Fancying Father's Office UPDATE - Culver City

If you grew up in SoCal, you went to school with an Asian guy everyone hates. That well-rounded kid who made not just A's but 100 percent on every physics exam, whose mellifluous prose punished your languished libel while seamless symphonies flowed from flawless fingers on at least three different instruments. You were friends but you wore a smile of feigned friendship, a mask for the constant competition, basking in the red-hot glow of mutual resentment and admiration.

If your friend was chef Sang Yoon at Father's Office, you probably lost to him every time. It's not enough that he provides the best bang for your beer, he also bangs out the best burger in town.

Sang Yoon was brilliant, even when it comes to basics. Most people were happy producing a pretty good bag of gas-station pork rinds, but then you crunch on the thick, honeycombed, impossibly light bites of crackling Crispy Pork Rinds and you'll never go back to the bag again.

Every chef should know how to make a good vegetable, but he'll lace your crispy-char Brussels Sprouts with a heart-attack hide of bacon and step it up a notch. 

Basics can get boring, but even fish sticks will blow your mind if they have a little Sang-Yoon spin. The Salt Cod Fritters are a testament to creativity (because being a technical paragon just isn't enough for this overachiever), stuffed full of soft, salty fish, coated with just enough batter to flavor the fish and desalinize the salt. 

I'm kind of over salads. But even the simplest of salads can turn into a magnum opus. The Duck Confit Salad combines fatty, savory duck-in-its-own-fat with bitter-ish mustard greens and frisee, balanced by sweet figs and a softer vinaigrette.

Sang Yoon's culinary prowess probably made him the kid you beat up for his lunch money, except you'd rather steal his lunch. He may say he doesn't do desserts, but you'd think he was using his grandmother's recipe. The Ice Cream Sandwich changes all the time, and this wintery-themed ginger molasses cookie with pumpkin ice cream and toasted pumpkin seeds makes you want to let your hair down and belt out a few bars of "Let it Go". 

A lot of people like to think they're a jack of all trades, and even more people like to say they are. Competent at many things, master of none, I used to think that you could only truly master one thing...until I went to to Father's Office.

Fancying Father’s Office – Santa Monica

Growing up, my daddy’s office was always off limits. It still is, even though I’m old enough to call him father. So when I heard of a place called Father’s Office, I wasn’t exactly thrilled to go into a place that usually got me spanked. And as if the name wasn’t forbidding enough, they even card you at the door to make sure you’re 21 and over. Clearly whoever opened this place had some serious daddy issues.

Daddy issues or not, the Office Burger is the godfather of all good burgers. The juicy patty is moist but dense and bleeds blood thicker than your family ties. Strong is stronger when you stack maytag blue with gruyere, and together they melt in your watering mouth, along with the soft, sweet caramelized onions and smoky applewood bacon.

That burger is a seriously piece of sophistication, and it’s clearly not for kids. But all work and no play makes me a dull girl. So what better way to shed some seriousness than with a basket of Sweet Potato Fries? Because no matter how full I get on just half a burger, there’s always room for fries.

I’m already 28, but I don’t know if I’ll ever feel grown up enough for the wood panels and boastful bookshelves of my father’s office. But Father’s Office definitely lets me pretend for a while. After only an hour, I’ve already soaked up the scotchy sophistication that only comes with salt n’ pepper hair. And if growing up tastes anything like the Office Burger, then give me some gray and call me granny.