Great Burger: Ford's Filling Station, Culver City CA

Pub Burger – Ford’s Filling Station – Culver City CA

Ford’s Filling Station in Culver City serves up one of the better burgers in the Los Angeles area. Made with organic Niman Ranch chuck, the beef patty is great and properly cooked to order. Ford’s ‘pub burger’ is topped with Maytag blue cheese from Maytag Farms in Iowa and is capped with a Yosemite-sized dome of caramelized onions. The Maytag blue cheese is a great topping on burgers, and the amount feels right. I like caramelized onions but the sizing here was generous;  you’ll want to scrape half the onions off to maintain the burger’s balance and taste the meat. The lettuce comes shredded, and the tomatoes are peeled, which feel like stylistic (not culinary) touches. The buns are excellent and slightly toasted inside with full flavor throughout.  

The pub burger comes with a monster pile of onion rings which are crispy and very good. (They’re a bit greasier than one would like, but still very tasty and grease-reparable with an extra napkin or two.) 

The extra red onion slice will sit, lonely and purple, since you have a plate of caramelized and fried onions…overall, a great burger, despite the onion fetish.

The Grade: Great

The Damage: $16

The Skinny: Ford’s Filling Station

9531 Culver Blvd, Culver City CA

Phone: (310) 202-1470

Website: http://www.fordsfillingstation.net

Of all the Mexican meat dishes that I love, any Chile Colorado done well would always catapult to the top of the list. Not many places do it well, but the chile Colorado at Casa Vega is simply excellent. The red “Colorado” sauce is generally tomatoes, green chiles, jalapeno. chopped onions and celery, beef stock or bullion,  and sometimes a few sundry ingredients to your taste or historical precedent. The core of the dish is meat chopped into hearty chunks (cubed), braised and slow-cooked.  Casa Vega’s Chile Colorado plate has  generous portions of perfectly tender beef in a rich and savory red chile sauce, lauded by a whopping notion of Spanish rice and cheese-topped refried beans. It is awesome; perhaps the best dish Casa Vega serves. In fact, I want some right now. Too bad I don’t live in Studio City and don’t have an appointment to see Jay Leno.

Chile Colorado, best dish at Casa Vega

The Spot: Casa Vega, Studio City CA

If you can deal with the boisterous, noisy, margarita-dosed crowds and mediocre service at best, Casa Vega can be a fun place to hang with friends. (Really, the service needs a new manager to train the whole staff…it’s just too slow.) It’s generally better (safer) to drink there than to eat, but some dishes (like the chicken mole) are worth the poor service. For Mexican fare, especially in a city with great Mexican food like Los Angeles, Casa Vega is  pricey and not your best value. But Casa Vega is about fun; it’s  an old-school restaurant. Launched in 1958, its walls are peppered with dark Mexican-themed paintings that are nearly 40 years old. I don’t think it’s changed much since its opening, so that’s what you’re paying for. There’s not much old-school respect in L.A. so you can find more quirky places like this in the Valley. Margaritas are pretty great, as is the people-watching. There are always odd celebrities in the joint, and a curious cross-section of Angelenos.

Casa Vega's Old-School Neon Sign

The Grade: Excellent (probably my favorite Chile Colorado in the L.A. area)

The Damage: ?

The Skinny: Casa Vega, 13301 Ventura Boulevard,  Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Phone: (818) 788-4868
Website: www.casavega.com

Hours: Mon – Sun, 11:30 am to 2:00 am

No reservations! (That means go early or drink often whilst you wait)

I’ve had chicken mole at many places, and Case Vega makes a pretty darn good mole. The rice & beans topped with cheese is pretty standard; tastes like most any Mexican restaurant’s rice and beans. Well, the beans are above average, actually. But the mole, one of Casa Vega’s house specialities, is pretty wicked. It’s a well-balanced mole, imbued with  smoke and chocolate and it swarms in your mouth with heat, smoke, meatiness, and sweet.

Chicken Mole, Casa Vega Studio City CA

The Spot: Casa Vega, Studio City CA

If you can deal with the boisterous, noisy, margarita-dosed crowds and mediocre service at best, Casa Vega can be a fun place to hang with friends. (Really, the service needs a new manager to train the whole staff…it’s just too slow.) It’s generally better (safer) to drink there than to eat, but some dishes (like the chicken mole) are worth the poor service. For Mexican fare, especially in a city with great Mexican food like Los Angeles, Casa Vega is  pricey and not your best value. But Casa Vega is about fun; it’s  an old-school restaurant. Launched in 1958, its walls are peppered with dark Mexican-themed paintings that are nearly 40 years old. I don’t think it’s changed much since its opening, so that’s what you’re paying for. There’s not much old-school respect in L.A. so you can find more quirky places like this in the Valley. Margaritas are pretty great, as is the people-watching. There are always odd celebrities in the joint, and a curious cross-section of Angelenos.

Casa Vega's Old-School Neon Sign

The Grade: Very Good, maybe Great (depending on margarita intake)

The Damage: ? expensive.

The Skinny: Casa Vega, 13301 Ventura Boulevard,  Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Phone: (818) 788-4868
Website: www.casavega.com

Hours: Mon – Sun, 11:30 am to 2:00 am

No reservations! (That means go early or drink often whilst you wait)

THE SPOT: OSTERIA LA BUCA, LOS ANGELES, CA

The décor at Osteria La Buca is charming and warm for an urban conversion, with high ceilings, exposed steel beams and brick walls. The interior blends simple sophistication into an overall feeling of a neighborhood joint and since that part of L.A. doesn’t have many, it’s a nice feeling to be there.  The place has three dining sections: two downstairs and one upstairs. The little front garden room where people want to sit most looks to me like a sad terrarium or after-thought of a smokers’ lounge in a forgettable foreign airport. You’re too close to the neighboring tables, which is OK if the food is stellar. It just depends if you like that room enough to sit close or if you have the L.A. gene that requires you always be seen. I prefer the front wraparound area downstairs, which feels more like  a bustling neighborhood cafe.

The all-Italian wine list is a nice touch, but most diners would need some waiter assistance with selections from a list of grapes and blends uncommon to the typical American palate. Unfortunately, my waiter at Osteria La Buca automatically pushed the most expensive glasses to us. I knew two other choices were equally good and about half the price, so this was a bad takeaway. Pushing higher priced menu items without consideration for the customer is just a pet peeve of mine regarding restaurant service. Hopefully, that guy’s not working there anymore.

THE DISH: MEATBALLS (appetizer)

The most recent night I dined at Osteria La Buca, meatballs were a special appetizer. They were excellent and perfectly cooked, the way an ancient family recipe warrants. It was a bit odd that the meatballs didn’t sit on, say, some polenta or something to make the appetizer a bit heartier. But the meatballs properly hit the spot nonetheless, with fresh-baked crostini to soak up the ruddy marinara sauce.

THE GRADE: EXCELLENT (4 out of 5)

THE DAMAGE: about $14

THE SKINNY: OSTERIA LA BUCA

5210 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles CA

Phone: (323) 462-1900

Website: http://www.osterialabuca.com/

America’s Best Sandwich (possibly)

Philippe The Original French Dip Sandwich, L.A.

The Spot: Philippe (ORIGINAL FRENCH DIPPED SANDWICHES), Los Angeles, CA 

Neighborhood: Downtown L.A.

The Dish: The Original French Dipped Sandwich