Dish: Akasha Opens Tonight

Pre-open party in December

We caught a whisper in the wind that Akasha Richmond's eponymous eco-friendly restaurant opens today, and sure enough, Akasha opens at 5pm. This is the very first night---OpenTable isn't taking ressies until Saturday---and the bakery, breakfast and lunch service won't start for another week or so. We're yet to see a menu, but expect organic, homey, sustainable ingredients, seasonal fare. This is Richmond's (celebrity caterer, soy spokeswoman and co-founder of Eaturna) first restaurant, and she's big on the green: recycled glass tiles, reclaimed wood, organic leather and hemp fabrics, and even the menus and to-go products are biodegradeable. When she told us about it last summer, it should've been only a few months away. But the Hull Building is a historic structure, and that equals automatic red tape, not to mention all the other resto-opening roadblocks even in welcoming Culver City. The Plywood came down by the end of the year, there was a pre-opening party in December, and the website said it would debut in January. And then we just had to wait. Until today. (9543 Culver Blvd., 310.845.7000)
· Gossip From Gourmet on Fire, Taste of the Nation [~ELA~]
· Eater Sneak Peek: Akasha Restaurant [~ELA~]