RESTAURANT REVIEW: The Corner Door

12477 W. Washington Blvd. | Culver City, CA 90066 | (310) 313-5810 | thecornerdoorla.com | Prices: $$$

By MICHAEL AUSHENKER | Pali Life Editor

If The Corner Door’s Chef de Cuisine Ali Haji is anything, it’s candid.

“My stuff doesn’t keep well,” said Haji, referring to a gaggle of leftovers this writer intended to have boxed for home.

That’s a great sign because it means that the restaurant only employs the freshest of ingredients, including farm-to-table vegetables culled from the farmer’s market or the back of the Truffle Brothers’ truck. All of this informs the Corner Door’s summer menu.

The Corner Door is the hip endeavor of Executive Chef Brendan Collins, he of the recently shuttered Culver City gastropub Waterloo & City, Larry’s in Venice and the soon-to-open converted World War II warehouse in San Pedro, Brouwerij West.

The love child of Haji, Bar Manager Beau du Bois and General Manager Anthony Douglas, Corner Door provides door-to-check hospitality, all set to a rustic contemporary environ and a soundtrack that caroms from Outkast’s Andre 3000 to vintage White Stripes.

Highlights come aplenty here. Consider the Grilled Pork Chop ($30) with roast peaches and carrots; simple and effective. Even more well-received at our table was the Braised Short Rib ($36), with its corn pudding, tamale, grilled scallion and a side of elote, all topped with a red wine sauce. With the Duck and Walnut Terrine ($14), accompanied by walnut mustard, pickled cherries and some firmly toasted triangles of bread, The Corner Door is one place where one can try frois gras (now legal again citywide as of eight months ago).

One of the lighter starters is the Heirloom Tomatoes ($12), served with small eggs of fresh mozzarella, smoked cherry tomatoes and basil, all immersed in a red wine vinaigrette.

Beyond the Charcuterie section, which includes a delicious Duck and Walnut Terrine and a Smoked Salmon Terrine (each $14), Executive Chef Collins has entrusted Chef du Cuisine Haji to devise the details, wherein lies the Devil.

Encoded in the Snacks (appetizers) and Plates (entrées) portions of the menu is “my homage to Los Angeles,” Haji said; different parts of the city are represented. The Grilled Pork Chop, with its mustard side, echoes Alpine Village, the kitschy Teutonic oasis in Haji’s native Torrance, while the Smoked Duck Bahn Mi ($15) sandwich references Long Beach’s Vietnamese stylings. Corn Gnocchi ($17) tips its cap to Fairfax Avenue’s Ethiopian district; Fish & Chips ($18) pays a “Cheerio!” to the Brits frequenting Santa Monica; and the Braised Short Rib ($36) is a reconstitution of a 2-in-the-morning order off a Boyle Heights taco truck, and so on.

Or as Haji so eloquently yet colorfully put it with much brio: “LA kicks ass and we’re putting it on a f***in’ plate!”

A lot of thought has been invested in the Corner Door’s libations as well. A gent in person, Bar Manager Beau de Bois has crafted a line-up of cocktails that includes the cheekily named Brazilian Tanline, which he insists is practically “Rio in a glass:” white rum, Cachaça, orgeat, lime and banana liqueur. The coolest feature on this sexy cocktail is the feathery shiso leaf, clipped to the glass’ rim with a mini-clothespin.

De Bois also serves The Exorcist (with green bell pepper-infused tequila, aloe vera liqueur, lime, orange oil, cinnamon cordial and a cucumber dusted in ghost pepper salt resting atop an orange slice garnish), a Moscow Mule and the almighty King of America, a bourbon tinged with roasted and salted peanuts, mint and an orange blossom honey, served in a silver tin packed with crushed ice.

What’s great about the dishes here is that while much attention is paid to the aesthetics of each entrée, they are deceptively skimpy-looking. In fact, a meal here is filling.

If there’s a lowlight at the eatery, it may, in fact, be the low lighting, which radiates much atmosphere but complicates creating the food porn that these beautifully executed dishes will most definitely inspire. Also, the music rises a bit too loud, not a huge problem unless you’re on a first date when that initial conversation is crucial.

The Corner Door is slim on desserts. There’s the Sticky Toffee Pudding (toffee caramel sauce, vanilla ice cream) or the Valrhona Chocolate Pudding (cocoa nip, raspberries)—either costs $8—and that should suffice. After all, by the time you get to the last course, guaranteed you’ll be so full, you won’t have the wherewithal to make many more decisions.

Haji is very gregarious, so in-between the cuisine, he’s out of the kitchen, working the room, schmoozing with the customers. Tangents are welcome, as Haji detours easily into discussions of Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino films.

On this July evening, they had run out of cauliflower by 7 p.m., hence, there was no trying the Malaysian Cauliflower ($11) on this night. That’s the way it goes, Haji said. When they run out of ingredients, they’re done serving the dish that day.

Eying the next table, a neighbor’s 8 Oz. Dry Aged Burger ($15) looked extremely promising. But the focus tonight was on the menu’s summer additions.

However, Sundays at The Corner Door is Bourbon & Burgers Night, so that’s an excuse for a return trip very soon. (And, of course, the pursuit of that elusive Malaysian Caulifower.)

Ultimately, you may have leftovers but don’t fret: they’ll hold up for at least half a day…long enough for you to enjoy a second round the next day at work.