119 Culver Blvd, Playa del Rey, CA, 90293
Items ordered:
- Kids menu Fish and Chips
- Kids menu Butter Pasta
- Peruvian Scallops (curry aji amarillo sauce, daikon relish, yuzu tobiko, sea grass, chili oil)
- Bay Scallop and Tiger Shrimp Ceviche (mango salsa, hijiki, mango yuzu, spiced taro chips)
- Fried Crab Claw Pop (served with old bay mayo & house hot sauce)
- Crab Mac & Cheese (dungeness crab, breadcrumbs, parmesan)
- Sunchoke Tostones (malt vinegar seasoning, ahi amarillo crema, aleppo)
- Steamed Mussels & Clams (cashew and serrano pesto broth)
Well, this has clearly been my favorite dining experience so far this year. And probably will stay that way for a while. We have always enjoyed Top Chef, and Brooke Williamson was one of the great contestants, finishing as a finalist her first time around and then winning it the second time. I remember Brooke as a quintessentially California chef, who brought a lot of seafood and fresh ingredients to her cooking. Well, Playa Provisions is a quintessentially California restaurant, and I think it may be the standard for “modern” California cuisine.
First, I want to talk about the service. I usually have very little to say about service; if I don’t notice them, it’s probably ok. But Playa Provisions absolutely excelled here. We got checked on a bunch. We were slow to order, and ordered in several rounds. It didn’t matter who took the order, it always got brought back to our server. At one point they forgot one of our items. Came back with a free bowl of fries as an apology, and the forgotten item was still served extremely quickly. Finally, at the end, we were running a bit late for our concert (which they knew about), and they helped rushed us out. Just a fantastic experience all over.
The ambience is also worth mentioning. This place is very casual, and right next to the Ocean. It is a nice physical embodiment of California lifestyle. The prices are also very reasonable. This is fast casual dining, but the food is Michelin-worthy.
Ok, the food. I will admit, I didn’t look at the menu closely enough when booking the restaurant. I booked this place because of Brooke’s name, and because it was relatively close to SoFi, where our concert was. But after actually studying the menu, I was blown away. Every item seemed to have some delightfully quirky ingredient that didn’t belong. The ceviche has mango and yuzu? Well, I could taste both the mango and the yuzu. The steamed mussels is in a cashew and serrano sauce? Yep, it’s extremely rich and the perfect amount of spicy. The sunchoke tostones has something called an ahi amarillo crema? I didn’t even know what that was, but it turned out to be the star of the dish (I later learned it’s a Peruvian condiment made with Feta cheese).
For the appetizer course, we had the scallops, ceviche, and the fried crab claw. All of them were beyond excellent. The scallops were a perfect bite, with layer after layer of flavor. The ceviche was extremely fresh and Californian. I usually don’t like tiger shrimp, but it was impossible not to like it here, with how big and plump they were. And the crab claw was like the very best possible fried junk food you can imagine.
In the main course, the crab mac & cheese was almost overflowing with crab. It was delicious. And the sunchokes were such a unique dish. I ended up not liking the sauce as much (I’m really not a fan of feta), but I can still appreciate good food executed well. And the sunchokes were extremely well prepared. Finally, the mussels and clams. I should first note that the bowl was gigantic. We really stretched our bellies to finish it. Second, the shellfish were cooked to the exact right level of tenderness. Finally, the broth. I was tempted to just drink the broth directly. It was so extremely flavorful. It had the brininess from the shellfish, richness from the cashews, spiciness from the peppers, some acidity, and even a little bit of sweetness from the garlic. It was the absolute encapsulation of flavor.
Unfortunately, at this point, we had to rush out (and also, we were beyond full). I would’ve liked to have tried several other menu items, such as a patty melt with gruyere cheese, the purple kale caesar salad (with fennel? yay), the cioppino, and any of the desserts. I will be looking for excuses to visit LA again just to hit up this restaurant again.
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