Father's Office

Posted on February 2, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Last Tuesday was a sad, rainy, dreary day in So Cal. After Con, Prop, and Civ Pro the gang and I decided we needed to go out to eat to lift our moods. We decided to go to Father’s Office.

escaping from Westwood

Father’s Office is a restaurant in Santa Monica that I have heard buzz about since I landed in LA 6 months ago. Allegedly the burgers are better than In & Out and the sweet potato fries are out of this world. Not too far from UCLA, it is located on Montana in the small commercial area teaming with adorable shops and a William Sonoma (a personal favorite).

my beer, which I forgot the name of

The restaurant is basically a bar with tables, no waiters and waitresses. You place your order at the bar and take a number and sit. While this description might sound a little trashy the interior was nicely decorated. Small, but not a hole in the wall. The bar is small though. We were there on a Tuesday at 7 when it was raining and we had to wait about 5 mins for a table. I can hardly imagine what it is like at peek time. You would have to be a shark to snag a table.

There was an extensive beer menu with many imports and microbrews. The bartenders were really knowledgeable about the beers and the flavor pairings. I had a Belgium beer, which I can’t remember the name of, but I can tell you it was light and had notes of citrus.

The menu is pretty small, probably because everyone is ordering the burger. Three of us had the burger and Eric had the beef kabob thing. The burger itself was $12, which I don’t think is too bad for a big gourmet burger. I will say that it was an extra $2.50 for fries and $6.50 for sweet potato fries which was disappointing. I ended up getting regular fries because I didn’t want to pony up the extra $4 for sweet potato fries. The fries came with this amazing aioli sauce which was so much better than ketchup.

looks good... but I want a burger!

Now for the burger. It was possibly the best burger I have ever eaten. It is a good size dried aged beef with caramelized onion, applewood bacon compote, gruyere, matag blue cheese and arugula. Normally i do not like burgers. In fact, I rarely eat them. Generally I only eat in and out but I can tell you, this was HANDS DOWN the best burger I have ever had. The toppings compliment the beef so well it is unbelievable. I can never argue with two types of cheese. The arugula was perfectly warmed as were the onions. The toppings balance so well, you don’t notice one as dominant. This burger was like a perfect harmony and melody. Absolutely going back to Father’s Office.

fin

Food Trucks

Posted on January 29, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Something unique to LA are the sheer number of food trucks that roam the streets. Basically a food mobile will pull over in any old location and start vending fabulous goodness.

Chrissy and I walked home from school today and ran into the Korean Spicy BBQ Taco Truck. I got a Pork BBQ taco for under $3 and it was ah-mazing. It had more of a tanginess than a spiciness. It was delicious and the tortilla was also really good. Great after school snack.

With that being said, I have been trying to eat healthy since I’ve moved to LA. It’s been going well, but slowly, which is ok. I think maintaining healthy habits over time is better then just losing a ton of weight quickly. I started running three times a week for the past two weeks. I go 2.5 miles on hills each time (because, in LA we can run outside in January!) I also started Carolyn’s ab routine twice a week. Although, the past few days I have been so hungry! I ate an entire personal pizza last night (normally I save 1/2 for lunch the next day). Tonight I had a salad and it was really good. The taco was a bit of a slip, but I am reasserting my commitment to eating healthy here and now.

A beautiful prison… no?

Posted on January 28, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Sorry for the lacking of updates but I have updates ready to roll! Just need to write about it.Part of the reason is that I went out for the most amazing burger of my life at Father’s Office a few days ago, but it took up two hours of my night, which meant that the rest of the night was sadly not devoted to blogging.

This is what I have been up to for the past few days… memoing, summer job searching, reading, trying to learn easements, cite checking to get onto journals and the like. Its been busy but a lot less stressful than I was a few weeks ago.

Today I had lunch at the exclusive faculty lounge at UCLA. The team went with Prof. Civ Pro. I had “California Chicken”. Any food can have the word “California” in front of it, so long as the food contains avocado. It also had cheese and tomato and was delicious. I thought about taking a picture but I didn’t want to look crazy in front of a professor.

I watched the State of the Union last night while eating (more) soup! I might post a rely later. Just wanted to say that I loved Obama attacking the recent Supreme Court decision.

Thought of the day: Skim Brie is SO not the same as regular brie. I won’t be buying it again.

Saturday means…

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Latte from Espresso Profeta in Westwood

Starting the day with a latte from Espresso Profeta! Not only is it the prettiest latte in Westwood but also the best in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I love Starbucks and Coffee Bean. I can hang out in the arm chairs at “It’s a grind”. However Saturday AM isn’t Saturday AM without an Espresso Profeta latte. The frothiness of the foam mixed with high quality espresso is heavenly. Also, the staff here knows coffee. Seriously, they know coffee. Don’t argue with them or ask for a large size, you will get stared at like a freak if you expect a jumbo 20 oz beverage like you would get at Starbucks. The drink might not be as large but it is far, far better.

Espresso Profeta
1129 Glendon Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90024

Get off your pity pot and go to Yogurtland!

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

With the second week of second semester drawing to a close, I think all of us 1L’s are a bit on edge. Whose bright idea was it to have grades, summer job stress, new classes, and new memos all happen in the same two weeks!? It was Satan, wasn’t it?

Needless to say my stress was only compounded when I realized I’d missed the deadline on an ungraded research assignment by one hour and there was the potential to dock points from my next graded memo. It sent me over the edge for a short time. But finally I got off the pity pot and went to the place where dreams come true: Yogurtland!!

the promise land

Yogurtland is this amazing yogurt shop in So Cal. Unlike Pinkberry and Red Mango there are flavors beyond “tart”. Also, the yogurt is self serve style so you can load up on as many flavors and toppings as you want! Finally the price is determined by weight. So, in a nut shell, one can load up on millions of yummy flavors (literally filling the cup to the top) and only pay $4.38. That is less than the price of a small at Pinkberry with toppings.

one of my favorite flavors!

Instant Mood Boost!

chocolate, coconut, and pistachio

I always try to get pistachio, chocolate, and coconut flavored yogurt. Then I load up the toppings. There is one side that is mostly fruit and other healthy toppings and the other side has everything delicious like chocolate chips, moochi, cookie dough bits, and syrups. Unlike a health conscious trip to Pinkberry or Red Mango, the temptation towards the “bad” toppings at Yogurtland is more than I can handle. I get always get moochi, dark chocolate chips, yogurt chips, grapes and chocolate syrup.