Classic Gold: The Love/Hate of Father's Office
Thursday, May 8, 2008

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Jonathan Gold takes a bite out of Father's Office 2.0 at the Helms Bakery complex in Culver City-adjacent, and the review (the food isn't quite there yet, but there are some interesting and delicious bites, and of course, the burger and beer are tops) is chock-full of classic Goldisms. To wit:

"With Father’s Office, which inspires the extremes of behavior often described by scientists studying overcrowded animal cages, there is no middle ground."

"Yoon could probably get away with serving his goat-cheese gratinée in telephone booths if he felt like it."

"...a table should be at least as easy to command as a parking space at the Grove the day after Thanksgiving — if you maintain the necessary levels of attention and aggression."

"I have heard from several sources that when Yoon visited Osteria Mozza and asked whether he could order the pasta tasting for just two people instead of for the entire table, as was printed on the menu, Nancy Silverton said: 'Only if you let me order a hamburger without cheese the next time I’m at your restaurant.'"

He's softened on the FO experience, maybe because finding a seat in the bigger, splashier location, though still difficult, isn't as bad as the SM original. From Gold's 2004 review: "Father's Office is a perfect analogue to Bush-era America, a closed, mean, inward-looking place where tyranny masquerades as freedom, cronyism is taken for granted, and the powers that be talk a lot about hamburgers but ultimately deliver pâté." Ouchers.
· All Hopped Up at The New Father's Office [LAW]
· Fight Club [LAW]
· Eater Inside: Father's Office 2.0 Debut [~ELA~]

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