Venice Ale House

You never know what kind of craziness you'll encounter on Venice beach, from the hip hop dudes hawking demo CDs, to sketchy hustlers shooting hoops, to the skateboarding bulldogs ...skateboarding... as bulldogs. Escape the crazy, at Venice Ale House.Soft-opening tomorrow, Venice Ale House is a wood-heavy, organics-driven neighborhood gastropub, decorated w/ arted-up skate decks and bikes, from a duo composed of the restaurateur behind Bar Hayama and a documentary maker/fishmonger -- so either way, he's working on the doc(k)s. Grub's ocean-leaning and nearly 100 percent sustainable, w/ deliciousness including Carlsbad mussels w/ Savignon au jus & pomme frites, the Kick Flip V House Burger (w/ smoked bacon, sharp cheddar, baby arugula, avocado, caramelized onions, and mushrooms), and a yellowfin ahi tuna tartar layered w/ avocado and "citrus supremes", also what they called Diana Ross and Mary Wilson when they quit singing to work at Orange Julius. Brew-wise, they've got 18 micros on tap, all from the Western US, and ranging from Kona's five-week aged Longboard Lager, to Deschutes Brewery's chocolaty Black Butte Porter, to the fruity Tangerine Wheat from Lost Coast -- though they should be more specific, since there're really two islands, and each has a ton of different beachfronts. They're also doing brunches, w/ morning goodness ranging from a Santa Maria omelette (w/ goat cheese, red chard, sauteed onion, herbs, and fleur de sel) to steak & eggs w/ black kale and feta, but no pancakes, as those require flipping, and, at least in VB, you've got to get a dog to do that.