Bottle Rock

Just Plain Bad

At first glance Bottle Rock is clearly not a “destination” restaurant. It’s more like one of your buddies converted his garage into a bar and added a patio, and an over the top wine collection. This is the type of place you meet your friends for a drink before going out on the town. Awkward aluminum stools set around tables that are too close for comfort, and a sloppy deli case housing cheese, cured meats and ill fated (odor and flavor permeable) pastries are among the disappointments at this young addition to the Culver City awakening.

The wine selection is surprisingly sophisticated and wide in range. Offering rarities as fine as Sine Qua Non by cult wine god Manfred Krankel of Campanile and La Brea Bakery fame, Bottle Rock has one of the better collections in town. Just be prepared for a blind taste test. The members of the wait staff, most of whom unfortunately visited our table asking the same questions one after the other, (though surely unplanned and well-intended it felt like an assault), won’t be able to answer most of your questions about the wine or the food for that matter.

When it came to ordering (after deciding on waiter number three) we went with our instincts and switched back and forth between the ’03 Provisor Syrah, and the’04 Four Vines “Anarchy”, a blend of Zinfandel, Syrah and Mourvedre. The five cheese plate with an assortment of toast points seemed like an obvious choice. From a list of about a dozen cheeses we picked the Brillat Savarin a triple cream with a white bloomy rind, Epoisses which is also a triple cream but with a bit of an attitude, Fourme d'Ambert the famous raw milk blue, MouCo’s gold medal winning washed rind Colorouge and La Ricotta Di Pietro Punturi a soft sheep’s milk Ricotta listed as being topped with a dollop quince honey. All wonderful in their own right except for the sheep’s ricotta which arrived sans quince honey and bland as Elmer’s Glue.

After rudely being interrupted mid-speak by the obliviously intrusive servers at least four times, my friend decided that we should try something else (where are these guys when you actually need something). The roasted dates stuffed with Tilston Point blue cheese from Tony Hook and wrapped in prosciutto, were perfect little packages bursting with rustic flavors. Sorry Cobras and Matadors, Bottle Rock’s got this one in the bag.

With glasses not yet emptied we decided that a chocolate tort should round out the experience and in a sense it did. The pre-made pastry enveloped our palettes with such bold flavors as dark chocolate, salami, blue cheese, and my favorite, freezer burn. Dessert was awful. All in all Bottle Rock was a disenchanting experience and a waste of a c-note. Sorry guys, better luck next time.

http://bottlerock.net/menu.html

Bottle Rock
3847 Main Street
Culver City, CA 90232