to end the meal. Their regular menu features three fresh catches of the day that you can have prepared with a number of sauces and sides. The manager of the restaurant stopped to chat with us for quite awhile. Apparently they are looking to expand this concept to other locations.
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