Father's Office, Los Angeles, CA

Touted as one of the best burgers around, I was looking forward to trying out Father's Office. Located in the Culver City neighborhood of LA this is a go to place. We got there very early having just flown in from New Jersey and starving, we arrived at 4pm. It was quiet at that point which let us grab a great picnic style table and benches outside while we ordered burgers, wine and microbrewed beers.

The place filled up rapidly starting at 5pm and was still packed when we eventually left at 9pm. Through the evening many different friends and co-workers of Alan and our host for the evening, Nick, arrived. Almost everyone ordered the burger even though there were about a dozen things on the menu including crab cakes, salads and even bone marrow.

The burger is the star here and the only choice really is how you want it cooked - opting for medium rare is the popular choice. The burger came on a French demi-baguette with carmelized onions, blue and gruyere cheeses and a heaping pile of arugula. This was served with shoestring potatoes and a garlic aioli dipping sauce.

The Father's Office policy is no condiments - no mustard, ketchup, mayo...nothing but the garlic sauce which was fantastic by the way. So once I knew that after making the mistake of asking (such a Yankee tourist), I bit in and sighed with happiness. It really was a fantastic burger. To start with - the baguette held up really well against the dripping juiciness of the meat and cheese. The combination of bite from the blue cheese, the tang from the arugula and the mellow creaminess of the Gruyere blended together to make for one damn good burger.

Zagat: 23-16-14
Jenn's Rating: 84
Rated Top 12 Burger's in America by Gourmet Magazine
4 out of 5 stars on Yelp.com