A Fresh Look at Fraiche and the Ultimate Buns

Both Angeleno Magazino Magazine and the LA Times Magazine named it "Best New Restaurant." Irene Virbilia of the LA Times and Jonathan "Mr. Pulitzer" Gold of the LA Weekly undoubtedly salivated all over their keyboards when they wrote their reviews. And New York Times columnist Frank Bruni put it on his list of top ten restaurants in the United States.

Even though the raves for Culver City's Fraiche Restaurant had been pouring in faster than opinions after a Sarah Palin interview, I still hadn't bellied up to the bistro. It took Jen at Oishii Eats to get me to cross to the "other" side of town to sample one of the best restaurants in LA.

After I commented on Jen's blog about my love affair with the gougères at Tartines in SF, she clued me in that I could get a burger on a golden roll at Fraiche. I've always considered the bun the weak link of the hamburger, but a gougères, a savory cream puff, could become the ultimate bun. I hadn't been this excited about a new food pairing since I dumped my sour Gummis into my popcorn at the movie theatre.

So when a friend asked me where I'd like to go for my birthday lunch, I didn't hesitate. "Let's get Fraiche," I answered.

With all the accolades, I was prepared for a bit of airs from our waiter, but he couldn't have been more unpretentious. I asked him, "Now how do you pronounce that wonderful French bread that comes with the hamburger?" (Strangely enough, the menu doesn't mention the type of bread.) He hadn't a clue, but looked at the menu and saw the word "gruyère" and attempted to pronounce that. I explained, "No, gruyère is the cheese that's in the gougères and on top of the hamburger." Even though he didn't know a gougères from a gruyère and I still couldn't pronounce gougères, I liked our waiter.

The burger was everything that I dreamed it would be. Prime beef cooked to perfection, melted gruyère on the ultimate bun - crusty on the outside, light and airy on the inside and infused with herbs and the same yummy "king of the Swiss cheese" that tops the meat.

I ate mine with just a touch of homemade mayo, but my friend loaded up her medium rare burger with the tomatoes and lettuce.

These photos are fuzzy, but check out Eat Drink & Be Merry's review for some tantalizing shots and a more comprehensive rundown of lunch items at Fraiche.


Check out the golden gougères surrounding the cash register.

Look for the "Royale with Cheese" on the menu. It's served with a side of herb fries for $13 and is only available at lunch. No matter how you order it ("The hamburger on the French bread I can't pronounce"), you're in for a treat.

Fraiche
9411 Culver Blvd
Culver City
310-839-6800
www.fraicherestaurantla.com

Consider combining a visit to Fraiche with one or more of these other Culver City activities:

- Do the write thing at an IWOSC (Independent Writers of Southern California) meeting on the fourth Monday of the month.
- Get lost at Surfas, the Mecca for cooks and food lovers.
- Yield to affordable massages and facials at the Massage Garage.
- Sip a Manhattan at the bar and check out the historic Culver Hotel, where parts of The Wizard of Oz were filmed in 1939. Find out if those rumors about the Munchkins are true.
- Catch a play at the Actors' Gang at the Ivy Substation.