Cultura is a large place whose entrance is down a pedestrian only street. Lower light levels were accentuated by the dark bare wood tables set with black napkins and a dark wood ceiling. Fairly loud music played in the background. On weekends they serve brunch as well as a lunch menu. The room with the bar had a lovely stained glass window in the ceiling and windows to the outside. The small tables were widely spaced and service was friendly with fairly good pacing.
With some margaritas we had chips and a roasted tomato and jalapeño salsa. Chips do not come with meals they are bought separately with your choice of salsa. The chips were nicely crisp and fresh. They were in different colors but I could taste no difference in them. Cut into pretty big pieces they dipped the salsa with ease. The salsa consistency was good and reasonably tasty.
With the chips and salsa we also had a mini fundido that included chorizo, cherry tomatoes and green onions. The fundido was cheese dip but it had no flavor from the chorizo. It was very yellow, not white and it was not spicy. It was really stringy with a mild flavor.
From the lunch menu we tried the Grilled Skirt Steak Salad which came with black beans, cotija, caramelized onions, tomato and tortilla chips. It was nicely dressed with tasty rare and tender meat. Lots of Boston lettuce mixed with corn, yellow and red cherry tomatoes onions. The lettuce did have some core pieces and although the meat was tasty the overall dish was not intensely flavored.
From the brunch menu we tried Tres Leches French Toast that came with fresh berries, anise whipped cream and maple syrup. It was 2 slices of toast covered with a large dollop of cream and sliced strawberries and blueberries. They syrup was in a cup on the side. The French toast was not very moist and needed the addition of the cream and syrup which made it super sweet. The berries were not sweet – they also needed the sweetened cream and/or syrup. The toast was cooked nicely but should have soaked longer in something. The description had my mouth watering but it did not live up to the wonderful verbage.
With the check came a housemade beverage of agua fresca. It was sweet.
