I have not found the perfect burger. I thought I saw the perfect burger on television. I’ve seen a lot of "great" burgers on television so I was skeptical.
My obsession with the Cooking Channel and Food Network leads me to see lots of attempts at burgers that I would never eat. Odd combinations, mostly trying to cram too many ingredients, distracting us from what was supposed to be the primary point: the meat.
When I travel, I try and do food/restaurant research to pick and choose nice spots. When I was trapped a few extra days in California due to the polar vortex, I decided to spend a few days in Los Angeles.
I ended up staying in Santa Monica. I didn’t have much time to do research for either Santa Monica and Los Angeles.
I reached into the deep crevices of my brain and remembered an odd combination that I liked for a burger in Culver City.
The Office Burger at Father’s Office was the only burger that combined my favorite cheeses: blue and Gruyere. The arugula seemed fine. The burger also has a bacon caramelized onion jam cooked for a long time. The bun was more of a roll with the sides cut off. This seemed like a burger for adult tastes.
Sang Yoon was also known for having no exceptions. Most places don’t care what you do with their burgers. Yoon cared. This intrigued me. False bravado is horrible but real bravado is exciting.
I first found out about Father’s Office through Bite This with Nadia G, goddess of Bitchin’ Kitchen, who is from Montréal, one of my favorite eating cities.
I didn’t have to go to Culver City for the burger since Father’s Office has a Santa Monica location.
The route to Father’s Office went through the Third Street Promenade (think outdoor pedestrian mall) through quite suburban streets before you get to 10th Street and Montana.
Walking into Father’s Office, you realize you are in for a dark environment. You also have to order at the bar. I did not care since I really wanted this burger. The upsell to skinny fries with garlic aioli was not on my mind, but I couldn’t resist.
The burger arrives in a basket with a good size portion of fries. The burger is cut in half.
The burger felt more like a sandwich than a burger. The tastes were a lovely but odd blend of sensations never before accumulated. They felt like adult tastes for a sophisticated palette.
It was a bit dark to tell if the burger was medium-rare. The first half felt a bit overdone but the second half had a better temperature. I realize that isn’t logical but it was so dark, I could only rely on my tongue.
Yoon was correct; no substitutions were needed.
BalanceofFood.com travel coverage
The fries turned out to be a lovely choice. Some of the best fries I’ve had in awhile. Thin and crispy was a good combo and the garlic aioli was well-made.
The Father’s Office burger is a gourmet gem of a sandwich, much less a burger.
The Food Network and Cooking Channel can lead you to above-average fare when you are traveling. Your mileage may vary on what you find appealing. I was thrilled to find a burger that matched my sophisticated tastes where I didn’t have to put it together. Sang Yoon managed to come up with something I enjoy that I didn’t have to imagine.
photos credit: me
hahah this is so interesting for me.
Posted by: andrea | April 13, 2019 at 05:03 AM