Bye-Bye Sanny G

Wah! Last night we took a walk to downtown Culver City and San Gennaro was closed! It was a complete shock to us. We were just there a few weeks ago and had no clue that the end was near. They have another location in Brentwood, which is still open, but they lost their lease in the Culver City location. I called the Brentwood location to get the
scoop and they said their last day was on May 15th. We were just there on something like May 10th!

It was my favorite restaurant for awhile because they have a huge
menu, I could walk there easily, and the ambiance was nice. They had
live music and big wine list and great apple martinis. They also had
2 for 1 pizza on Monday nights, which was usually decent and once in
awhile was absolutely scrumptious (depending on the chef that night).
We hadn't been there for awhile, other than the recent visit, because
they had a "B" in the window. (Out of towners-instead of closing
restaurants for health violations, around here they grade restaurants
and post signs in the window with "A", "B" or "C". Since they didn't
have an "A", that meant they had rats or roaches or some other
violation that gives me the creeps thinking about so I avoid those
restaurants whenever possible.)

The Brentwood location has the same menu (and an "A" in the window!)
but a completely different ambiance and no live entertainment (that I
know of). It's also 5 miles away, not 5 seconds away. I guess we
will go there if we're at the Barrington dog park sometime in winter
when we can leave Jake in the car, but probably not very much other
than that. The parking situation there is bad. It's just not the
same as having a neighborhood hangout nearby.

There are a BUNCH of other new restaurants in downtown Culver City
though. A new one, Ugo, just opened up days ago. We tried to go but
there was a 20 minute wait, so we just got Greek food instead at
Daphne's. Harrison Ford's son Ben opened up Ford's Filling Station,
which we haven't tried yet. Ryan attempted to go for lunch on a
weekend but they weren't open then. There are SO many restaurants
within walking distance of us. I love it! It reminds me of being in
Rome, especially because they all seem to have sidewalk dining. I
can't imagine moving to another part of the city where I couldn't walk
to all of these restaurants, shops, art galleries and businesses. Not
to mention Trader Joe's! I love that my bank and my gym are so close
and that when I was on maternity leave I didn't have to get in my car
very much to do errands.