First Impressions Column: Playa del Rey's Local Restaurants are Hidden Gems
February 2, 2011
If you read my first column you know that one of the reasons I love Playa del Rey so much is that it feels small. It’s an enclave separated from Los Angeles’ other coastal communities by the marina on the north and LAX on the south. We’re lucky to have that separation because it’s preserved the quaintness of downtown Playa del Rey.
Walking through downtown Playa del Rey on Culver Boulevard makes you feel as if you’ve stepped into a time warp. The old restaurant establishments are still standing and still serving food in their various incarnations.
In the last few months I’ve been to a handful of the restaurants downtown, and I had a great time discovering these relatively hidden gems.
I have a feeling I’ll become a regular at these local eateries. It’s partly the friendly service- something that is hard to come by in L.A. It’s also the fact that they feel homegrown and remain relatively unchanged after so many years. Even the architecture and the décor is a throw back to the days of yore.
The first restaurant I tried after moving to Playa del Rey is Playa Cantina at the end of Culver Boulevard where it dead-ends at the beach.
It’s hard to explain the appeal of Playa Cantina. It’s also hard to describe it upon first encounter.
The building’s architecture is interesting to say the least-- it has a covered driveway in front and the exterior is painted black, white and light blue in bubbly, cloud patterns. The restaurant sign is non-descript.
It’s hard to imagine what you will find inside.
Entering the restaurant is like walking into a psychedelic beach cave. The lighting is dim, the floor and ceiling are black and the walls are painted bright colors with black octopus tentacles reaching along the walls and floor of the restaurant.
The expansive bar takes up one wall of the main dining room and is an inviting site to a thirsty traveler.
Carlos Perez has been working behind the bar at Playa Cantina for the last seven months since it was bought and reopened with a new owner.
Perez’s friendly, engaging demeanor is one of my favorite elements of the restaurant.
My other favorite part is his handmade fruit-infused silver tequilas that make your tastebuds sing. Forget tequila you sling back with a lime and salt. These are sip-ably smooth. Perez’s favorite fruit infusion is his mango, watermelon and pineapple blend.
The food was pleasant- nothing to write home to Texas about. It wouldn’t compare to Tex-Mex in the land of my ancestors. But the dark ambiance is something to go back for, if not for the fruity cocktails.
One of my other favorite local joints is the Shack. It opened in 1972 and it looks like it came straight out of a 1960s surf film. And the inside of the restaurant lives up to its outer appeal.
The Shack is an accurate name for this local joint. It’s a cozy establishment with low ceilings and wooden fixtures-- making it feel quaint and shack-like.
It’s atmosphere is perfect for a thirst-quenching beer after a bike ride down the strand. Or, to be more accurate, the Shack was the perfect stop on a pre-bike ride, thirst-quenching mission, which lead to my first encounter with it on a Saturday afternoon.
Julie Paul, the manager, exemplifies what is neat about local joints like the Shack.
She’s worked at the Shack for 20 years, since she was in college. She knows her patrons by name and drink. She easily makes conversation with the regulars, talking with one regular, Brian Donovan, about his 9 month-old son.
And she’s stayed working at the Shack for the same reason people keep going there.
“This place is quaint,” Paul said. “Everybody knows everybody. I love that about this place so much. It’s so unpretentious.”
One of the owners of the Shack, Joey Ancrile, has been with the Shack since he was 18 years old. He began as a cook, got promoted to manager and then became part owner. He recently celebrated his 20-year anniversary with the Shack.
“When you think of the Shack you think of Joey,” Paul said. “Joey is the man that everybody knows in the neighborhood. People come for him. He is the force behind the Shack.”
The fact that the teenage cook ends up owning the restaurant, management stays for more than 20 years and regulars like Donovan have been frequenting the Shack for 20 years- throughout all the times he’s moved around Los Angeles- doesn’t strike me as strange.
It’s easy to fall in love with local joints like this one that are quaint, friendly and unpretentious.
If you read my first column you know that one of the reasons I love Playa del Rey so much is that it feels small. It’s an enclave separated from Los Angeles’ other coastal communities by the marina on the north and LAX on the south. We’re lucky to have that separation because it’s preserved the quaintness of downtown Playa del Rey.
Walking through downtown Playa del Rey on Culver Boulevard makes you feel as if you’ve stepped into a time warp. The old restaurant establishments are still standing and still serving food in their various incarnations.
In the last few months I’ve been to a handful of the restaurants downtown, and I had a great time discovering these relatively hidden gems.
I have a feeling I’ll become a regular at these local eateries. It’s partly the friendly service- something that is hard to come by in L.A. It’s also the fact that they feel homegrown and remain relatively unchanged after so many years. Even the architecture and the décor is a throw back to the days of yore.
The first restaurant I tried after moving to Playa del Rey is Playa Cantina at the end of Culver Boulevard where it dead-ends at the beach.
It’s hard to explain the appeal of Playa Cantina. It’s also hard to describe it upon first encounter.
The building’s architecture is interesting to say the least-- it has a covered driveway in front and the exterior is painted black, white and light blue in bubbly, cloud patterns. The restaurant sign is non-descript.
It’s hard to imagine what you will find inside.
Entering the restaurant is like walking into a psychedelic beach cave. The lighting is dim, the floor and ceiling are black and the walls are painted bright colors with black octopus tentacles reaching along the walls and floor of the restaurant.
The expansive bar takes up one wall of the main dining room and is an inviting site to a thirsty traveler.
Carlos Perez has been working behind the bar at Playa Cantina for the last seven months since it was bought and reopened with a new owner.
Perez’s friendly, engaging demeanor is one of my favorite elements of the restaurant.
My other favorite part is his handmade fruit-infused silver tequilas that make your tastebuds sing. Forget tequila you sling back with a lime and salt. These are sip-ably smooth. Perez’s favorite fruit infusion is his mango, watermelon and pineapple blend.
The food was pleasant- nothing to write home to Texas about. It wouldn’t compare to Tex-Mex in the land of my ancestors. But the dark ambiance is something to go back for, if not for the fruity cocktails.
One of my other favorite local joints is the Shack. It opened in 1972 and it looks like it came straight out of a 1960s surf film. And the inside of the restaurant lives up to its outer appeal.
The Shack is an accurate name for this local joint. It’s a cozy establishment with low ceilings and wooden fixtures-- making it feel quaint and shack-like.
It’s atmosphere is perfect for a thirst-quenching beer after a bike ride down the strand. Or, to be more accurate, the Shack was the perfect stop on a pre-bike ride, thirst-quenching mission, which lead to my first encounter with it on a Saturday afternoon.
Julie Paul, the manager, exemplifies what is neat about local joints like the Shack.
She’s worked at the Shack for 20 years, since she was in college. She knows her patrons by name and drink. She easily makes conversation with the regulars, talking with one regular, Brian Donovan, about his 9 month-old son.
And she’s stayed working at the Shack for the same reason people keep going there.
“This place is quaint,” Paul said. “Everybody knows everybody. I love that about this place so much. It’s so unpretentious.”
One of the owners of the Shack, Joey Ancrile, has been with the Shack since he was 18 years old. He began as a cook, got promoted to manager and then became part owner. He recently celebrated his 20-year anniversary with the Shack.
“When you think of the Shack you think of Joey,” Paul said. “Joey is the man that everybody knows in the neighborhood. People come for him. He is the force behind the Shack.”
The fact that the teenage cook ends up owning the restaurant, management stays for more than 20 years and regulars like Donovan have been frequenting the Shack for 20 years- throughout all the times he’s moved around Los Angeles- doesn’t strike me as strange.
It’s easy to fall in love with local joints like this one that are quaint, friendly and unpretentious.