Culver City Food Tour

2020 was going to be a big year for me. I was ready to build a business around This Ugly Beautiful City. My services would include helping people by creating Los Angeles itineraries, whether that be tourists or Angelenos who and want to know their city better. At a friend’s suggestion, I would also add weekend food tours in neighborhoods with a high concentration of great restaurants. One such neighborhood is Culver City. I did a test run of my Culver City food tour with friends in February 2020. This was right before the pandemic. We all know what happened next.

POST UPDATED 8/01/2023: Several stops on my original tour closed or moved out of the neighborhood. This is now one post instead of two, which makes for better exploring.

Choosing the restaurants in the food tour

It was really hard to choose what restaurants would be on my first food tour. There were a lot of things to think about. Should I do all breakfast foods? How long should the tour be? How can I make this tour convenient for my guests?

The restaurants that made the cut were chosen due to location, time, and because they are restaurants I personally go back to repeatedly. This first food tour concentrated on places close to the Culver City/Ivy Station Expo Line stop. This would allow people to enjoy the tour without thinking about plugging parking meters and moving their cars after each bite. This tour is a walking tour.

The Platform @10:30 a.m.

The Platform is a “boutique retail center” a few steps from the Expo Line. High-end clothing stores, design shops, and restaurants round out the directory. It is a home for pop-ups and established businesses like the Los Angeles outlet for Brooklyn’s famous Roberta’s Pizza and the popular Boba Guys.

• Ordered: Croissant filled with Nutella and a chocolate croissant.
• Verdict: Would eat again. The specialty pastries change frequently, and the Nutella may have been a winter offering. The croissant was sweet and flakey. 
• Cost: $4
• Open hours: Tuesday-Thursday, 8:AM-4:PM and Friday-Saturday, 8:AM-10:PM. Sunday hours are 8:AM-6:PM.

• Ordered: I have had most of Destroyer’s menu and keep coming back for the chicken confit porridge and baby potatoes. I strongly recommend the avocado, even if you are so sick of the avocado toast trend.
• Verdict: I love this place, and I want you to love it too.
• Cost: Dishes range from $10 to $20. I recommend getting at least two dishes. Everything is big enough to share.
• Website: http://destroyer.la/
• Address: 3578 Hayden Ave, Culver City
• Things to know: Word to the wise to get to Destroyer before noon or after 2:00 P.M. This place gets pretty busy, and items do run out. We grabbed our items to go and ate them in Vespertine’s outdoor space across the street. Since it was prime lunch time by the time we arrived, there was no place for our group to sit.
• Open hours: 9:AM-5:PM daily

Total walking at this point .6 miles

Intermission

Instgrammable moments

A few steps from Destroyer is a mural perfect for your Instagram moments. The bright red and white Love mural on Higuera Street has been a Valentine’s and engagement photo backdrop since Curtis Kulig painted it in 2015.

Since we have eaten a bit by this time, I thought walking around Hayden Tract and looking at the buildings designed by Eric Owen Moss would be interesting. Hayden Tract seems to be exclusively designed by this one architect. His buildings look like they were designed for a sci-fi movie. Concrete and cold, metal jutting out and almost becoming organic. Most could double as public art pieces. You can see Eric Owen Moss’ projects here.

Total walking at this point .08 miles

The Helm’s Bakery District

Choose your own adventure.

From Destroyer, we walked to the now-closed Cool Haus for ice cream.

It was at this point in the tour that I wanted my guests to choose their own adventure. We hit a lot of great eateries 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.

We decided that the hot day called for a beer on the patio. 

• 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 in 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 how the chef wants you to. It is always medium rare; you cannot add or remove toppings or have ketchup. The no ketchup rule goes as far as having a single bottle in the whole restaurant–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. It was unseasonably warm for mid-February. This was going to start my dinner portion of the tour, and I am glad we skipped it in favor of a parting gift.

From the Helm’s Bakery District, we walked west to downtown culver city. 

• 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

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 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.