Kono's

My favorite burger in all of San Diego is at this tiny lil' hole in the wall at the end of Garnet Ave, just before you walk down Crystal Pier and into the ocean.



Kono's has been a staple of my families diet since I was a kid. There was a time, in fact, that for about a year in High School I was a vegetarian. It was the hip thing to do I guess. The day I walked by Kono's, was the day I crossed back over to the meat side and never looked back. I suppose it says something about the quality of the burgers here.

Breakfast is served all day and a favorite of the patrons, but I've never had it. I prefer the Cheeseburger and fries. Luckily today it was on special.

Once you snake yourself through the line outside, you'll enter to find a very easy menu. Breakfast, burgers, sandwiches, fries. It's easy to figure out what you want. Everything here is delicious.

The "Quote of the Week" blackboard is one of my favorites. I just love landlocked tourists.

They have seating inside, but one would be foolish to pass up the "secret" outdoor patio. Just outside to the left, past what used to be the shell shop, you'll find a great little seating area with an amazing view.

I've always loved Kono's because they just do good burgers, well. There isn't anything fancy schmancy about these burgers, just nice big hand packed meat patties, grilled and piled high with condiments. I got my burger pretty plain; ketchup, mustard, pickles and grilled onions.

My friend got the works, with bacon and avocado added.

We shared a HUGE order of hot crispy steak fries.

Pair the view with a Kono's burger and some of the best steak fries ever had, a beautiful 75* San Diego day, and you've got a perfect afternoon.

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.

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!

In-n-Out Burger

For as long as I can remember, In-N-Out Burger has been a fast food staple in my life. In fact, other than Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out Burger is the only other fast food place I will make exceptions for.

In-N-Out Burger
Various Locations throughout CA, AZ, and NV
and now UT!

My mother introduced me to In-N-Out burger at a tender age, and my choice dejour was a cheeseburger, with extra pickles and ketchup only. She taught me that if you special order your meal, it will always be fresh. Over the years I have gotten a lot more adventurous with my choices and the freshness factor has never been an issue here.

Quality you can taste!

At every store I've been to, and they have LOADS of locations, it's always been clean, fast and efficient. Despite this fact, there is always a line, and always a wait. In my experience the typical wait time, be it through the drive-thru, or inside is around 10 minutes. Luckily everyone is there for the same thing, and everyone, in my experience have been very friendly. In fact, while I was there an older gentleman struck up a conversation with me about where I was from and told me about his experiences growing up with In-N-Out Burger.

Working hard to make my burger.

The menu is very straight forward and easy to read. Hamburgers & Cheeseburgers of various meat and cheese denominations, fries, soft drinks and shakes. If it seems too simple and plain to you, there is a special secret menu that the locals and loyals know by heart, full of variations of the staples, including grilled cheese, low carb options and the ability to customize your burger's meat and cheese factor expoentially.

The Basic Menu.

I, in fact, use the secret menu to order my food, getting a Double-Double, Animal Style (mustard cooked, with spread, and grilled onions), no lettuce or tomato, and extra pickles (somethings never change). I get my fries well-done, with a side of spread, yet sometimes, if I'm feeling particularly gluttonous I'll opt for them Animal Style as well, which comes topped with spread, cheese and grilled onions.

Double Double, Animal Style with well done fries.

If I steer towards a shake, its the Neopolotian one, consisting of equal parts vanilla, chocolate and strawberry yumminess in that familar palm tree adorned cup. Today I decided on just a plain ol diet coke with my giant burger and fries, yes *I AM* that person.

The familiar Palm Tree cup.

In-N-Out Burger tops many "Best of" lists and after having one it's pretty easy to understand the hype. It's the only fast food burger I will eat, and it rivals many more expensive burgers I'd had at well known restaurants. For the value, service and quality, In-N-Out truely is what a hamburger is all about.