Enjoying the Creative Space at Au Fudge
Dining out with young kids is not for the faint hearted. Our own dining with kids experiences tend to be about getting in early, getting the food into the kids quick, and getting out without embarrassing ourselves. Languid lunches with a two year old in tow – no way. And don’t even talk to me about multiple courses. They are a no go zone.
Australia does offer restaurants with playgrounds – food is usually of the heated from frozen variety and the outing often as not requires an explanation about the dangers of gambling with each visit due to nearby pokies in most pubs and clubs. There are golden exceptions of course – cafes and restaurants that welcome families with play areas and special menus – the restaurants in this list provided by Melbourne family blogger extraordinaire Kate at Meetoo for example.
On our recent visit to Los Angeles we discovered a restaurant co-owned by celebrity mum Jessica Biel that goes even further. Located in stylish West Hollywood, Au Fudge is a beautifully decorated parent’s paradise where children can dine with their parents before retreating to the supervised Children’s Creative Space for two hours of fun.
A little about the food at Au Fudge: As a parent of picky eaters I was concerned that the organic kids menu would be too fancy pants for my culinarily limited offspring. The menu does offer traditional kids meals the difference being they are of higher quality than that offered at standard family restaurants – chicken nuggets are on the menu albeit of the hand crumbed whole breast variety. Other features of the menu suitable for children included corn lollypops (corn cob on a stick) and macaroni and cheese. We chose to give the truffle parmesan fries a miss – the kids got the standard fries.
The adults menu was fairly standard – salads, burgers and sandwiches. My own BLT and my husband’s burger were enjoyable. The desserts on the other hand were divine – our berry cobbler and sweet potato tart were the best desserts we had while in the USA.
A secret tree-house in the Kids Creative space – the perfect place for play.
The Children’s Creative Space is staffed by qualified child carers (called Au Pairs). There are a variety of structured activities planned for any day – think cooking classes, drumming circles, karaoke and movie nights. Two hours of supervised play in the the Creative Space is $15 USD ($20 Australian dollars). Our own visit was not timed well enough to co-incide with a structured activity and as my three children retreated to the Creative Space after their meal I was unsure whether the three age ranges would be catered to. I shouldn’t have worried as my two, six and eight year old children were all cared for beautifully – the decider being that my sometimes surly eight year old going on fifteen allowed himself to be cuddled by the Au Pair as we departed and asked if we can go back next time we are in LA.
There has been negative reviews of Au Fudge in the press, including within Australia – it was described on www.news.com.au as “the most obnoxious restaurant on earth”. Much has been made in the US media about how expensive the restaurant is. From what I can gather – these negative reviews are written by people that don’t have children (although I don’t know that for sure). What the negative reviewers fail to understand is how difficult it can be for people with children to share a meal in peace with their spouse, or with friends. Admittedly babysitting in the USA is cheaper than in Australia however when I did the maths the cost of dining at Au Fudge for my husband and I (2 courses and a cocktail), as well as the cost having the three children in the Creative Space cost about the same as dinner and a babysitter back home. Presumably for those with only one or two children dining at Au Fudge is cheaper than a date night with a baby-sitter here.
As far as I am aware there are no restaurants using this model in Melbourne – and possibly not Australia. I was told by a Hollywood insider that many local work from home mums schedule meetings at Au Fudge so that their child can enjoy a supervised activity while they wheel and deal. I have lost count of the times that work colleagues have suggested a “quick meeting” on one of my days home with the kids “you can bring them along – it will be fine”. Well, no it won’t. But perhaps it would be at Au Fudge.
Another criticism of Au Fudge is that it is “cutesy” – perhaps critics would suggest the children’s toilets, children’s sinks, and change tables stocked with diapers and baby products in both male and female bathrooms is cutesy – I just think it sends a resounding message that this is a restaurant that wishes to cater to the practical needs of its clients.
As a mother that routinely has a child requiring tending to one or more bodily functions every, single meal being able to enjoy my meal catering only to my own needs was awesome! If Jessica Biel decides to bring it to Australia let me be the first to dine there.
Au Fudge is located at 9010 Melrose Avenue West Hollywood, California.
Years ago one of the play centres in Camberwell used to offer evening meals on a weekend with BYO if I recall correctly. We went once & it was great. Wondered why more weren’t doing it. Centre closed a few years ago unfortunately.
If I had the money and know how to invest in the hospitality industry Amanda this is how I’d be doing it – big gap in the market.
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You are so right Danielle, we need this type of restaurant here! I love eating out but with my young ones around I had to deal with the usual anxiety and sometimes even rejection coming from the restaurant. It can be so tough at times but just when I am about to give up, I see this article. I hope investors will consider this business idea.