Father's Office, Santa Monica

It’s hip, it’s happening, it’s loud, it’s chaotic, and it’s totally packed dude, like bodasciously mega-packed. I’ve heard about Father’s Office when I was living in LA. “Go for the burger dude.” Thanks Johnny Utah for the advice. 

I was talking with another foodie, James Collier, who was down in LA for a food bloggers conference and the Father’s Office Burger came up. I recall hearing that it was good, but not earthshattering good.

With all these recommendations, it took simply the suggestion from a former analyst and friend of mine, Monica to get me to go. I trusted her as an analyst; so why not trust her foodie senses?

As we walked in, I get carded. Really. This automatically makes me think we’re going to a bar that serves food, rather than a restaurant that serves drinks. All seating is first come, first serve, like a bar. All orders and drinks are taken at the bar. There are no waiters, only expeditors and bussers. The place is a 1200 square foot space with a narrow space in between tables.

The food was above average across the board, but unbalanced. To their credit, our food came out fast, hot, and generally well prepared.

We started with a smoked eel, slivered onions, and coddled egg. The four pieces of smoked eel was outstanding and delicate. I wish I could have had 4 more pieces of eel. However, the softball sized amount of slivered red onion that accompanied the eel was way too much. Talk about onion breath! The coddled egg, while wonderfully cooked, served almost no purpose since there wasn’t a starch on the plate or the table to mop up all that yolky goodness.

We also ordered the sobresada. It was good, but not over the top. The bread was crispy around the edges and not uniformly crispy, which bugged me. I know, I’m being picky. I think I used some of the bread to sop up the egg yolk from the eel dish and the egg, bread, and meat combo worked for me.

As I mentioned, Father’s Office is known for its burgers and the burger didn’t disappoint. I don’t think it was the best burger I’ve ever had, but it was well seasoned and prepared. I ate the burger through our entire meal. Lots of arugula, caramelized onions with balsamic, and medium rare beef all good. I think I might have even dipped my burger into the egg yolk from the eel dish as well. I can’t let quality egg yolk go to waste; I needed bread damn it.

One outstanding, yet simple item were the sautéed mushrooms. I loved these. In fact, I was using my fork and burger to scoop up the mushrooms and sauce (read butter) just so I wouldn’t waste anything. Probably the least technical item of the night, but the simplicity spoke to me.

Lastly, the sweet potato fries were good, but the ubiquitous alternative menu item to the humble,  regular potato fries, I’m tired of. I think I was tired of them 3 years ago. There’s nothing more healthy about a deep fried sweet potato than a regular spud. They’re Deep Fried. And ranch is less healthy than ketchup.

I’d say Father’s Office is an experience. The food is good. The beer is good. A busy crowd is good. As someone who has eaten many a meal alone because of work, I wouldn’t come here alone. I wouldn’t make this my regular stop if I were local either. It’s not an alone type of place. It’s a social place to be quickly served, well fed, and well imbibed. I still believe that it’s a bar, that happens to serve good food. Just not a bar I’d go to alone for a quiet drink and a burger.

The Reggie, Pine State Biscuits, Portland

I was up early for a Saturday, 7:00am to be exact. I got a workout in, showered up, and took a walk up to the Portland Farmer's Market with one thing on my mind (before I did my shopping for a wine dinner tonight) The Reggie from Pine State Biscuits.

The Reggie is a signature biscuit sandwich from the Portland institution. A flakey biscuit with freshly fried chicken, bacon, cheddar cheese, and topped with a sausage gravy. It's a gut buster frankly and it's delicious. The biscuit didn't disintegrate, but retained it's basic shape from first bite to last. The fried chicken was moist on the inside, crispy on the outside. The bacon, well I didn't taste much of it, because the sausage gravy was even better than bacon (yes, hard to believe but true). I loved this breakfast! The Full Resolution Photo is Here

Laurelhurst Market, Portland

Some of the best sweetbreads I’ve had in a very long time, combine that with creamed spinach and I was nearly in heaven and then came my bone marrow and I was elevated to an even higher place.

The Grilled Piedmontese Ribeye Steak http://piedbeef.com/ was cooked right on medium rare, well-seasoned and rested prior to service. I asked that they not put any of the bleu cheese butter on top of a beautiful piece of meat (really, what’s the point when the meat is this good). The onion rings that accompanied my steak were crisp, freshly fried, and salted nicely.

I can’t think of a single nasty or critical thing to say about the meal or the service and I’m usually not this brief or complimentary. Well done.

Lecosho, Seattle

Lecosho, at the Harbor Steps in Seattle is certainly getting a lot of buzz. I was fortunate enough to sample several dishes that evening. I started with the grilled octopus in a spicy salsa brava over chickpeas. The grilled octopus was wonderfully tender. I have no problem with spicy, but I would have expected the level of heat used for a three day old octopus in Mexico in order to mask the smell and taste, not fresh octopus in Seattle. Personally, I’d tame down the heat. A note on the chickpeas, flavorful and tender.

The grilled quail in harisa bbq sauce on a bed of corona beans and tossed in aioli was lovely and the heat from the harisa was a compliment not a distraction. The quail was cooked properly and  the beans were sublime. The texture of the beans combined with the light zip of lemon in the aioli made me question why I don’t make beans more often and why more restaurants don’t use them?

"The beans at Lecosho were elevated beyond just a mere garnish or side-dish, to me they almost felt like the main attraction. Whoever taught the staff at Lecosho how to cook beans, pat yourself on the back. That goes for the chickpeas and the corona beans."

Third course was a grilled grape leaf wrapped lamb sausage with tziki. No my friends, grape leaves aren’t always used cold and only come from delis in Fresno. These were great little snacks, the lamb was rich, moist and had well incorporated seasoning. The grape leaf takes on a different flavor and texture when grilled, which some may find off-putting, but I enjoyed them. 

To finish, a Lecosho special, pork belly wrapped pork loin. Yes, a crispy pork belly wrapped around a tenderloin. By wrapping the loin, in what amounts to a fat cap of protection, the pure lean meat of the loin stayed moist. By exposing the outside of the belly to the heat, a crispy layer formed around the circumference of the belly. The total experience combined the gelatinous and crispy combination of fat and seasonings with the pure lean meat of pork for a pork tour de force.

I was at the bar the entire evening, probably 3 hours. The staff of bartenders were knowledgable about the menu, engaging beyond just drinks, and personable. I appreciated the service and the evening out in Seattle.