Father's Office

It's funny, every time someone asks "Have you been to Father's Office" they either know what you're talking about or they give you a confused look..."whose father's office?" For the sheltered population, Father's Office is a gastropub with 2 locations: Santa Monica (opened in 1953) and Culver City, California.

I have always heard about their burgers. My friend and I were in Culver City so we decided to give it a try. They have outside seating and there were a good number of people outside on this nice warm day. We noticed an employee sitting by the door with earphones. Either he was secret service (though not so secret) or a bouncer about to check us out to see if we were fit to come in. He just greeted us and asked if it was our first time; was it written on our foreheads? He proceeded to tell us to just order from the bar.

We sat in the bar and told our bartender we were there to try their burgers. He asked us what we wanted to drink. They specialize in all kinds of beer. Cindy and I are not beer drinkers but we decided to put our lives on the line. We asked for his suggestion. He got us both the Bear Republic Racer 5, a bit bitter but is the best one to complement the burger.

The burger came and we both loved it. It was a generous portion. It had arugula, caramelized onions, bleu cheese, and bacon. The onions were so sweet which went well with the salty cheese. The beer had a hint of grapefruit and I don't mean to sound like a wine connoisseur who can taste, raspsberry or chocolate in their wine. I have never been able to taste anything other than wine in my glass of wine. But this beer really had that distinct flavor. This was like a symphony; everything just came together beautifully. I was not too crazy over their fries. It was thin and crunchy, too crunchy that I could not appreciate the flavor of the fries. They served this with a wonderful aioli sauce. Caution: they do not serve ketchup. I usually add a bit of ketchup to an aioli to give it a bit of an oomph. I hate to admit it but this really didn't need any oomph.

The man next to me ordered fresh oysters that looked really good. I asked him how it was and his response was: "very good, would you like one?" I was tempted but passed. There's always a next time.....