Surfas, Culver City

Surfas
8777 W. Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
http://www.cafesurfas.com
http://www.surfasonline.com

Telephone: 310.558.1458

Monday - Saturday:
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Sunday:
10:00 am - 4:30 pm

Surfas is a wonderful place. I think it might be the L.A. version of a lower-end Dean & Deluca- not as expensive, not as fancy, but still pretty pricey and full of awesome things to waste money on.

The cafe is fine, nothing really special. I do not like their salads, and their pastries and paninis are just middle-of-the-road. Better than Starbucks, which the prices reflect. They do have canneles and homemade mini-tarts and baby cheesecakes, plus stuffed croissants and all kinds of other baked goodies that entice me.

But the real draw? CHEESE. Oh, the cheese. I love cheese so! They have this kooky cheesekeeper who prattles on about the notes in cheese (did you know that sharp Irish cheddar has tender grassy notes in it?) and gives me translucent slivers of the wonderful stuff. I love him, dorky glasses and all. I spent $25 on cheese there today. All these hours that I'm working need to be balanced out with something delicious and wonderful, after all.

They also have a very good selection of baking supplies. I bought about five pounds of chocolate last year (some Callebaut squares and some Surfas-brand chips) for Christmas baking. Though the prices may be steep, the quality is stellar. I also bought my bombe molds at Surfas- again, not cheap.

I went to Surfas today to detox and re-align my chi, which is done best in the presence of cheeses, sopressata, copious amounts of handmade pastas, and uni-tasking baking utensils. It worked really well, except for the part where I bought all this stuff I don't need:

- A tube of tomato paste.
- A box of Botan rice candy.
- 2 pounds of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips.
- 12 ounces of Swedish pearl sugar.
- 1/2 pound of Old Quebec Vintage Cheddar.
- 1/2 pound of Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam Triple Cream.
- A tin of El Velero whole salted anchovies.

I have plans for all this stuff, I swear. But mostly, it was just fun to buy. And I admit that I may have come up with some genius plans in my own head after I saw each item. But I'll get around to using it all, even the anchovies!

I am still at work. It's past 10:00 on a Friday night. Making a movie? So glamorous!