Huevos Polenta at Playa Rivera

When I first heard that Chef John Rivera Sedlar was opening Playa Rivera restaurant in the old Grace space on Beverly Boulevard, I jumped for joy. I love Sedlar’s food (and Julian Cox’s cocktails) at Rivera downtown, so having one of his eateries closer in proximity to where I live is really a treat.

Elegant, hearty and delicious, Playa Rivera’s brunch is a great choice for a casual-but-elevated meal. I had the pleasure of having brunch here with Fiona of Gourmet Pigs, Lindsay of LAist and Esther of estarLA, and we had a well-rounded meal complete with cocktails and a chat with Sedlar himself, who happened to walk in just as we were leaving.

We started with a pitcher (OK, we had two) of The Grail, a sangria made with apple brandy, malbec, pressed lady apple, Don’s mix, cane cola and apple espuma (thanks, Fiona, for the description). This was unlike any sangria I’ve had, as it was more flavorful and rich.

The Grail sangria

To whet our appetites, we ordered some Blue Corn Muffins served with almond-flavored butter. These were absolutely gorgeous and tasted just as good. They had just the right amount of sweetness and were perfectly moist, which is nice because sometimes corn bread gets dry.

Blue Corn Muffins

Inside of the Blue Corn Muffins

For my main dish, I ordered the Huevos Polenta (above), a spicy, smoky dish that I would order again. The polenta is covered in a pool of red chili sauce and topped with lardon (bacon!), veggies, a 63º poached egg and cotija cheese. I love different textures in my food, and this dish definitely had that. It was a home run.

Fiona ordered the pulled pork tamal topped with sunny side-up eggs. I love tamales, and this one didn’t disappoint, especially not with those pretty eggs on top! You’ll also notice that this was served on a plate with a scene from A Clockwork Orange on it; Sedlar’s Reflexiones presentation program features everything from art to political commentary to purposefully complement or contrast with select dishes.

Pulled-pork tamal

Lindsay chose the Duck Hash with 63º poached eggs, fingerling potatoes and peppers. This was also a hearty, tasty choice.

Duck Hash

I was less impressed with the Croque Señor, which is made with chorizo. This might be better as a señora with one of those sunny side-up eggs on top.

Croque Senor

Don’t neglect to order dessert because the ice cream sundae made with goat’s milk ice cream, hazelnuts and cocoa nibs served with hot chocolate sauce and a blue cornmeal chocolate chip cookie was amazing. At Lindsay’s suggestion, we broke up the cookie and threw it in our mason jar of goodness, then topped it off with the chocolate sauce. Once again, all the different textures made me really happy. Bravo!

Ice Cream Sundae

Inside of the cornmeal cookie

Perhaps the best part of this meal was the value. We were served beautiful food in well-sized portions with nothing priced more than $15. This is an amazing deal, and one I highly recommend.

The L.A. mini chain Pitfire Pizza is about to get just a bit bigger with a new location in Culver City, and even though it’s not officially open for business yet (official word has it opening in about a week), the food is already pretty solid. I guess that’s easier to do when you’ve had some practice at your North Hollywood, downtown and West Los Angeles locations. But the Culver City location has a new kind of pizza oven, so there!

Really, the pizza, especially the crust, is very good. I normally don’t eat pizza crusts, but the crust on these pizzas was so good that I had to force myself to not eat them lest I was not able to control myself. It’s perfectly light and chewy, with just the right amount of bite. As for toppings, stick with the pizzas that come with tomato sauce. The burrata, magherita and pepperoni pies are good. I wasn’t as impressed with the field mushroom pizza, made with fontina cheese and creme fraiche, because it didn’t have as much flavor without the tomato sauce, which is also spicy.

Burrata pie, topped with arugula

Magherita pizza

Field mushroom pizza

But Pitfire isn’t all about pizza. Before this visit, I had been to the downtown location a couple of times and had pasta both times. While we didn’t sample pasta this time (the pasta is good, by the way), we did have some starters. I loved the roasted vegetables, especially the brussels sprouts and the cauliflower, which was dusted in breadcrumbs. I could easily eat a plate of these vegetables as my whole meal. The chicken salad, with roasted chicken, arugula, butter lettuce, croutons, scallions, toasted pine nuts and pickled currants.

Roasted vegetables

Chicken salad

The cucumber mint lemonade was a standout, and the jumbo chocolate chip cookie is one of the best I’ve ever had. The chocolate is layered, so you get the maximum amount of chocolate in every bite. It reminds me of the cookies at Grey Dog’s Coffee in New York.

Cucumber mint lemonade

Chocolate chip cookie

A note about the new location: Though it’s technically in Culver City, it’s not in the downtown Culver City area. It’s west of the 405 freeway. Be prepared.