Destroyer UPDATE - Culver City

Still a mostly industrial area, Destroyer keeps its office hours of 8-4. Inconvenient for many, but it couldn't be better for us on one of our many weekdays off. 

There's no line, but even on a Monday, more than half the tables are full. The pastry case is more than half empty, and I snagged the last Passionfruit Tart to go. It has a light cream and some of that fabulous sweet n' sour, but I do wish there was a stronger flavor. The Sweet Corn Cookie is a subtler show-stealer, much like a sugar cookie with the aftertaste of sweetest corn. There's a Pecan Molasses Cookie as well for a gooey something-sweet.

But the pastries are for later - the real menu is so much more.  

Start lighter with a bowl of Forbidden Orchard Berries. Icy blueberries in a creamy coconut yogurt. I usually hate coconut but this has a perfect, thick texture, and tapioca pearls to bring out the flavor and add a bit of gentle grit. Black currants and candied beets add a rich sweetness.

There's Loaded Avocado Confit, a glorified melange of why millenials have no money. The charred avocado is creamy, the cherry tomatoes are blistery and cozy. Smoked prosciutto brings salt to the creamy burrata, and a fried egg with its gooey, runny yolk ties it all together. Smear all over a slice of crusty country bread for the best combination of flavors. 

That giant half-loaf slab is the beautifully, evenly egged Persimmon French Toast. Beautiful persimmons line a bowl of apricot-passion fruit jam, centered around a creme fraiche you'll never get enough of. Drizzle light syrup over the spongy bread and take big bites. 

The Smoked Fish is nordic in a nutshell. Flaky slices of gorgeous white fish under a silky, savory yogurt covered in a crunchy layer of onion granola. A seedy icelandic rye adds earthiness to the smoky-sea fish.

It's all good and mostly great, but this Sweet Corn Porridge is the real standout. Sweet corn kernels are interspersed with little pearls of couscous, each coated with viscous porridge, packed with so much flavor. Mix in the poached egg to add the liquid yolk, and crunch on bits of chicken skin and burnt onion. Dig deep for leaves of blanched lettuce which adds another layer of depth. 

If you go to Vespertine expecting to see some high-end translation of Destroyer's magic fare, you will be sorely disappointed. Destroyer is where the magic is made, and it is where the magic stays. Both breakfast and lunch are affordable here, and I'm surprised they haven't earned any Michelin stars.