Grilliant Culver City Dining- Tasty, Healthy Mediterranean, Persian Food- October 2015

Located in the heart of Downtown Culver City, Grilliant provides patrons with delicious and healthy Mediterranean cuisine at a more than fair price.  As we walked into Grilliant we were greeted by owner Amir, and he explained to us the philosophy behind Grilliant’s cuisine.  Amir’s goal is to bring good quality Mediterranean food, and to incorporate his own Persian and American influences.  Not familiar with Mediterranean cuisine?  Grilliant’s menu comes with pictures of some of the most popular dishes so you can see what the food likes before you order it.

Grilliant has a wide variety of different beverages including tea, lemonade, and freshly made organic smoothies.  We tried the green smoothie and the watermelon smoothie and they were extremely refreshing and made with one hundred percent whole fruits and vegetables, no juices.  There were also multiple salad options and we had a hard time deciding between the organic kale and the organic quinoa, so we got both.  Grilliant was more than happy to accommodate us and provide us with a bowl of half quinoa and half kale.  The salad was amazing!  It was crisp and light and can either be topped with grilled chicken, salmon, or filet of beef.  It was a very large portion and can easily be a dinner entree.  Following that we had some of Grilliant’s delicious Mediterranean side dishes which included hummus (non-spicy and spicy), sumac seasoned fries, and an eggplant dip called eggplant mirza.  We also ordered Grilliant’s signature kebabs (salmon, chicken, and filet of beef).  Amir personally recommended the beef and it was tender, juicy, and full of flavor.  The salmon was cooked to perfection and the chicken had a beautiful char on it.  Finally, we tried one of Grilliant’s signature wraps which was a flat bread surrounding ground turkey with Mediterranean spices, grilled vegetables, served with a Persian salsa and yogurt sauce.  The salsa had just the right amount of heat and accompanied the rich flavors of the wrap perfectly.