Tag Archives: sweet potato fries

Father’s Office – LA

27 Oct

When I asked my coworkers where I should be sure to eat lunch, a few questions later (mainly… do you like burgers? and do you like craft beer?) we were told that Father’s Office was a MUST!  My coworker recommended the Santa Monica version rather than the larger LA location.  We were fine with that since we wanted to check out the pier anyway.

The inside was VERY small and it’s seat yourself when you can stalk someone until they give up their seat find a chair.  It only took about 10 minutes until there were 2 stools open right in the center of the bar.  I was impressed with the beer selection.  My type of place.

We each ordered a draft and the sweet potato fries.

We decided to split the famous Office Burger.  This burger cannot be modified and is served as is (dry aged beef, caramelized onion, applewood bacon compote, gruyere, matag blue cheese and arugula).  In my opinion, that didn’t need modification anyway!

I found it interesting that it came on more of a long roll than a hamburger bun.  No complaints from me though!

The burger was INSANELY juicy.  The meat was hardly formed into a patty… it was so loose and tender (without being greasy).

While I’m not a huge fan of arugula in everyday life, I think it’s a great foil for a burger.  The bitterness really compliments the fats and cheese.  And those onions were to die for.

Overall, the sweet potato fries, burger, and beer all surpassed expectation.  I really enjoyed this meal and highly recommend stopping in if you’re in the area.

Total Nom Points: 8 out of 10

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Nom Nom Nom… All the Way Home (Portsmouth, NH & Providence, RI)

23 Jul

On our roadtrip back from Maine, we made a lunch stop in Portsmouth, NH and then did an overnight in Providence, RI.  I have always loved Portsmouth, however, it started to rain heavily midway through lunch, so we didn’t have much time for sight seeing.  And then Providence, RI seemed like a good idea… about midway home, in RI, known for being a lovely town… but I just. didn’t. get it.

Back to Portsmouth… after our fantastic tour of Maine craft beers, we decided to continue our new found tradition and stopped in at the Portsmouth Brewery for lunch.  We, of course, ordered beer and mine was quite tasty.  If we hadn’t been driving, we would have totally gone for the paddle of beer that had something like 12 small flights to try their stash.  Bummer.  We did have some good grub, however (and that’s what you’re here for anyway… isn’t it?)

Mike ordered what I thought was a cheesesteak… but I can’t find it on the menu. Hmm.  I remember him liking it very much though!

I chose a special pork dish which had a peach chutney.  DELISH! I was quite impressed that a brewery did such a good job with this dish.

Overall, it’s a great place to have a beer and the food ain’t bad!

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 7

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As soon as we pulled into Providence, I knew we were in trouble.  I had mistakenly thought it was on a lovely part of water, however, it looked like mostly highways.  We asked the concierge at the hotel where to go for a night stroll, and he sent us up in some direction that made us feel quite scared… and we live in NYC!  It was just so seedy.  We wound up going to see a movie that night… in a mall movie theater.  Pathetic I know.

On the way back from the movie theater we decided to continue our brewery themed trip and tried out the Trinity Brewhouse.  

We sat outside and it was a nice night… but the food literally took SO LONG to come out (and the restaurant was pretty much empty when we arrived) that it actually cooled up and the wind picked up outside.  Uncomfortable at best.

Mike ordered the pizza… big mistake.  It was heavy and greasy and just hardly worth eating.

Then mine came out… ugh… even worse!  Do you see the REFLECTION off those sweet potato fries?  That’s how greasy they were.  And soggy.  Ew.  The sandwich was a corned beef reuben that sounded good… but was basically flavorless.  How do you screw up a reuben and fries?  GA-ROSS

This place was crap.  Seriously.  I’m usually quite nice in my reviews, but I just can’t be.  It was utter crap.

Total Nom Points: 2 out of 10

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The next day we decided to take a recommendation from a family friend who had lived in Providence for a while.  She is a chef, so I figured she couldn’t steer us wrong.  This was when we saw the college part of town (Thayer Street).  This was much lovelier an area than where we were the night before.  

The recommendation was for a pizza place called Antonio’s on Thayer.  I was told it would be the “best pizza I’d ever have in my ginger life.”  
I chose mushroom and hawaiian. 

Mike went with a white chicken pesto slice.

And a chicken cordon bleu.

So how does this compare in my ginger life?  It was good, but not THE BEST.  I did enjoy it, however, and compared to the other place we ate in Providence, this was TOPS!

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10

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This sadly ended Mike and my excursion in Maine.  In a strange twist of fate, however, I AM GOING BACK NEXT WEEK with the family!  YAAY! 

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Eatery

28 Oct

I have been to Eatery at least half a dozen times, and it’s always a good meal. I happen to love their mac & cheese with the frizzled onions on top, however, I try not to pig out there TOO often. One thing I used to love about them were their shrimp chip-things (I call them “chip-things” because they aren’t really chips… they are more the consistency of puffed rice in a chip shape and size). Unfortunately, due to an apparent HUGE shellfish allergy problem in NYC, they have abandoned the shrimp chips and now just give out sesame seed chips. It is a big loss, however, these chips are tasty and nearly as addictive as the original.

One of our dining partners is only in the city every once in a while, so we told her to feel no guilt about getting the mac & cheese. I’m glad she did because I even got a bite!

Our other fellow diner got the burger which looked quite tasty.

I went with an appetizer special: duck ravioli. I am failing to remember the specifics, but I remember it sounded absolutely amazing and tasted good… but not great.

The winning dish was actually a last second ordered side of blue cheese mashed potatoes. This stuff was like crack!

Overall, I think Eatery is a good place to go where everyone will find something they like at a reasonable (for NYC) price (but not cheap).

Total Nom Points: 6 out of 10

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