Sang Yoon’s music and burgers: both heartbreakers

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As guest DJ on KCRW’s ‘Guest DJ Project’ this week, Sang Yoon, chef-owner of Father’s Office restaurant-bars in Santa Monica and Culver City, says that ‘as well as you can get to know me through my food, you can equally get to know me...through the music.’

Luckily for those of us who’d like to get to know this burger-making savant, Yoon says, ‘I play the music at Father’s Office that I listen to--that is just literally my iPod for better or for worse.’

So what is on Yoon’s iPod? If the five songs he plays as guest DJ are any indication Yoon is a man who likes his rock ‘n’ roll on the sentimental side. His play-list includes U2’s misty-moisty ‘Unforgettable Fires;’ Helen Stellar’s mournful, piano-laden ballad ‘IO;’ Radiohead’s sorrowful ‘Bullet Proof,’ (‘I listen to that when I need to be melancholy. Maybe sometimes if you understand despair, you can understand being happy,’ says Yoon.); the wispy-sweet acoustic guitar-driven ditty ‘St. Augustine’ by Band of Horses; and the driving youth-adrift anthem that is ‘Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)’ by the Arcade Fire.

All those weepers could elicit a few tears-in-your-imported-Belgian-lager, to be sure, but they do set an intimate, sophisticated mood. If Yoon ever has an outside DJ gig, however, I hope I don’t have to fend off hordes of vicious indie rock fans waiting to snatch my seat.

Hear Yoon’s whole guest DJ session here.

Father’s Office, 1018 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 393-2337; and 3229 Helms Ave., Culver City, (310) 736-2224; www.fathersoffice.com.

--Jessica Gelt