In the heart of downtown Culver City, right across the street from Tender Greens, is a little barbeque place on the corner called Santa Maria Barbeque. From across the street, it looks like a small place with a few tables for outside dining, but it actually has a good number of tables inside -- good for small groups.

I ordered the sampler plate, which came with two to three pieces each of brikset, chicken, and ribs as well as a side of fries and some bread. The plate was certainly something two adults could share and still be full.

I happened to drop by Ugo in downtown Culver City for lunch on accident because my intended lunch restaurant was closed for the day.  I had gone once before for breakfast, which I did not enjoy and once for dinner, which was just okay, so I didn't have high hopes for lunch.  Considering it took them almost 20 minutes to 'cook' me up an almost raw (and I LOVE runny eggs) sunny side up egg when I went for breakfast, I was just hoping that lunch would be edible.

I ordered a grilled shrimp and scallop salad with artichoke hearts off their specials menu.  Considering a salad is mostly raw ingredients, I figured it would be easy for them.

Downtown Culver City, there's a new kid in town and his name is Le Saint Amour.   It's a restaurant located on the wedge-shaped block where Culver meets Washington.  The owner, you may have heard, used to own Angelique Cafe, which means this French bistro has some reputation to live up to.

After parking in the parking complex right behind Akasha, I made my way to Le Saint Amour on a Wednesday, which happened to be the first day they were open for lunch.  There were already a handful of people at tables inside and a few more on the outside side-walk space on the Washington side.

This week, I figured I'd try the other downtown Culver City sushi restaurant, Kaizuka.  Located on the wedge shaped block right before Culver and Washington meet, Kaizuka is a convenient place for those working in the Sony buildings nearby.  For the rest of us, the downtown parking lot is only a block away.

Kaizuka has an outside patio, where I saw a few diners enjoying the sun.  Since I had no dining companion this time, I chose to sit at the sushi bar and watch what the chef was making.

Even though K-ZO is easy to miss if you're not looking for it, but it's by no means a hole-in-the wall sushi joint.  Located in the same complex as Trader Joe's in downtown Culver City, it's easy to find parking for and a refreshing oasis in the middle of busy downtown traffic.

Upon walking in, you'll see a clean, sleek and modern decor with ample seating at tables, an intersting chain-mail-like curtain shielding some semi-private tables, and a long sushi bar.  I chose to sit in front of one of the four chefs working that day at the bar.

A simple gauge to use at unfamiliar sushi restaurants is to just order the sushi assortment or chirashi.  It brings an array of different fishes to taste as well as lets the diner judge the chef's knife skills.

When I think of Korean food on the West Side, Gyenari was exactly what I pictured.  The interior is clean, fancy, open, and the air inside isn't smokey.  That made me somewhat anxious about trying their food.  I've never been to an authentic Korean barbecue restaurant that didn't smell like smoke and meat.  Would Gyenari's cleanliness be it's downfall?

M Cafe de Chaya is one of those restaurants that never sounds appetizing when I think of it.  Having a meal at a restaurant that claims to be macrobiotic just doesn't make my mouth water like having a meal at an ethnic restaurant with lots of spices does.  Never the less, I have to give M Cafe some credit because I actually had a decent meal from them recently.

I ordered their grilled tuna burger ($14).  Like their other burgers, it comes with a choice of side salad, which differs from day to day.  I love kabocha, so when I saw the kabocha salad behind the counter, there was no contest.  When it arrived next to my burger, it wasn't as good as I imagined it.  The kabocha's sweetness was too strong and could have used some balancing out with something savory like a dab of miso paste mixed in.