Adding a new venue to Culver City's ever-growing drinking and dining scene is City Tavern, which opened earlier this month. The space is available for buyout. There is no private room, but the restaurant seats 80 inside and has 30 patio seats, for a total capacity of 110.
The 2,400-square-foot bar and restaurant has distressed brick walls, exposed wooden beams, Edison-inspired bulbs, reclaimed wood floors, and a digital jukebox. There's a vintage leather dining bench, dark-wood tables and chairs, a communal table with pull-out seats, and a copper and walnut bar. Outside, the patio has rustic wood tables and chairs and a cafeteria-style table. But the most conversation-starting elements are the three table-side beer taps, from which guests can serve themselves. City Tavern is the first California-state approved venue to offer booths equipped with the computerized draft beer systems, which have three draft handles at each table and a small monitor that displays how much beer has been consumed per party.
In addition to the three table tap booths, the bar’s 22 beer taps offer all-California microbrews like Bear Republic, Eagle Rock Brewery, and Craftsman, and a variety of local California wines as well. The beverage program at City Tavern allows for a customized experience, giving guests a variety of choices ranging from smaller sampler sizes of beer and wine to one-liter options. The handcrafted cocktail menu offers bar classics with a modern twist, like the Queens Park Swizzle, with freshly muddled mint, rum, lime, bitters, and soda, or the Garden Pig, with Whistle Pig rye, fresh-squeezed OJ, lime, and basil.
The food menu offers a mix of small plates and shareable dishes from chef de cuisine Jessica Christensen, who did stints at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel and Tracht’s. Items include Jidori chicken panini with Manchego, quince, and almond pesto; grilled crudités of artichokes, peppers, and olives with smoked sea salt; Carlsbad Bay oysters in a mignonette with fresh horseradish; and arctic char roasted with bacon and port wine.
“We are very excited to have created a place that has the look and feel of an old-school tavern, yet offers a thoroughly modern menu and unique wines, classic cocktails, and 25 of the best craft beers around,” Brian McKeaney said. Ken Kaufman is the venue's principal owner, along with McKeaney and Dave Northrup. Kaufman and McKeaney also own their flagship venue Rush Street, just a block away.