Culver City Food Tour: Part Two
The previous post was getting to be a bit long for the eyes, so I decided to split the post in two. I hope you are ready to finish the Culver City food tour with me. If you received the free itinerary in my newsletter, you have a pretty good idea of what is coming up next.
Read part one here.
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Table of Contents
Stop 3: Coolhaus–THIS LOCATION IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED.
Stop 4: The Helm’s Bakery District
A little-known secret, my first job in Los Angeles was in the Helms Bakery District. It was a boutique advertising agency on the upper floor above where Pasta Sisters is located now. Something about visiting this place puts me back there. I still really miss The Beacon and their food.
Helms Bakery District was once the former home to a family-owned industrial bakery that served the official bread of the 1932 Olympic games. Now it is home to furniture stores–H.D. Buttercup and Room & Board, an art book store, and of course, restaurants.
I have talked about Pasta Sisters in this post, chosen for its quality and a great come-as-you-are post-plane dinner spot.
Choose your own adventure.
It was at this point in the tour that I wanted my guests to choose their own adventure. We hit a lot of great places to eat and walked a bit over a mile and a half. The choices were to stay in the Helms Bakery District and have a drink or walk further to visit the weirdest museum in Los Angeles, the Museum of Jurassic Technology.
Some people had joined the tour late and were hungry at this point of choosing their own adventure and some were ready to keep eating.
We decided that the hot day called for a beer on the patio.
Father’s Office
This is the second Father’s Office location,. The original and smaller location is in Santa Monica on Montana Avenue. This place gets consistently voted the best burger in Los Angeles. I think that is why they had to expand to a much larger location in Culver City. This location has a large patio–great for groups. All eight of us were able to sit together and discuss our favorite places thus far on the tour.
Father’s Office has what I consider elevated bar food. In addition to that famous burger, you might find some Spanish tapas, a Maryland soft-shell crab, and great vegetable options. It also has a long list of craft beers.
- Website: https://fathersoffice.com/location/culver-city/
- Ordered: We did get a spread of Father’s Office’s greatest hits, including the burger.
- Cost: Smaller bites are around $8. Larger format plates are around $18. The Father’s Office Burger is $16. Beers are around $8.50, which is actually a good price for Los Angeles.
- Hours: Check the website, as there are various hours for either the bar or for food. It depends on why you are going.
- Things to know: Another reason this burger is famous is that you have to eat it the way the chef wants you to. It is always medium rare, you cannot add or remove toppings, and you cannot have ketchup. The no ketchup rule goes as far as the restaurant having a single bottle in the whole restaurant. You will not find a bottle of Heinz anywhere in the building, not even for your fries. The restaurant is also 21 plus.
Then there were six
I started to lose some people at the four-hour mark. There had been a lot of eating, drinking, and walking on mostly sunny paths at this point. This was going to start my dinner portion of the tour.
From the Helm’s Bakery District, we walked west to downtown culver city.
Stop 5: Milla Chocolate
Our fifth stop was a little chocolatier new to downtown Culver called Milla Chocolates. This award-winning chocolate shop features beautifully geometric-designed bites with interesting flavors. The liqueur-focused chocolates are my go-to’s for gifts, the kir, and black sesame bonbons being personal favorites. They are really too pretty to eat, but I survive.
- Website: https://www.millachocolates.com/
- What we ordered: Black sesame bonbon and champagne truffles
- Verdict: Definitely go and also order the mocha.
- Cost: They can be a little on the pricier side at $4 a piece, but you should treat yourself sometimes.
- Hours: There are detailed directions for safe shopping during COVID. Check the website for details.
Total walked by this point: 2.6 miles
Stop 6: The Museum of Jurassic Technology
After talking up the Museum of Jurassic Technology at the Father’s Office, I did manage to convince the remaining members of my food tour to pop inside the museum. You can read about the MJT in my earlier post.
Things I learned
The tour included additional stops for dinner, and it proved to be way too long. When I do this tour in person, it will be a brunch tour or a dinner tour, not both. I also need to learn more about the buildings in the Hayden Tract. I kind of winged it, due to how busy I was pre-corona closure.
Thank you to everyone who joined me to test out my very first food tour!
Where should I do my next food tour? Let me know in the comments. Leaving a comment? Check out my privacy policy.
Featured photo by Jupiter Images.