December 2007 Archives

living in Culver City, which has been more or less given the prom queen crown of New Foodie Mecca of Los Angeles, gives me the exquisite opportunity of having serious decision problems every time i go out to eat.  with so many restaurants to choose from, you'd think i'd have a bountiful supply of choices...but really, people, what do we do when faced with indecision?   that's right, we go with the familiar.  and every time i do, i always wonder briefly what food adventure i'm missing out on.
Fraîche, since it's opened, has been one of those potential adventures. so it was with great anticipation that i made plans with Ms. Jen to finally try this restaurant that has been getting swooned over by critics and regular eaters alike...and then found myself making plans to go again a week later with 2 girlfriends who both wanted to go there.  i figured this was a good thing: more menu sampling would be possible.
so, the nutshell reviews:  Trip Number One.  Ms. Jen & i had reservations, and were seated immediately.  tables are close enough so that you can easily eavesdrop on the ones beside you if your own dinner date isn't that interesting.  had a decent red wine and an order of the lamb spezzatino. Ms. Jen enjoyed the steak & frites.  the food was...good.  it wasn't anything super spectacular, and i failed to taste anything other than yummy lamb stew.  that's fine, but for all the hype & the prices, i was hoping for a surprise tingle of the tongue; something to distinguish this dish from one i might make myself at home, or an unexpected or especially memorable flavour to emerge.  Ms. Jen's steak had the same quality: completely good and delicious but nothing memorable.
now, i am not a foodie.  i am not a gastroperson.  i am a small girl of modest means who loves to eat and does so with great energy and pleasure.  i associate good food with good company and love it when i get a food buzz -- when a meal just blossoms with flavour intensity or quality so that the next day you remember it and have a Pavlovian response.  while Fraîche was a lovely restaurant, it did not provide that buzz.  and due to the modest means of which i mentioned, when those sorts of prices are charged and that sort of difficulty in getting a reservation is involved -- my expectations will indeed rise.
Ms. Jen wisely pointed out that i would have another chance in a week to see if our *eh* reaction was a fluke, or would be repeated.  i admit i really, really, really hoped it was a fluke.  after all, i can walk to Fraîche. 
so Trip Number Two.  two nights ago, as you may recall, was a downpour.  we had no reservations and were hoping that between the very Not Angeleno Friendly Rain and the weeknight, we'd be able to get a table.  upon arrival we were told that yes, we could get a table in about 15-20 minutes.  let's just say that about 70 minutes later, we were seated, and that after an ordeal ordering a glass of wine from very snotty bar staff.  ah well, the price of eating at an "it" restaurant in L.A., we think.  this time around i had the monkfish, which came in a delicious sauce with spinach. i also tried the roasted corn soup that one of my friends ordered.  and while i did enjoy the meal, i again had the total *eh* reaction: there wasn't a whole lot of interest or subtlety to the foods i ate.  maybe it was the rain, maybe it was being tired, but honestly -- i felt rather depressed going home.  it was as if i'd finally gotten to meet a good friend's new wonderful/smart/funny boyfriend that she's so excited about, and all he did was drink cheap beer, tell poopookakafart jokes, and not know who Vladimir Putin is.  does this make him a bad person?  no.  but not very sparkly or special. 
so does the *eh* factor make Fraîche a bad restaurant?  not by a long shot.  but not very sparkly or special.

Fraîche is the new over-hyped, over-buzzed and over-priced for what one gets restaurant in Culver City.  The food, wine, and service is good, but at the prices that Fraîche is charging, the food and wine should be more than just good.  Fraîche bills itself and the reviews bill it as a fine-dining wine bar, it is neither.

Fraîche's food is decent heavy-protein-starch-very-little-vegetables comfort food and the wines by the glass are wildly overpriced for the bad selection of whiles (of the 5 whites, only the Babcock Chardonnay was decent) and an ok selection of 5 reds.  For a place that is being reviewed as Culver City's best new fine dining and wine bar, it is not as the selection of wine's by the glass is poor, but barely decent or adequate for a restaurant of its stature.  Do they think Los Angeles is London, to over-charge for bad to decent wine by the glass? 

To earn the name, a wine bar should have at least 10 wines of white and red available by the glass and 5 of each should surprise you. The joy of a wine bar is not in buying a bottle of wine, but trying at least 2 different glasses of wine that you would not otherwise buy or try.  A.O.C. delivers on this score, with over 15-20 wines each by the glass in red and white varieties, of which at least half can't be found out and about. 

The interior at Fraîche is fine and lovely.  The server that I and the Happy Tastebud's hadashi had on Monday evening was good, nice, and attentive. But the party of four on one side did not have such a happy experience with their server who ignored their table.

As for the food, it was good but not great nor delightful.  I was hoping that Monday night was owner-chef, Jason Travi's night off and that the food's heaviness with no counterpoints were a result of an inexperienced kitchen staff reproducing his recipes.  No such luck on Monday, as both Mr. Travi and his wife, Miho were in the open kitchen. 

Did Fraîche know when the LA Times' critics were in the restaurant and they received extra attention?  Or do we give credit the to the heavy starters and main dishes on Monday and on Tuesday, when hadashi encountered much the same with work colleagues, to a winter menu?  I think not. Rather than buzz, Ford's Filling Station, Culver City's 'gastropub' which is a block or two down from Fraîche, serves delightful comfort food at the same price range.

A.O.C. is a full orchestra. Ford's Filling Station is a good three chord rock song with fast and slow bits as well as tart counterpoints.  Fraîche is a single middle C note held for many measures.

If you find yourself in Culver City in need of a delightful meal and glass of wine, ignore the Fraîche's buzz, and walk down the street to Ford's for a meal that is worth the price.