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A Blackened Shrimp
Tortizza makes a shareable meal or snack at the Rack in
Woodland Hills, where a pool table provides the
entertainment.!dlim! !capt!Chicken and Beef Satay is
served atop a bed of crispy rice sticks. (John Lazar /
Daily News) |
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Who would have thought there'd be some decent food at a
pool-hall restaurant?
Wolfgang Puck Cafe's departure from the Westfield Promenade
in Woodland Hills resulted in new tenant the Rack putting in
pool tables and a bar in the former dining area and a neat
patio restaurant with a movable roof right next to it.
The Rack menu has a slogan or credo inscribed on its first
inside page: "Where fine dining and entertainment collide."
Pool playing, I gather, is the entertainment reference.
My initial visit to The Rack was a quick, midafternoon one,
for a beer (good, dark Arrogant Bastard brew on draft, $5) and
a vegetable tortilla soup ($5.95).
Both were excellent, so I secretly vowed to return soon.
Later, on a rainy weekend night, the place was packed with
shoppers and moviegoers (there's a cinema next door), several
enjoying the circular flaming pit seating arrangement at one
end of the patio restaurant.
The kitchen's obvious need to provide ample noshes for pool
players and bar loungers is exemplified by its nachos ($7.95)
appetizer platter - a huge pile of multicolored tortilla chips
topped with black beans, black olives, corn niblets, sour
cream, daubs of guacamole and melted cheese. Beef or chicken
is added for an extra $3.
Less awesome in size, but considerably more appetizing to
my eye and palate, are the cashew chicken lettuce cups
($10.95), served on butter lettuce leaves rather than the
crisper icebergs, and an order of satay ($10.95), six skewers
of chicken or beef, $2 extra with shrimp.
The marinated beef on the skewers, quite tasty, resembles
the skirt steak featured on the Asian beef entree ($17.95)
here.
This, one of the better main-course options, arrives plated
with a delightful accompaniment, a nicely conceived, colorful
slaw of thinly cut carrots, snow peas and sprouts.
With a rich brew or robust red wine, this could be preceded
by the deep-flavored, house, triple-onion soup ($5.95).
Other meaty triumphs are moist, thick-cut pork loin
($15.95) with sausage cornbread stuffing and premises-produced
apple sauce, and a rack of babybacks ($16.95) flavored with
beer and garlic.
On the seafood side, there's a bowl of crunchy shrimp
floating in a spicy Creole broth ($18.95) and a trio of dark,
crispy crab cakes ($17.95), thankfully not over-breaded, and
delivered with a heaping salad of baby greens.
From the sandwich list, the burger here ($10.95) is a good
one, large, meaty, juicy and available several ways. But the
not-so-tender beef in the beef dip sandwich ($10.95) might
have been easier to chew if thinner sliced.
Both can be had with crispy yam or french fries.
Lots of endings at The Rack. My choice: the heftily
portioned ($6.95) cinnamon-apple-walnut bread pudding with a
maple-bourbon cream sauce.
Game of pool, anyone?
THE RACK
Food:
Service:
Wine:
Where: 6100 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Woodland Hills (in
the Westfield Promenade).
Phone: (818) 716-0123; www.therack.
Meals/hours: Open for lunch, dinner and snacks from 11
a.m. to 2 a.m. daily.
Food type: New American.
Cost: Starters from $4.50 to $11, sandwiches and main
salads from $10 to $13, entrees from $12 to $19, desserts from
$6 to $8.
Credit cards: All major.
Patio dining: Yes.
Parking/valet: Valet on weekend. Free lot.
Full bar: Yes.
Wine/corkage: Short, single-page wine list of 18 labels
available by the glass ($4 to $21) and one by the bottle
($60). No vintage dates listed. For full bottle prices, in
most cases multiply glass price by four. Interesting beer list
by tap and bottle. Corkage: $5.
Music/entertainment: Live music due this spring.
Takeout/delivery: Yes on takeout, no on delivery.
Reservations: Helpful.
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Larry Lipson co-hosts "What's Cooking?" a restaurant, wine
and food talk show that airs from 8 to 9 a.m. Wednesdays
nationally on Cable Radio Network (CRN) and National Radio
Network (NRN), heard locally on KPXN-TV (PAX) Channel 30 SAP;
Adelphia Santa Monica on C 74 SAP; Adelphia San Fernando
Valley on Channel 1/97 SAP and 25; Time Warner West Valley on
Channel 6 SAP and 960; AT&T on Channel 6 in the Valley and
Channel 44 SAP in Los Angeles; Charter Communications on
Channel 33 SAP; Adelphia Lancaster on Channel 37; Adelphia
Simi Valley on Channel 8; Charter in Hidden
Hills/Malibu/Agoura on cable FM 97.5; Avenue TV Cable Ventura
on Channel 83; Charter San Gabriel Valley on Channel 34 SAP
and Channel 56; Time Warner Canyon Country on Channel 960;
Time Warner South Pasadena on Channel 6 and 960.
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Reproduced with the permission of the Daily News 3/13/06 |