Father's Office
Those who have never been to Father’s Office in Santa Monica have heard the legends: it is tiny, tiny, tiny; the employees have serious attitude; and most importantly it has the best burger in the region if the not the entire United States.
Tiny? I wonder if the naysayers who make this claim have actually been to a tiny restaurant (Vietnamese Soy Café comes to mind). I was expecting the place to be of Lilliputian proportions and was worried that half of our party of 13 would not be seated even though we were first in line. I would say that Father’s Office is tiny by dim sum palace standards but it seats about 50 people easily.
Missing was the purported Father’s Office attitude; my bartender was so nice and helped me pick a great beer to go with my burger: Racer Five IPA (I normally don’t like IPAs but this was really good and went great with the burger) brewed by Bear Republic Brewery up in Sonoma County. The owner, Sang Yoon, is diligent about serving artisanal beers that compliment his gourmet burger. While my glass cost about $2.75 he has beers available that I believe are several hundred dollars per bottle. Just be careful about which beers you order Dear Reader.
But the legend of the phenomenal burger is indeed fact - it is quite delicious. The meat is of obvious high quality and I believe it is a mixture of ground sirloin and chuck. The carmelized onions, Maytag Blue, arugula, and toasted French roll just highlight the wonderful beef, and all of the components work really well together. Six conversations about one thing:
The rest of the items that we tried were extremely good. The sweet potato fries are absolutely incredible (I don’t even like sweet potato fries.) These are a must to order with the burger - don’t be tempted to order the regular fries like I was as they are not so great. My favorite item that day was the spiced olives. I was just blown away but the complex Moroccan spices that enveloped the olives. I definitely want to go back to Father’s Office to get non-burger items (the goat cheese gratin and the white anchovies are calling me, “Bon V, come to me…”); if the kitchen can put out olives that are to die for, imagine what the other items must taste like.
I do have a few criticisms though. While most people in our party complained of their burger being undercooked, my burger was overcooked. It was still tasty and juicy but I think that it would have been better (for me, at least) if it were a little less well done. The burger was supposed to have Gruyere cheese on it but it seemed to be absent from my particular burger. And the main problem for me, and this might sound silly to some (or even most) but even though the burger is truly excellent it seems more like a steak sandwich than a burger.
Father’s Office
1018 Montana Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90403
http://www.fathersoffice.com/
Labels: Bear Republic Brewery, beer, burgers, Father's Office, Racer Five IPA
posted by Bon Vivant at 9:52 AM
8 Comments:
I have to agree, my burger was quite simplt magnificent, and I think better than the burger I had in the Roosevelt Hotel place, the name excapes me. The meat was great, the combination of flavours was so good, and the sweet potato fries were exceptional. Can't wait to go back.
12:20 PM
The meat in the burgers was very high quality and tasty, and the arugula was nice and added some tartness that worked well, so I have to say that it was a good eating experience, but because of the whole presentation, for example the sandwich bun was not great for a hamburger, it reminded me of a homemade burger, though a pretty good one. The sweet potato fries were exceptional, the best I ever tasted. Like BonV, I'm looking forward to trying the other items on the menu.
2:14 PM
That beef looks juicy and succulent......YUM. I've never actually made it out to FO but I think I may have to go now. Thanks.
3:24 PM
Hi, tokyoastrogirl, and thanks for stopping by my blog. I'm surprised that it took me as long as it did to make it to FO but now I that I've experienced the high quality cooking and food I will definitely go more often.
9:24 PM
I was getting quite hungry until you got to the undercooked/overcooked issue and the missing cheese.
2:14 AM
It's a wonderful blog. I can't wait to try Father's Office next. I also recommend The Original Tops in Pasadena.
9:19 PM
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9:00 AM
Thank you for sharing tthis
12:45 AM
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