Lukshon

Lukshon Restaurant Review:

After running many a kitchen including Michael’s, chef Sang Yoon bought and reimagined Santa Monica’s Father’s Office, a burger and craft beer bar that is notorious for its no-substitutions policy. Yoon launched this venture, an upscale contemporary Asian restaurant, right next door to the Culver City branch of F.O. The room is both simple and elegant --- a glass entrance leads into a pearl-white-colored bar with two communal tables and an open kitchen, and a minimalist, compact dining room to the left and an adjoining patio. Kurobuta pork ribs are tender, but the chicory coffee sauce is a touch over-reduced. For entrées, the crisped skin of the whole steamed fish houses soft flesh, and the chiang mai curry noodles are perfect for absorbing the remaining juices from the carcass. A refined six-course tasting menu ($110 sans tax and tip) requires reservations; wine pairings are also available. Cocktails largely succeed with Asian-infused ingredients, like the Fujian cure made with Scotch, lemon, galangal and black tea. The wine list is succinct, dominated by the dry whites of Alsace, Spain, Austria, Italy and Germany.