It may be a stretch to consider Waterloo & City, a pool-shooting, darts-playing, ale-swilling, Ramones-blasting bar shoehorned into a rundown coffee shop, to be much more than a glorified bar. The place is ostensibly a gastropub, whatever that has come to mean, and there is indeed a Sunday roast; a Scotch egg; sticky toffee pudding; and a maître d' who is prepared to discuss the nuances of your glass of stout until the roosters begin to crow. Nobody but an Englishman could have come up with something like an Indian butter chicken pizza. But Brendan Collins, the Englishman in question, is a chef deeply in love with meat, especially the charcuterie he makes himself — loaves of sweetbreads bound in gelatin with pig's trotters; rabbit with pistachios; the occasional terrine of eel and foie gras — it's a virtuosic display, even if you don't go on to the burgers made with 30-day-aged meat or the crisp pig shank confit, sizzled in its own fat.

You may think of zucchini-blossom fritters as the delicate appetizers you've tasted at Pizzeria Mozza, but Collins stuffs the blossoms with a fistful of baby shrimp before he fries them: They come to the table looking like a plateful of maracas, and you could no more polish off an order by yourself than you could eat six burritos. The whole roast chicken for two, a Sunday specialty, comes with a bundle of smoldering herbs poking out of its butt, and a pile of french fries as big as a haystack. 12517 Washington Blvd., Culver City. (310) 391-4222, waterlooandcity.com. Dinner, Mon.-Sat., 6-10 p.m., Sun., 5-9 p.m.; late-night menu, Fri.-Sat., 10 p.m.-mid.; happy hour 5-7 p.m. daily. Full bar. Lot parking. AE, MC, V. Gastropub.

99 Essential L.A. Restaurants 2011:

Jonathan Gold's Introduction
Anne Fishbein's Photos
The Google Map

The List:

A-Frame
Akasha
Alcazar
Angeli Caffe
Angelini Osteria
Animal
Antojitos Carmen
Attari
Babita
Bludso's
Border Grill
Bottega Louie
Bulgarini Gelato
Cacao
Campanile
Casa Bianca
Chang's Garden
Chego
Chichén Itzá
Chung King
Church & State
Ciro's
Comme Ça
Cut
Dae Bok
Din Tai Fung
Drago Centro
El Huarache Azteca
El Parian
Elvirita's
Euro Pane Bakery
Eva
Fab Hot Dogs
Father's Office
Fig
Gjelina
Golden Deli
Golden State
Good Girl Dinette
The Gorbals
Guelaguetza
Guisados
Huckleberry
Hungry Cat
Ink.
Jar
Jitlada
Kiriko
Kobawoo
La Casita Mexicana
Langer's
Larkin's
Lazy Ox Canteen
Le Comptoir
Little Dom's
Lou
Lucques
LudoBites
Lukshon
Mantee
Marouch
Mayura
Meals by Genet
Mélisse
Mezze
Mo-Chica
Mother Dough
Mozza
Musso & Frank Grill
Nem Nuong Khanh Hoa
Newport Tan Cang Seafood Restaurant
The Nickel
Night + Market
Oinkster
101 Noodle Express
Palate Food + Wine
Park's Barbecue
Picca
Playa
Pollos a la Brasa
Providence
Ray's
Red Medicine
Rivera
Rustic Canyon
Salt's Cure
Sapp Coffee Shop
Sea Harbour
Son of a Gun
Sotto
Spago
Spice Table
Street
Tacos Baja Ensenada
Tasting Kitchen
Terroni
Tsujita L.A.
Vincenti
Waterloo & City

 

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