Professor Gourmand — Scratch Bar’s Siblings: Woodley Proper, Frankland Crab & Co, Phillip’s Sushi Speakeasy

Dave Parker
Jul 30, 2017 · 7 min read

I have probably been remiss about writing about these three institutions on the second floor of the mini-mall at Ventura and Woodley, mostly because Woodley Proper, the cocktail bar with cocktail bar hours and Scratch food, has been open for four months now. Some of this is because of my academic responsibilities, but more of it is because of what I have to admit is my complete lack of objectivity here. But then again, I AM there two or three times a week, and, really, who knows it better. Here goes.

First, Woodley Proper. Extensive drink menu, food supervised by Ernest (from Scratch) and Marty (from the Gadarene Swine). Open from noon to 2 AM, as cocktail bars are here in Southern California. An all-day menu, the headings of which are snacks, country style sourdough toasts, salads, mains and sweets. Snacks include items as simple as the honey fried stuffed olives

A Castelvetrano olive stuffed with a Kalamata olive puree in a honey batter with a honey lime syrup, 5–6 to an order, pretty much depending who you are. This, with an apple-lime syrup (honey isn’t used in vegan cooking), was how I began almost all of my dinners at the Gadarene Swine — I missed them, and now I can have them again. The drink behind it is the WP version of a Pimm’s Cup, here called the “Valley Girl.”

And as complicated as bone marrow baked in a sourdough case with spiced mushrooms. Of COURSE not in a vegan restaurant, but very very tasty.

There are also a cheese plate and a charcuterie plate, all the cheese and the charcuterie made on the premises, and a shellfish platter. Yes, this arrived at my seat at the bar one night because the WP kitchen understood me to be a VIP.

There are four sourdough toasts. I particularly liked the ground tomato and burnt avocado (burnt or charred avocado is a “thing” in Los Angeles cooking nowadays) with sweet and sour onions and balsamic. I know all of them are good.

Two salads: a classic iceberg “wedge” salad with a blue cheese buttermilk ranch dressing, bacon, tomatoes and two kinds of onions

And a bitter greens salad with candied pecans and golden raisins in an avocado and orange dressing. I exclaimed over this when Marty served it to me as part of the Dine LA menu last week, and he reminded me that I had helped him work it out at Swine and I probably had eaten it more often than anyone else who dined at Swine. Well, yes, out of sight out of mind, I guess.

The mains. A KILLER cheeseburger on a house-made brioche bun with aged clothbound cheddar, tomato jam, red onions and parley. They told me the cheeseburger at Scratch, when Scratch served lunch, was excellent. This, with tomato jam, was likely even better.

There’s also a wonderfully fragrant half roast chicken with mashed potatoes, TERRIFIC roasted broccoli, and beer jus. Yes, beer jus, which they use on some of the dishes like the sweetbread “pizza” at Scratch.

And desserts. I keep being surprised by how excellent Margareta’s desserts are now that she isn’t shackled by vegan demands. I’ve ordered the donuts by themselves after having dessert at other restaurants when I’ve come in to Woodley Proper for a nightcap (since they close at 2 AM).

But that’s the food. The drink menu used to be a larger list but they’ve pared it down very nicely. I was amused when I looked at the menu for the first time to see that the VERY first cocktail listed was a Sazerac. The bar program is the creation of Devon Espinosa who Philip lured over from Church Key in West Hollywood, who I was introduced to the first time we were both at Scratch at the same time after Phillip retained him to do the cocktails. I had been having adventures with inadequate Sazeracs for a couple of months — at Girasol, it felt like a Peychaud Bitters cocktail, and at another restaurant I arrived with an unopened bottle of Pernod which they didn’t have so they could make me one. After some small talk I asked if Woodley Proper would serve a “proper” Sazerac, and there it is at the top of the cocktail list. The wines are the same wines they serve at Scratch — small lots, mostly from the Santa Barbara/Ojai wine country. The bar is sufficiently well stocked to offer what I think are the three perfect before dinner drinks: Campari and soda, blond Lillet on the rocks with an orange twist, and Kir (white wine with a splash of crème de cassis). Open until 2 AM. I haven’t closed the bar yet, but Eric and Steven at Woodley Proper, along with my friend Damien while he was at PYT (he isn’t there any more) helped me through a two-month transition from vodka to gin this spring. That’s something. And yes, I’m friends with all the bartenders.

Next, Frankland Crab & Co. Phillip said he always wanted to a crab shack (especially after Oh Man! Ramen didn’t work out), and boy, has he ever created a good one. I have NOT been through the entire menu yet but it’s everything you want in a quick-service, because nothing about Frankland’s even suggests fast food, seafood place.

The lobster roll

The seafood “chowda” and the Branzino fish ’n’ chips. Yes, I know that “chips” doesn’t mean “crisps” but the crisps are homemade so there’s not much to argue about here.

All wonderful. And not just homemade lemonade, homemade root beer as well. The root beer in and of itself is worth going to Frankland’s for, and it’s even better with a jigger of rum. Next for me? The fried calamari!

Finally, Phillip’s Sushi Speakeasy. I’ve been once and I found it an absolutely unique experience. It’s sort of like Le Comptoir, with three seatings per evening (5, 7 and 9 PM) and a maximum of eight people per seating. Le Comptoir serves 20 people per night, Phillip’s serves 24. It’s not that easy to get a seat. You can’t reserve until 3PM the day you want to eat there, and that has to be on the premises. Good if it’s on the way home from where you teach. Not so good otherwise. As soon as a seating gets to 8 people, that time slot is closed. I’m sure Open Table could handle this but I’m not so sure that would be a good idea given the immediacy of this particular sushi adventure.

Dinner begins with a special cocktail served at the Woodley Proper bar. Then, your dining cohort is led through the innards of the restaurant to a door marked “Do not Enter” but when you do, there’s the sushi bar. There’s a tasting pairing of sake, cocktails and beer which I suggest you spring for if you’re a drinker because it is every bit as much a learning experience as the wine pairings at Orsa and Winston and every bit as well-paired with the food you’ll be eating.

I didn’t take any pictures because I didn’t want to interrupt the experience. It’s been reviewed in LA Weekly, and, to be frank, they’re still reviewing the character Phillip was portrayed as playing in Top Chef, Season 13. What you see is the board behind the sushi bar. It will give you an idea of the variety of tastes you can expect to experience. I’m going again on August 3. When I saw Phillip at Woodley Proper today (July 28) he asked if he should change up the sushi menu because I’ve had everything on it already and I told him it should be his decision. That’s how it works. I act as taster when Phillip needs one and otherwise I eat what is put in front of me, because it’s consistently excellent. I’ll make suggestions at Scratch if I think a dish can be improved on; these are more in the way of tweaks of an already good dish, and at least one has been implemented. Incidentally, there’s a little interplay between the menu at the sushi bar and the Scratch menu, and I’m planning to write about that soon.

I think I’ve given the three places a fair assessment. At the very least, now you know why I go to these places as often as I do.

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