getting rusty

Rustic Canyon
1119 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 393-7050
http://www.rusticcanyonwinebar.com/

price: $$$
verdict: it's aight

last night, my friend celebrated her 34th birthday! whoo hoo! we took her to rustic canyon for some rusty eating. besides, she enjoys seasonal eats and rustic canyon prides itself in farmer market eats and utilizing sustainable foods in their menu.

the dining area itself reminds me of a chic, contemporary log cabin up in big bear. since there were a lot of *cough* mature people around, i didn't want to ruin their dinner experience with flashing camera lights. i would have liked to take a pic though.

instead of bread for you to nibble on while you decide on your entrees, you are provided with olives soaked in olive oil. a small container to place the olive pits is furnished for you so you can practice shooting the pits from your mouth into the container. i missed and the pit bounced off some senior citizen's head. KIDDING.

here's my friend holding up a container with a pit. i told her it looked like a roach.

i started off with a glass of malbec and ordered the niman ranch burger cuz i always do burgers. besides, my other friend was planning to order it too and i would hate to have to covet her burger if i got something else. the burger has grilled onions, gruyere cheese, arugala, and buttered pickles (which basically means more fatness for your fatness them evil delicious buttered pickles are). the hand cut fries were EXCELLENT and the aioli dip for them was unneccessary but appreciated. i generally don't care too much for ketchup. after a few bites, it's quite clear the burger was salty. :( my friend confirmed this as well. the birthday girl ordered the market vegetable ratatouille. she thought her dish was delicious.

we sweetly rounded off the night with the cinnamon sugared doughnuts with hot chocolate. not knowing what that tiny cup was for (the dessert did not come with a manual), but in hindsight, it might be for drinking! doh! but we drizzled it on the doughnuts anyways which was actually a very tasty move!

the donuts were not particularly airy or fluffy and had a crustiness to it. reminds me of a round churro. drizzling the hot chocolate introduced a bitter element to these sweet sugared donuts. it also gave some smoothness to the hard edges. overall, yummy, but i was greased out with the fries and only allowed one doughnut into my belly.

so another october birthday down! man, there's a lot of october babies out there. counting my circle of friends, there's already 4. people must like to get busy during january or something when it's cold....