Monday, September 20, 2010

Rustic Canyon, Santa Monica

Crispy White Polenta photo by Carol L. on Yelp

Rustic Canyon
is right across from its sister daytime restaurant Huckleberry. Rustic is only open for dinner, and it offers Farmers'-Market-fresh ingredients and an ever changing menu that is dictated by the produce offerings at the markets. I didn't get to take pictures of our meal, but I'll give you a play by play...

We had reservations at 6:15 pm on Saturday and were seated right away. I was struck by how much smaller the restaurant looked on the inside than the outside. It is a wide space, but shallow. Our friendly waiter brought out some delicious olives to start.

We ordered:

Figs with roasted fennel, burrata, honey, black pepper ($14): This was a great starter... All the flavors worked very well with each other, and the burrata melted in our mouths.

Crispy white polenta with farm fresh egg, wild mushrooms and parmesan ($16?): Brad wanted this all to himself. The egg on top was sunny side up, so we broke the orange yolk and let it spill all over the polenta. The polenta was cooked perfectly--crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside--and the wild mushrooms brought a rugged earthiness to the dish.

Butternut Squash Mezzaluna with pumpkin seeds, sage and brown butter ($15?): Half moon pastas stuffed with butternut squash. The pasta was made in house and was both al dente and silky. Topped off with crispy roasted pumpkin seeds.

Whole trout with greens, currants and capers ($24): The trout came out split in half. It was crispy and brown on the edges and just so delicate in my mouth. The only problem I had was that I got a mouthful of tiny bones near the head. I guessed they missed a spot. But other than that, it was divine.

The prices are from my memory, so they might be give or take a few dollars. The total was $90 including tax and tip. Not a cheap night out, but certainly date-night worthy.

We didn't order any wine, but I heard that they have an excellent selection. I will be back to try their doughnuts and hot chocolate (they didn't have it when we went) and other seasonal offerings.





Oaxaca Living Food


Brad and I were at the Mar Vista Farmer's Market on a Sunday. Our empty bellies were nagging at us, so we found ourselves in the hot food area... The smells of made to order crepes, burritos and ribs beckoned us and Brad darted off to get a giant apple sausage quesadilla.

A raw foods booth that specialized in Oaxacan cuisine caught my attention. I couldn't believe my eyes... I mean, how L.A. is that? Not just raw food, but Oaxacan raw food? Wow. I felt sorry for them because they weren't as crowded as the rest of the booths, so I got a sample of the raw zucchini pasta. I've had a lot of raw zucchini pastas before (Leaf, Juliano's, Rawvolution), and this one was on par with the rest of them. They even came with little "meatballs" made of nuts. I bought one (I think it was $9). It was just the light lunch I was looking for. They also sell whole young coconuts that you can drink the water from and then eat the flesh.

I love this farmer's market more than the Santa Monica ones because it's less crowded, there's still a live jazz band, and there are even picnic tables. It is open Sundays 8:30-2 pm.