Piccalilli

On a busy corner in Culver City, Piccalilli somehow squeezes a dining room, a bar, and a plant-filled porch into a space that’s just slightly larger than a studio apartment. In that same spirit, their Asian/Southern menu crams a lot of ideas onto each plate, though the results aren’t quite as successful. Straightforward dishes suffer the most, like charred sourdough bread served with an unnecessary schmear of bitter Indian pickle butter, or Thai banana hush puppies that are mostly just mushy. Other dishes are better: A bowl of Brussels sprouts, coated in Korean chili sauce and crispy canchas, is sweet, spicy, and texturally complex, and the “Bangkock” Chicken Katsu is both a solid version of the Japanese dish and an interesting interpretation of Nashville hot chicken, thanks to a dollop of pickled bird’s eye chili. In short, a meal here is a lot of things - but boring certainly isn’t one of them.