October 26 signaled the end of BBQ season at Ben Ford’s Culver City gastropub. On Sunday, November 16, he introduced his latest seasonal special at Ford’s Filling Station - the traditional Sunday roast - and all four founding members of the EATZ eating club were on hand to devour roasted meats. Ford offers four distinct options, each with a unique side. We ordered them all.

Ford has earned acclaim for his skill with pork, with good reason. His Pork Loin Roast incorporated three different pig preparations on a single plate. Slabs of juicy pork loin featured bronzed edges. They were paired with applesauce and fresh sage, crispy pork skins known as “crackling” and tender Brussels sprouts tossed with crispy smoked bacon shavings.

Beef Casino Roast included thin-sliced beef slathered with horseradish cream. The Kale was especially terrific, a thatch of crispy, bitter greens. Yorkshire pudding was surprisingly moist, kind of like a savory bread pudding.

Roasted Leg of Lamb was solid, plated with sweet caramelized onions, mint au jus and green beans, but the plate was more notable for the risotto, which was folded with silky chunks of kabocha squash.

Roasted Chicken was the least impressive plate, the only dish that didn’t justify the $24 price tag. The half-chicken was moist, but the skin could have been crisper. It came with brown gravy, greens and cornbread stuffing studded with cubes of squash, which had the consistency of a dry couscous.

All three desserts we split were good to great. King Hawaiian Bread Pudding ($8) was crafted from chunks of sweet Hawaiian bread produced by King’s bakery in the South Bay. This version sported a crème fraiche cap and the plate was strewn with intensely sweet brandied apricots.

Comice Pear Crisp ($8) was excellent, featuring a crisp orange-spiked pecan crust, hot slices of sweet pear and cooling crème fraiche.

Flourless Torte (for two, $12) was airy and not too rich, with a core of malted chocolate ice cream. The kumquat reduction was shunted aside, so it didn’t have much of an impact on the dessert.

Ford’s roasts are available every Sunday through Easter from 3-8 PM, at a cost of $24 per plate. The manager said that closer to Christmas, they might add goose to the mix. In the meantime, the existing roasts are worth seeking.

2 Comments

1. H.C., November 21, 2008:

   Ooooh, the bread pudding made so much more sense now. When it was called just ‘Hawaiian Bread Pudding’ during the Suckling Pig Dinner I was confused since there weren’t any tropical/hawaiianish fruits used. Now I realized it’s made with King Hawaiian Bread!

2. mattatouille, November 21, 2008:

   Nice, we had some of the same dishes. Good lighting.

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