First off, I’d like to mention that Crudo e Nudo is a sustainable restaurant business and not just from the perspective of providing overpriced local seafood and organic ingredients to the populace but the owners also treat their employees incredibly well. A few articles have already been written about Crudo e Nudo’s business model, what they do for their employees, and how it all came together with a dash of luck. Read more about it here.

Yup, dinner for Father’s Day. The lady treating me to a rare night out without our little boy who we love so much but is also a complete fucking terror in a restaurant. He’s more into running around the floor and hamming it up with other tables than enjoying a nice meal. Hey, I can’t blame him, but it makes for a lot of work if we want to eat out with a ticking time bomb set for a half hour.

And so here we go. On with a pair of black jeans I only wear for this type of public appearance. A short sleeve shirt appropriate for the weather. 71° and sunny. Sneakers with no stains. Yeah, I sort of felt like a normal person. The restaurant is located down on Main Street which I lovingly call “The Borderlands” because it’s so close to Venice Beach where things get sketchy and dirty in an instant. Crudo e Nudo is also close to the corner bar, Jameson’s, a super busy, loud dive both Jo and I agreed was a place where people go to get super wasted, so you see plenty of these rabble walking around. But, I do enjoy going down to Main Street on occasion just for this reason–to see actual residents meandering which is not so commonplace in most of Santa Monica.

The place is small. You can eat inside at the window if you choose but most of the seating is outside in the street on the typical ramshackle pandemic patio. Not my fave. I personally hate sitting at tables and prefer the height and comfortability of bartops if I have a say. For some reason sitting down at a restaurant table gives me anxiety but it was unavoidable in this setting. I think it’s partially because I can see and feel too much going on. For one, our table was wobbly when we sat down, which is one of my many pet peeves. Yes, the rumors are true, bartops do not wobble. We also had to sit down mere inches from two girls who both spoke in that weird Kardashian drone that I’ve noticed is becoming more and more prevalent in young women. Another reason to sit at a bar is because, well, cooler, more “with it” people sit at bars and mostly douchebags sit at tables. Anyway…

From the onset, it was obvious this dining experience would be a bit different from any I had been accustomed to. First off, no physical menus, not even a QR code. Interesting. When you go inside to speak to the host, they ask you to take a picture of the chalkboard menu with your phone. At first this was offputting, but then I thought about the sheer amount of paper we use to print menus every single day at Rustic that gets thrown out every single day. This small detail makes sense as well as saves money in both paper and printing costs (ink, annoying printers that never work).

This is what we ordered: Halibut, Abalone, Prawns, Squid Ink Fried Rice, Tuna Tartare Toast, Smoked Fish Dip (not on the menu) Potatoes and Crab. Here’s some pictures, I forgot to snap a few of the dishes and a couple have some bites out of them already which, in retrospect, looks pretty gross.

As usual, I gobbled everything up. My favorite was the potatoes and crab with the nice harissa. The price for seven dishes and three glasses of wine including 20% tip: nearly $300. A hefty tag. We left full but still managed to force down a chocolate dipped soft serve from Heavy Handed just a block away.