"Santa Monica CA" news and stories

A weekly look at the draft selection at beer-friendly bars across the country.

This week, we jump entirely across the country from our nation's right coast to our nation's left coast landing at Father's Office in Santa Monica, California.

You might be familiar with this L.A. area gastropub for their near legendary Office Burger. (I swear I walked in one afternoon and saw Brooke Shields sitting at the bar eating one quietly by herself.) The "pub food" is superb -- gourmet even by gourmet pub food standards -- but as Father's Office clearly claims on their website: "Our focus is craft beer and its pairing with food."

How do you pull off such a feat? Have 36 taps of seasonally selected beer flowing at all times backed up with a few solid bottled selections (not listed here, of course!) and a few hand-picked wines to appease those who are too snobby even to be beer snobs.

For a bar that is so shamelessly aimed at upmarket tastes, FO is surprisingly down-to-earth (with helpful and friendly bartenders) and cozy (often to the point of being cramped). A new larger location (opened earlier in 2008) in Culver City will hopefully take some of the pressure off the the Santa Monica spot and spread burger and beer love to more of city.

After the jump, see what 36 selections Father's Office is currently offering.