Father's Office

A preview of coming attractions:

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/

Friends in High Places: Lakefront Brewery

Below, a photo of the highly coveted Holiday Spice Lager brewed by Lakefront Brewery; I beat out the Ukranian hockey players for the last case available in 2006 (please don't tell them where I live - I would like to keep my teeth.)

Some people are very happy when they are friends with a Hollywood agent. Others when they marry into the managing partner's family. Me? I'm more than happy to have friends that have a brewery in Milwaukee. And not just any brewery but a brewery that brews the best beer that I've had since I've discovered the Hitachino Nest Beers. A shout-out to Orlando and Luther and all the guys at Lakefront Brewery!

What makes the Holiday Spice Lager so special? Could it be the wonderful spices (nutmeg, orange peel, cinnamon, clove, and ginger) from the Spice House? Or could it be that it's 10% abv? For us Angelenos who are used to the weak beer that is shipped to the West Coast (need I remind you of the Staples Center/"neer beer" fiasco?) this is a very big deal (even 5% abv is a very big deal out here!)

Below, two very happy Holiday Spice drinkers, USC Rad Grad Student and Maestro. Maestro, until very recently, was in the doghouse but now he is in the penthouse. How did he do it? you wonder. Well, he brought back from Paris for me for my bday a Miles Davis CD that you can't find in the States and a bottle of creme de fraise a la fraise des bois. See how easy it is to please me Dear Reader?

Below, another very happy Holiday Spice drinker.

Is reaching for a bottle of Holiday Spice Lager like reaching out to God?

Thanks to Orlando for making me a very popular hostess this holiday season!

Bonus photo: a cupcake made by Adorable Gourmet H. After staying up for 24 hours (how does Jack Bauer do it?) my reward after the bacchanalian New Year's Eve fete. 218 calories, 6.8 grams of fat each. Not bad stats, but I was left five of them...

Lakefront Brewery
1872 North Commerce Street
Milwaukee, WI 53212
www.lakefrontbrewery.com

Milwaukee Day 4: Three Brothers Restaurant

A bottle of Golden Pheasant beer from Slovakia and below that, a still life with beer and stuffed grape leaves. This beer was good and complemented the Serbian food extremely well.

So, as I mentioned earlier, we had planned on going back to Coquette Cafe for some steak frites and more Rendezvous beer but when we arrived, the place was dark. Oh, no, what do we do now? As we were trying to figure out where to eat, mumsy said, "What about that Serbian place that you really wanted to go to last time?" and I responded, "Huh? What Serbian place?" But as we were driving around Downtown Milwaukee it hit me! I saw in my head the Jane and Michael Stern article that was published in Gourmet magazine about Three Brothers. Thus, our quest to find the restaurant started (it was very frustrating and took a long time so I'll leave this part out.)

We finally managed to find Three Brothers, and what greeted us was wonderful hospitality and food. I wanted to order everything on the menu, it all sounded so good. Three Brothers will definitely be a must the next time (and the time after that) we go to Milwaukee. Also, I might add that this is a perfect foodie destination restaurant.

Below, mumsy and I split and order of stuffed grape leaves and the Serbian hors d'oeuvre platter to start. The stuffed grape leaves were served with yummy olives and a hard cheese similar to a tangy aged provolone. The platter included fantastic salami, tomatoes, olives, cheese, and "Russian Salad" (potato salad).

Below, my fabulous Serbian salad with chopped tomatoes, onions, and bell pepper, topped with grated Serbian cheese (kind of like a mild, soft, feta cheese.) I could eat this everyday.

Below, my stuffed zucchini with potato dumplings. I haven't had stuffed zucchini since I used to go to that great Armenian/Lebanese place that was on the northwest corner of Hollywood & Normandie (unfortunately it closed but it was one of my childhood favorites.)

Below, mumsy's roast duck with duck dressing, carrots, and sauerkraut. This dish was fabulous! The duck was extremely fresh (and fresh roasted), the dressing was very unique and tasty, and the sauerkraut was some of the best that we had in Milwaukee.

Three Brothers Restaurant

2414 S. St. Clair Street

Milwaukee, WI 53207

Milwaukee Day 3: Karl Ratzsch's

A glass of Sprecher's Oktoberfest beer. I was surprised to learn that this beer won a gold medal in the Oktoberfest category at this year's LA County Fair. I suspect that this beer does not have the de rigueur Wisconsin high alcohol content because I didn't have a buzz at the wedding afterwards. Ok, I had a buzz but not a beer buzz: I was just so happy for my niece Jenn - she was the most beautiful bride!

Karl Ratzsch's is another Milwaukee institution. Sis and Grill Master took me here about two years ago and I have always wanted to come back and try some more items. While Mader's has the reputation, Ratzsch's has the good food (and the food came out hot!) Mumsy and I decided that the next time we go to Milwaukee we are staying at the Hotel Metro which is conveniently located about 30 feet from Ratzsch's.

Below, cream of mushroom soup. Not the canned kind Dear Reader. This was very comforting and had a great texture, but was slightly bland.

Below, what would a trip to Milwaukee be without a brat? Last time that I was there I ate a brat everyday - I think that it's a local law that you have to. The sauerkraut was good (it was too sour at Maders); I think that it was cooked with some caraway seed and some type of cured pork. Not pictured is my red cabbage - while the red cabbage at Maders was soft and tasteless, it was flavorful and still had a slight crunch at Ratzsch's.

Below, dreamy potato pancakes. They were as good as they looked!

Check out my pimp mobile. It handled fairly well for a rental car so I started driving it like the M3 but then I nearly skidded off an offramp - hey, I'm just used to accelerating around curves rather than engaging my brakes (or maybe it was all that beer that I drank?)

Karl Ratzsch's
320 East Mason Street
Milwaukee, WI 53202
www.karlratzsch.com

Milwaukee Day 2: Mader's and The Spice House

Below, a large glass of "Spotted Cow" - another beer locally brewed in Wisconsin. This one was brewed in the Old World Swiss Village of New Glarus, WI. Need I add that this beer has a high alcohol content? This beer was good but I liked Rendevous so much better (A shout out to Orlando and Adam and all the guys at Lakefront Brewery!)

Mader's is a Milwaukee classic. You've probably read about it in Roadfood or saw it on one of many Foodtv shows (like on what's her name's show? the perky one?) After my great sup at Coquette Cafe I was in the mood for another culinary adventure and somehow I found my way to Old World Third Street even though the GPS system was en bonne forme (meaning it was more demonic than ever - I'm not even going to tell you what it did on our way to the rehearsal dinner.) The last time that mumsy was at Mader's was right after my brother was born and both sets of grandparents met each other for the first time - if you knew my grandparents you would know that this was a complete disaster!

Below, two of Mader's specialties: Sauerbraten and Wiener Schnitzel. This was actually my second plate since my first one was ice cold and they insisted on bringing me new food instead of just heating up my initial plate (the second plate wasn't that much warmer.) The Schnitzel was good but the Sauerbraten was a disapointment: the meat wasn't very good quality and the sauce didn't have that much of a contrast between the sweet and sour.

Below, the oxtail soup. How often do you see that on the menu? This was really good and it was nice to have something different and perhaps somewhat classic.

Below, mumsy's beer stein.

After lunch we went to The Spice House which was the original Penzey's before Bill Penzey opened Penzey's. It has many of the same spice and seasoning blends that Penzey's has but it is much more quaint and inviting than Penzey's. Also, I like their garam masala much better - the Penzey's version has too much clove in it.

So, I bought whole cardamon pods (green), Tandoori seasoning (this is a gift), "European" style peppercorns (black and white), smoked Spanish paprika (sweet), ground coriander, and whole cumin seed. The piece de resistance is a blend called Milwaukee Iron Seasoning (I don't think that Penzey's has this one). It is so good! It's like a southwestern seasoning but much better: it has chipotle in it so it's smokey and it also has lots of garlic. I'm dying to get a bone in rib-eye and douse it with this stuff.

Also on Old World Third Street is Usinger's sausage store and The Cheese Mart which sells Green Bay Packer's cheese.

Mader's
1041 North Old World Third Street
Milwaukee, WI 53203
www.madersrestaurant.com

The Spice House
1031 North Old World Third Street
Milwaukee, WI 53203
www.thespicehouse.com