I am not a contrarian. I was head over heels for Titanic. I collected Pogs and know that Batman's butler has a last name- Pennyworth. Thus I consume what is known to delight. I also have varied interests, so I am not just an aimless consumer of what is on brand. I say all this because I do not want to seem like I am a skewer of what other's love because other's seem to love Father's Office burger (I think I saw an article that named it one of three top burgers in LA) and at most, I find the burger something to get when you are there. Meaning that it does not deserve its own special stop. I firmly believe that you can get a better burger in LA, and if you skip this one, you will not be missing out, except on the fact that you can know for yourself if the hype is true or not, and secondly, this knowledge can offer you a point of comparison for other burgers.
The burger consists of the following: dry-aged chuck, caramelized onions, Gruyère and Maytag blue cheeses, applewood-smoked bacon, and arugula on a bun. The combination is meant to conjure a perfect burger. The restaurant is so firm in their belief that they do not allow ketchup on the burger as it would be adding tint the Mona Lisa of burgers. Meaning adding another ingredient to the burger would transform the perfect to the cracked, and this is no moment to remind the world that a flaw in the grand design is what makes it truly beautiful and worthwhile. So what exactly is my complaint about the burger? To be clear, I do not hate this burger, I do not throw darts at its poster- I simply believe that it does not deserve the acclaim it receives. It could be my own bias. I typically do not like cheese on my burger. And when you add a cheese like blue cheese, then you assume a level of familiarity with a cheese that is not common. Most typical people are familiar with Red Robin like blue cheese not the blue cheese that live in this burger. Like the rest of the ingredients are flavor-forward yet familiar. It is like adding duck bacon to the burger, it has standard ingredients and then the pop of flavor comes in, but it is not in concert with the others, it is the outlier of flavor that does not quite find its place with other familiar flavors. If the burger had a more standard cheese like Wisconsin's most sharp and brilliant cheddar, the burger might know itself as truly complete. The burger flavor is light and juicy. I ate half of one, and half one was gone in simple bites. The argula should be crisp lettuce, as I think most people would recognize a clean and green fondness better than the bitterness of that winter-like green. So this burger is a 7.4 of 10. Good, not great.
The rest of the bar food is just not for me. The best thing that I had that night was salt and vinegar tots. They took me back to cafeteria days and brought me into the now with the new flavor twist, that was new yet worked with the tot. Think of Lay's potatoes. If you enjoy the salt and vinegar type chips you will understand these because they just enhance the original tot or chip, as the case may be. I love, love, love Brussels. But these I did not. They were just below ok. They were still ok, just not fully ok. It came with a strip of bacon. The dish tasted a little cold, like it was ready and brought in a group that took more time to get ready, which also meant that the bacon (maybe it was a strip of something else) lost its crispiness. And I hate to sound petty, but a strip of bacon atop brussels, should be broken and sprinked into the dish. Handing me a spear makes me want to pick it up and not eat it while I eat the Brussels.
And the drink, was just ok too! It was an Aviation, with vodka. I really don't do tequila. They had mostly beer and wine. I am not a drinker, so they lost me here. That is a me thing not a them thing. Also, the prices were not in the menu atop. And with today's inflation, it is more common sensed to ask for prices to make sure your bill remains sensible than to proclaim elegance with no prices on a menu. They also had a small tv, which begged the question what would this place play Love Island or Dodger Games? The best thing about this place were the picture of the murals I took from within. Those were really cool. The interior was also nice. read more