Monday, December 15, 2008

New Found Twin @ Father's Office (Culver City)



For Father's Office review in Santa Monica, please read here.

There are some sequels that needed a "reboot" as it would be seen in a different light than the original. The term "reboot" was coined by Hollywood movie industry insiders who were disappointed by the results of a popular movie series wanted reconstruct a storyline at any given timeline for their franchise character. They wanted to keep the name and soul of the characters in tact, but the producers and the powers to be wanted a new direction in terms of the story lines. In a nice way, they pretty much wanted to rewrite the entire back story and reintroduce the character in a whole new setting, plot, and maybe even time line.

I'm sure everyone is familiar with James Bonds, Batman, and even Incredible Hulk going through a phase of transformation. The Great news? Even Father's Office have to go through a reboot.

The original Father's Office on Montana Ave in Santa Monica was to me, a townie's sports bar that serves out excellent choices of beer and gourmet bar food in Jack Tripper's Regal Beagle that plays Van Halen's music. It's small, it's dingy, and to the point, it's very yuppish. The place looked like a bar that caters to frat house crowd on a Friday & Saturday night which would even made Mr. Roper stayed home.

When the new location was proposed, the planners have to "re-imagine" on how this place should look. One of the first thing they decided to do is to modernized the layout of the place. Instead of trying to convey to the crowd that it's a bar, they made it more sleeker and posh to give it more of a lounge look. At night, the mood is more darker and dimmer (hence my pictures without flash will be more grainier), as it will gave you a more romantic atmosphere in case you desired it.

One thing I noticed right off the bat regarding the atmosphere was that most bars tend to be festive with loud shouts and echos. With the reboot of this place, the lounge atmosphere had a more subtle mood with less chaotic noise. You can actually carry out a conversation with the people across the table. Maybe it's not for everybody, but I love the fact you can be loose and just hang out. Even with televisions all decked throughout the establishment with live sports game, it never felt like a sports bar, but a cozy lounge with a finely dark oak finish bar and tables.

As in the food wise, I think they did watched an episode of Top Chef. They probably realized that people don't want to eat their burgers with greasy buns, so they substituted with a buns from sub sandwiches. That way, the grease won't sipped through the bun and make it slippery to hold the burger. I actually was impressed by that nice little change.

The food as always a little bit pricey for a gourmet bar food. It's about $10-14 for each main dish with $2 extra for frites. Oh, there is a disappointment to report, they got rid of the cute little shopping carts for fries.

The big draw to coming to Father's Office is still the large selections of more than 30 beers on tap, fabulous wine selections and now featuring several interesting small bites food items on their menu. Oh, here's another catcher, there is also outdoor seating in the new FO V2 where if you want the scenester's feel.

The service also felt much more professional and much more geniunely personable where in Montana Ave's location felt like they worked in a townie bar way too long. The subtle difference in the clientile can be felt also where it does feel like you are not with the townies, but with the more mature jazz lounge crowds.


Dry Cider

This reboot get my seal of approval in terms of improvement in service, atmosphere, and decor. The price of the food still gnaws me a little bit, but I love their drinks selections anywhere from the Anderson Valley Poleeko Gold to my dry cider made here in CA. It never looked like the first original location and got a whole new makeover from the other bar. Changes that were made are all for the upgrade improvements from the previous place.

A refreshing change for the same familiar character. Let's just hope Superman can get the same reboot treatment others have enjoyed.

Here are the current hours of operation for this location:

Monday-Thursday
BAR: 5 pm - 1 am
KITCHEN: 5 pm - 11 pm

Friday-Saturday
BAR: 12 pm - 2 am
KITCHEN: 12 pm - 12 am

Sunday
BAR: 12 pm - 12 am
KITCHEN: 12 pm - 10 pm


Father's Office Version 2.0
3229 Helms Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 736-2224

Grade:

Father's Office on Urbanspoon

4 comments:

hana said...

i looooove the FO Burger!

Right Way to Eat said...

Hi Hana,

I know you love that burger! I liked it here too better than the other location. How are you doing?

gourmetpigs said...

As unusual as it is as far as restaurants go, I also prefer FOII compared to the first outpost in SaMo.

It does seem more professional and more in line with the crowd of the surrounding area.

There's been argument that the FO burger is not actually burger, but it's still so tasty! :P

Right Way to Eat said...

Hi Burumun,

Definitely FO v2 is better than the original at SaMo.

I know the detractors will say the sub sandwich buns on a patty does not count as a burger, but it can take away on how delicious it was.

I definitely enjoy this place more. More classy and professional as you said since it does bring that type of clientile also.