Father's Office.

So for years I have been hearing about the "Best Burger" East Coast/West Coast battles. Those rivalries extend past rappers, and into food you know. And since then I have also been on my own quest for the best burger ever. It's hard to decide what exactly makes a burger the best, and even then my tastes will differ from the next. All I know is I want some medium cooked juicy hamburger, some amazing toppings, and the satisfaction that I must have this again soon. I got that last night with Melissa at Father's Office. Let me share it with you.

Santa Monica Location
1018 Montana Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90403
(310) 736-2224

We started off with some beers. Father's Office has a at any given time at least 35 awesome craftsman beers on tap, Melissa go the Maredsous 10.

I had an Old Speckled Hen. It was nice and light, and heavenly creamy.

One of the main problems of Father's Office that I've heard and the main reason (besides laziness) that I've stayed away is the crowd partnered with the Soup Nazi style of ordering. This isn't the kind of place you would want to go on a first or second date to, in fact let's keep this place for something more along the lines of a 6th or more date.

You wait outside in an astonishingly long line, only to be slowly trickled in by the doorman into a tiny hole in the wall sized room, lined with tables, with a bar at the far end. Mozy up to the bar and wait to place your order, and don't even worry about finding a place to sit yet. Grab a beer, and just wait.

FO's is famous for its burger envisioned by Sang Yoon, a self proclaimed "chef and a beer sommelier", and what we both ordered. It comes stacked high with arugula, soft tender onions caramelized in bacon, and a blend of melted blue and gruyere cheeses piled on big burger cooked to order (anything cooked longer than medium is blaspheme.) on a soft roll. For a bit more add an order of shoestring fries with parsley garlic aioli. Don't even think about substituting anything because, well, you can't. It comes as is.

After we ordered, it only took about 5 minutes to find a place to sit, and another 10 to get our burgers despite the large crowd on a Thursday night. My burger was cooked medium, juicy and AMAZING. I'm usually a burger purist and just dig meat on some bread with light condiments, but wowee was this burger worth it. The onions were quite possibly the best thing I've ever tasted on a burger, ever. The fries were thin, crispy and tasty with the aforementioned parsley garlic aioli, which tasted like fancy ranch. I think what made Melissa the most happy is, you will not find a drop of ketchup in this place, so don't even bother to ask.

The Father's Office burger definitely ranks up there in my top 10 burgers of all time, and I will be enjoying another one very soon.

Joxer Daly's

So this past weekend I was up in LA working, and hung out with my good friend, Ashley. She wanted to get some drinks and some pub food, and so she suggested we go somewhere I've never been, Joxer Daly's in Culver City.


Joxer Daly's is an Irish pub located on Washington Blvd in Culver City. For a bar, it has a nice, friendly atmosphere. Ash and I got a few beers and ordered burgers.

I started with a Guinness. I can never go to an Irish Pub without ordering one, it's like tradition for me.

For a burger in a pub, it was pretty standard, nothing exceptionally over the top, but just good. There have been so many times I've ordered a burger at a bar and gotten a charred mess of meat on a plain bun, but Joxer Daly's burger, by those standards, was a nice change. Their fries actually were my favorite part. I LOVE steak fries by all accounts, and here you can order them as such, or get the skinny ones instead. I always like a nice choice of fries, and even though I think most fries taste the same, steak fries are by far my favorite cut. They were nice and crispy on the outside with a soft powdery inside.

They even make their own housemade ranch, so we just had to try it out. It was pretty epic, I'm not gonna lie.


Ash and I finished up the night with some Bud Light and Corona, respectivly.

Johnnie's Pastrami

So I've been slacking lately. This isn't because I haven't been eating, because oh boy have I been eating! But my computer has been on the fritz and I just haven't been in the mood to deal with its insanity.

With that being said, there are going to be a lot of posts this weekend. And I mean a lot. So I hope you have nothing better to do than read this blog.

Last week when I was working in LA, I stopped into an institution for a quick "bite". The word "bite" doesn't even begin to describe what you get when you walk into the doors of Johnnie's Pastrami on Sepulveda in Culver City, but let me try.

The first time I tried Johnnie's was a few months ago. Up until my infamous trip to Vegas with my best Jewish friend Melissa, I hadn't even HAD pastrami. I'm not the HUGEST corned beef fan, so I had mostly steered clear of it, but once I had it, a love affair ensued.

I had heard over and over that Johnnie's had the best in LA, and although I haven't had time to have every pastrami sandwich in LA (challenge much?), I can say without a doubt, that they have some mighty fine meat. A quick google search of the joint brings up pages and pages of reviews to help ease your mind if you are still unsure.

The inside of Johnnie's looks like any typical road side diner. Long counters surrounding the grill station, perfect set ups of ketchup, mustard and napkins at 3 chair intervals, but I assure you this is no typical diner. Outside there is a covered patio, and picnic tables for those wishing for a bit more fresh air.

I ordered the basic sandwich that made them famous. Pastrami on a French roll, loaded with speecy spicy mustard. Careful! Their mustard bites back, and it not for the timid or faint of heart, but if you love wasabi, horseradish, pain, or clear sinuses, by all means, load it up. It comes with a heafty order of crinkle cut fries, so for people like Michelle, who are weird and think they taste DIFFERENT than plain or regular cut fries, it might be best to forfit them from the begining.

Inside the bread you are going to find layer upon layer of meat. It's probably best eaten with a knife and fork, but you are too scared to look like a big ol pansy, so you just dive in and hope for the best. It's not a good choice for road food, eating on the run, or takeout, unless you plan on going straight home. Vegetarians also need not apply.

This is the kind of sandwich that makes Greek Gods weep and puts that badass George Washington in his rightful place. I'm not even gonna lie.

Rush Street Part Deux

So, I wrote about Rush Street a month or so ago. For a quick refresher, it's this uber yummy Gastro Pub in Culver City with amazing food and awesome menu items. I follow them on Twitter, and they often have cool deals and prizes for us loyal customers. I received a $30 gift card from them, and so I headed down there with Melissa to right by them.

Of course, on a Friday night, with a Lakers Game (We WON BTW!) Rush Street was a big huge crowd of wait. Reservations could have helped in this instance. So, while we waited for our table, we went over to the Culver Hotel for drinks.

I had never been to the Culver Hotel, but I've walked past it at least 20 times. It's that weird triangle shaped hotel on the corner by the movie theater. You know the one.

They have a small hotel bar, with pretty ridiculously expensive drinks, but I figured one couldn't hurt. Melissa and I both got a Caipirinha, which were really delicious, despite the $12 price tag.

When we mozied on over back to Rush Street our table was ready and we got a nice spot outside under a heat lamp.

Last time I really enjoyed their hummus, so Melissa and I split it. I also learned something pretty cool. Rush Street changes their menu with the seasons, so the stuff they use is always in season, and ripe and fresh and tasting as best as possible. Last time the hummus was eggplant, and this time it was Sun-Dried tomato.

For dinner, I chose the nightly special of a Prime Strip Steak, with the most amazing mashed potatoes I've probably ever had, and broccolini, drizzled with an amazing peppercorn sauce.

The steak was cooked to a nice medium rare, a nice warm pink center, and tender beyond belief. Melissa, being probably the most indecisive person ever, couldn't pick between her safe standard Turkey Burger, or pretty much anything else, and went with the burger. I had a bite, it was insanely nummy, so I think her pick was warranted. BTW, their pickles are house made and marinated in GINGER! They are sweet and spicy, and unlike anything you have probably ever had. I also maybe tasted some cardamon but I wasn't sure. Be sure to try them if you go.

She also upgraded her shoestring fries to the uber amazing truffle fries with asiago cheese. Try these for sure if you're any kind of french fry connoisseur.

She was very happy with her choices.

As was I.


The night ended without dessert, although I'm sure both of us secretly wanted to devour everything on the menu.

So thank you Rush Street, AGAIN, for an amazingly awesome meal, and just all around foodie experience. I heart you!

The Arsenal

One of my most awesome friends, Danielle, was in town this weekend and we went out to get a drink at one of our old haunts, The Arsenal, in West LA on Pico Blvd.

We used to visit this place pretty regularly when we all (Danielle, Michelle, Andrea and myself) lived in LA. Here is some proof from the Facebook Photo vault, from 2006.

Yes, that is me with PLATINUM BLONDE hair at age 25.

Anyway, don't mind the digression, hands down, The Arsenal has THE BEST KEY LIME PIE MARTINI in the history of the world.

I can make outrageous claims like this, because after I tried theirs, I would order them at all other bars, hoping to have the same delicious flavor of the first at the Arsenal, to no avail.

Yes! It does look creamy, refreshing and delicious! Yes! That IS a graham cracker crust rim! YES! This martini is LESS THAN $10! It's made with Licor 43, lime juice and whipped cream.

Here's another pic from the vault, Michelle enjoying some chardonnay (some things never change, eh Meeshy?), and me, Key Lime Pie Martini in hand.

Danielle, on this fine evening couldn't decide between a margarita, or a Pom-tini, so when we saw the Pomegranarita on the menu, well, you can only imagine the glee.

I also had worked ALL DAY, and was pretty much starving, so I ordered some bar food. I went with the least greasy and fattening choice as possible seeing as it was like, 11:00pm.

Their guacamole, for not being a Mexican restaurant, was surprisingly good, and their chips were light and crispy. Not the BEST I've ever had, but I would order them again.

All in all the reunion was a good one, and we had a very lovely time, laughing and reminiscing about the time when we were younger, and crazier, and didn't get tired after 2 drinks.

Red Velvet Tea Cakes!

OMG! Melissa brought me this while I was at work!


LOOK HOW TINY! Omg! One of the things I miss most about living in the South is Red Velvet! But I'm glad it's gaining popularity out here! These lil treats are from Jamaicas Cake's in West LA! Go there cuz Jamaica is SO SWEET and SO NICE and they have the best treats!

Rush Street

I have about a million things to blog, and I'm home relaxing after a particularly long day at the dentist, getting a cleaning and a chipped veneer fixed, so I figured, no time like the present.

Last weekend while I was in LA, I met up with Chaz, a Foodie friend of mine for dinner. Chaz is such a foodie, he was actually in a commercial where he IS the food. (Insert Shameless Promotion here.) He hasn't been in the blog yet just because we haven't really hung out in forever, so we had to make up for it by going to somewhere super awesome. Plus he read my blog about the crazy Chinese restaurant and figured this would be a nice change of pace.


We had reservations at 6:45, at Rush Street in Culver City, a new Gastropub, which basically means a bar that serves "fancy food". If you want to, you can follow them on Twitter, they offer really awesome deals and discounts, plus lots of food porn twitpics to gander at.


They have a great beer list, with tons of awesome stuff I'd never even heard of. I'm not the hugest beer drinker, so I just got a Corona, but Chaz opted for the Old Speckle Hen. Here he is showing you the lovely cascade.


Chaz started off with the Tataki Nachos.


Wonton "Chips" topped with Asian Cabbage Slaw, Avocado and Seared Ahi. I am allergic to most seafoods and usually just stay clear, but Chaz seemed to enjoy these very much.


I decided to start with their Eggplant Hummus.

It was a much smaller portion of any hummus I've ever gotten, but it was so unbelievably insane and tasty, it didn't even matter. It came topped with a sweet pomegranate molasses and toasted pine nuts. The hummus itself was smooth and creamy, with a surprising spiciness, yet the interesting combination of the molasses calmed it a bit and made it very enjoyable. The "pita chips" it came with were flash fried, so they were crispy on the outside with enough firmness for dipping, yet soft in the middle. An instant favorite and worth the trip alone.

For our meals, Chaz went with the Lamb Shank, served on top a bed of cous cous.


I got a little bite, and the meat was fall off the bone tender, juicy, and very flavorful.


I have an affinity for fancy burgers, so I decided to try their Dry Aged Burger, cooked medium, served with the cutest shoestring fries and topped with Applewood smoked bacon, arugula, cheddar, shoestring onions and confire sauce. Usually I get all bratty and special order the hell out of it, but I figured what the hell this time and got it as is. Very Good!

On the side were these house made pickles that we're too sour, or briny, but just enough to give it some kick. They reminded me a lot of the juniper marinated onions at Absinthe.

Being the gluttons we are, Chaz and I decided to check out the dessert menu, and then order the Red Velvet Cake off of it.

It's got White and Dark Chocolate Ganache in between layers of the freaking thickest cake I think I've ever had. It was decadent and sinful and we didn't finish it at all, but oh man was it good.

For all of you out there in Southern California, make sure you follow these guys on Twitter. Right now if you can find Patrick, one of their oldest bussers (hes the guy with the cute white mustache) and take a picture of him, then twitpic it, they will send you a $30 giftcard! Seeing as my meal was $38, that's a pretty sweet deal.

Genghis Cohen

Adam decided a few weeks ago to take me out for my birthday, I'm just getting around to blogging it now. Shame on me I know, but I'm so far back logged I'll be posting things that have long past happened for the next few weeks.

A few years ago I stumbled upon Genghis Cohen with an ex-boyfriend. He was a HUGE Seinfeld fan, and rumor has it that Jerry LOVES this place, so well we had to try it. It's been a favorite ever since. I took Adam there one night and he's a convert as well.

The best thing about eating out with Adam, is that he LOVES to try everything and we usually end up ordering more than we can eat, thank goodness for take home boxes! This night was no exception.

One of the best things about Genghis Cohen is the blatant Jewish references in the restaurant. They are kinda have that New York Chinese food thing going for them, and as far as I know are one of the only places you can get those big East Coast NY egg rolls in LA. They even have silly names for things like, Krispy Kanton Knish , Cohen Slaw & Pickles and my favorite of them all, Shalom Pork.

I ordered a pot of hot tea and a glass of water I had to beg for 3 times while we waited for all the food we ordered. The waitress, as she finished our order, had to mention what fat asses we were by saying "Ooh that's a lot of food."

Hot Tea.

We started off with some crispy noodles. They have the BEST crispy noodles, seriously.

Crispy Noodles, "Duck Sauce" and Hot Mustard.

For our Pork dish we got the BBQ Pork Fried Rice. I think fried rice is pretty hard to mess up, so this compares to most fried rices I've had, but it's still really freaking good.

BBQ Pork Fried Rice.

For our Chicken dish we got the Orange Peel Chicken with Broccoli. Amazing. I've actually had the Fried Tofu version of this as well, and it's the BEST tofu I've ever had to this day.

Orange Peel Chicken with Broccoli.

We decided to be adventurous and order the Crispy Duck, which we didn't like. I'm not a huge fan of duck and I keep giving it second and third chances for some reason and it always lets me down. Their No Name Duck comes with a plum sauce and is actually a lot better than this. I'm not much of a fan of that one either, but Adam eats it up.

Crispy Duck.

For the Beef dish we got my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE THING AT GENGHIS COHEN EVER; Mabu Beef in a Basket. It's yummy thinly sliced beef, tossed with some yummy sweet sauce and then cooked til crispy AND THEN! placed in an Egg Roll wrapper BOWL! YOU CAN EAT THE FREAKING BOWL! I always get this, it's a given.

Mabu Beef in a Basket.

Being pretty close to Hollywood, on the corner of Fairfax and Melrose, lots of celebrities eat here, so we felt we had to do the only thing left to do, Pose like the last remaining heirs to the Massengill fortune. We fit right in.

"Douche Chill!" - Tobias Funke