In Its Early Stages, Theater-Adjacent Cirxa Performs Well

From Richard Kaye, creator and artistic director of Glaxa Studios, the alternative theater complex on Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake, comes Cirxa, a new restaurant on the same block.

With more enthusiasm than restaurant experience or money, he’s turned a drafty barn of a space into somewhere to eat before the theater--eliminating the tension of wondering whether you’re going to make the curtain in time.

At the moment, though, Cirxa resembles one of those basic, no-frills restaurants where students hang. The bare-bones place could be made more inviting if Kaye brought in one of the theater’s set designers. The service is still a bit slow and disorganized. Nevertheless, Kaye and his crew are out there trying, though it feels more like previews than opening night.

The food is hearty and filling. Bring on those hot chicken wings (nicely fried), with a snappy Day-glo orange sauce spiked with Tabasco, and an order of dense corn-laden hush puppies. The chef is Sister Leslie Bradley, a graduate of L.A. Trade Tech’s Culinary Arts department, and her specialty is Creole and soul cooking.

On a chilly night, my friends and I order a spinach salad with toasted pumpkin seeds, mushrooms and tomatoes for the table, and then a slew of main courses, each of which comes with two sides. Blackened red snapper is surprisingly easy on the firepower, a nice supper with ribbons of collard greens and a big block of the cakey, sweet corn bread. Red beans and rice is fairly plain, as are the black-eyed peas, but this woman makes a wonderful coleslaw crunchy with grated carrots and red and green cabbage. Barbecued shrimp is the best plate we tried, in a nicely spiced mahogany sauce. I’m less fond of the chicken and seafood gumbo, which seems watery and under-seasoned. I get the feeling she’s holding her punches, not sure yet how much flavor the Silver Lake crowd can take.

For dessert, there’s a very sweet peach cobbler, a dark chocolate cake and pecan pie. And Kaye called and left a message last week to say the restaurant was now serving breakfast and lunch, which is an encouraging sign.

Ready or not, Glaxa Studios now has its own restaurant. It’s just a baby, and will need some coddling, but it’s one more sign of how things are changing for the better along this stretch of Sunset Boulevard.

BE THERE

Cirxa, 3719 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles; (323) 663-1053. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Dinner appetizers $3 to $5; main courses $9 to $18. Take-out, too. Parking in lot in back, or on street.