Father's Office

My last trip to LA involved a lot of tv watching while taking care of my Mom after her surgery. While surfing HGTV and Food Network channels, I ran across a show on Beer Pairing on Fine Living. One of the featured spots was Father's Office. The owner, Sang Yoon, is credited with bringing gourmet beer pairing to the United States. The show featured a number of restaurants where you could get some of the best beers in the world paired with excellent gourmet meals. In addition to his beer pairings, Father's Office has been touted as serving the second best burger in the world by Esquire magazine as well as several other sources. I was bound and determined to check this place out but ran out of time that particular trip. In the meantime, several other TB's visited and wrote reviews so I was really dying to check it out by this point.

There are two locations now. The other reviews written by TB Founder Eric, and Mark (Koticphreak) were for the Santa Monica location. Alice (Alicegourmet) was the only one who went to the new, bigger Culver City location. I invited the Father's Office fans to hang out and have dinner since I was driving into town for a couple days! Alice, Mark, Eric, and another F.O. newbie like me, Tracy (Tre69), met up at the Culver City location for a late dinner and beer.

Be wary, just because the Culver City location is bigger, it still gets packed and tables are hard to come by. Tracy and I got very lucky and managed to be at the right place at the right time as two guys were finishing off their last beer & saw we were table hunting so they told us we could have theirs. Tracy and I actually sat down and chatted with them a bit before Alice, Mark, and Eric arrived. HA HA.

While we were waiting, I was perusing the numerous tap handles behind the bar and saw something interesting....wine on tap! WHAT? No, I read it correctly, wine on tap! WOW. But since I had seen the beer pairing show, I was definitely there for the burger and beer.

After everyone arrived, we checked out the menu and the pretty extensive beer list. There is even the rare/exotic list where you can pay more for a bottle of beer ($72) than I pay for wine sometimes! LOL. A lot of Belgium beers obviously and quite a number of local Northern California breweries featured.

We all ordered the Office Burger of course and an order of their Sweet Potato fries and Shoestring Garlic fries and we were set! I trusted the bartender to advise of the proper beer pairing (per the show, all their bartenders are trained in which beers pair with which menu items) and he recommended two depending on how bold I like my beer. I like strong beers so he recommended a particular IPA which turned out to be excellent! Bear Republic, Razor 5, which was a Northern California Brewery in Healdsburg (must check them out at the next beerfest!)

My burger arrives and it looked like heaven on a bun! The beef is dry-aged and I asked for it medium rare and oh that it was! It was perfectly cooked and had deeply caramelized onions and fresh arugula on top. Melted Maytag blue cheese and Gruyere provided a sharp bite to compliment the sweet and peppery caramelized onions and beef. Served on a french roll, it is one of the best burgers that has graced my palate!

And don't forget to try their fries. I am incredibly picky on fries and could've ended up eating a whole basket of both the garlic and the sweet potato ones. Super crisp and not greasy in the least. One note - F.O. does not have ketchup for those who use it. I've always used dipping sauces, mustard, etc for my fries so I didn't even notice but have since read that some people have complained due to their lack of the favorite stand by (sorry Heinz!) :-) What they do serve is like a blue cheese aioli which I devoured.

I have nothing to compare this to as I have not been to the SM location but this is new, rather hip, and had a number of "pretty people" cycling in and out all night. There is an outdoor patio area that is cute but was packed upon our arrival obviously. Seems like the later you go the better - after 10pm, the place began to empty out and parking freed up quite a bit as well. One of the neat things about this location is it is part of the old historic Helms Bakery district that has been renovated. Helms Bakery was infamous years ago in Los Angeles culture starting in 1931, and known for their fresh baked "delivered at your door" bread for over 40 years!

I can't wait to come back again and thanks to all the Father's Office fans on TB. We had a great time and can't wait to go back and try different beers and perhaps check out the wine on tap!

I was really thrilled that Father's Office opens a new location at Culver City. That means I don't have to drive all the way up to Santa Monica. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine was having her art exhibitions at Culver City, just a couple blocks from Father's Office. Vic, Vinny and I decided to go there after we left the art gallery.

It is located at the Helms Bakery complex which is much bigger, probably twice bigger than the one at Santa Monica! It is acclaimed that their Gastropub and the "Office Burger". They focus on the craft beer and its pairing with food.

I ordered a glass of Riesling and the boys had beers. We ordered The Office Burger (Dry Aged Beef) with caramelized onion, applewood bacon compote, gruyere, matag blue cheese and arugula; shared an Organic Beet Salad; and Basket of Sweet Potato Frites "A La Cart" with roasted garlic, cabrales, blue cheese aioli.

The beef is full of flavor and juicy...the peppery taste of the arugula goes perfectly with the caramelized onion. The blue cheese and gruyere were not over power the taste of the beef. They just like compliment each other! The sweet cooked beet goes great with the mixed greens, walnuts and blue cheese. The Sweet Potatoes Frites wasn't greasy at all...the aioli was a perfect match with the frites. That's why you can't find any Ketcup on the table!

I have to say that this restaurant pack with people most of the time, especially during Friday and weekend evening. You will see a line in front of the entrance and security staffs will check everyone's I.D. They have a big patio out front. You have to order your food and drinks at the bar. I really like the smart causal environment!

This is the place for beer and burger lovers! I have both my thumbs up!