Father's Office preview

Here's the news: Sang Yoon's long-awaited Father's Office Version 2.0 in Culver City (actually, just a few feet north of the city limits) is not yet open and the opening date has not been announced. At least we now know something about what it's like, because there have been a couple of preview parties, including a big one last night.

So we know that the new place has very pleasing proportions. With wood paneling hanging just a bit low over the bar and tables, it's slick and cozy at the same time. (And about as loud as the original Father's Office, in case you were wondering.) The weird arrow-shaped sign out front is identical to the one at the original Santa Monica F.O., whose baroque, no-substitutions Office Burger made such a splash in our town seven years ago.

Last night the press was there, old customers were there, foodies were there and certainly beer people were too. At one point, restaurateurs Evan Kleiman and Nancy Silverton were chatting with Mark Jilg of Pasadena's Craftsman Brewing, one of Sang Yoon's favorite craft brewers.

"I've been here a lot before," Jilg said. "I was in charge of putting in the taps." That must have been quite a job -- the back bar is studded with 72 taps, dispensing 36 beers, including a couple of Jilg's brews.

F.O. 2 serves beer and wine, like the original, and also cocktails -- a new direction for Yoon, which he is pursuing in his usual perfectionist, take-it-or-leave-it way. There's a limited list of cocktails, all stirred and none shaken, and none made with vodka. Yoon refuses to allow vodka on the premises.

Still, there was no question where the center of gravity lay. My strolling-around research suggested that 10% of the guests were drinking cocktails, 20% wine and 70% beer. When your place has four entrances from the sidewalk dining deck and at each the floor is inset with the giant word BEER, that's what we think of as a tip-off.

-- Charles Perry

Photo by Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times