Celia SoudryThe Place: Rush Street, 9546 Washington Blvd., Culver City; (310) 837-9546.
The Hours: Monday-Friday, 3-7 p.m.
The Deals: $5 premium liquor and draft beer; $4 bottle and canned beer; $3 wine and well drinks; $6 food items.
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Credit: Celia Soudry
The Digs: Located in downtown Culver City, Rush Street is in the thick of it, a dim-lit modern restaurant with exposed brick and black leather booths. Happy hour is offered on their second floor bar and outdoor patio. On any given weekend night you might find horny, liquored-up partiers, mostly in their mid-twenties. One patron sipping a glass of $3 wine during happy hour said, “The other Saturday night I was here, I saw two people having sex in the corner while waiting for the bathroom.” But the happy hour during the week is a bit more tame.
The bar gets busy around 5 p.m., when work gets out for most (the lucky ones). The patio is a cool spot to hang out when there is more than one waitress serving the area. If that is the case, try ordering two drinks at a time because you probably won't see your server for quite a while. The restaurant is large, with two stories and two patios. Downstairs, it will most-likely be crowded as well, towards the end of the week, with guests dining on burgers, ribs, chicken dishes, pastas and fish. And the food at Rush is solid.
The Verdict: The ricotta and truffle oil pizza is worth the trip. Crunchy crust accompanied by steamed spinach and creamy ricotta sprinkled with white truffle oil. That paired with a decent glass of their house wine is good enough for most. There are also turkey and beef sliders available on the happy hour menu, as well as sweet potato fries and a variety of pizzas. The margarita, made with fresh ingredients (not the sweet and sour mix used at many other places), and lots of alcohol, was a bit too biting. There is also red and white sangria, daiquiris and mojitos (from $4-$5). The beauty of a full bar is that there is always beer and wine, which is difficult to mess up. On cooler nights the patio can get very chilly, even with their tiny heaters hanging on the walls. But, we hear, the more you imbibe, the hotter it gets.
Grade: B+
Ricotta topped pizza; Credit: Celia Soudry
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