Black Phoebe :: Ms. Jen: December 2007 Archives

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.