This Santa Monica institution serves one of LA’s classic burgers in a tiny, dark room that overflows with people while the rest of Montana Avenue is asleep. You might have to hover over some other diners while you wait to grab their spot, but in the meantime there’s a fantastic beer selection to choose from and plenty of people to mingle with. You can also just get your meal to go if you want some solid comfort food without the crowds - just don’t let it travel too far, because you will end up with a soggy burger.

Distinguished by its vintage neon sign, this gastropub is famous for handcrafted beers and a brilliant signature burger (along with a substantial and excellent menu). Topped with Gruyère and Maytag blue cheeses, arugula, caramelized onions, and applewood-smoked bacon compote, the Office Burger is a guilty pleasure worth waiting in line for, which is usually required. Get a side order of the addictive sweet-potato fries served in a miniature fryer basket with aioli.

This neighborhood staple from renowned chef Sang Yoon is always loud and jam-packed—and it probably has something to do with the famed Office burger (we’ll get to that later). Don’t let the crowd discourage you; just grab a beer from the list that’s almost three times the length of the food menu, and mingle with friends while you wait for a table. The name of the game here is upscale bar food, including garlicky mushrooms and some excellent fries.

It’s a gastropub that keeps customers coming long after dinner hours with its thoughtful selection of craft beers. In the old days it was the only place where many of California’s original micro-brews – such as Anchor Steam and Sierra Nevada – were served within the same four walls. Now legendary for its Office Burger, Father’s Office still has plenty to boast about in the bar as well.

Culver City, Downtown & Santa MonicaBurger & beer — the combo that never grows old. The Office Burger comes with caramelized onions, bacon, Gruyère, blue cheese, and your choice of craft beer all for under $30. Though the burger is the star, Father’s Office also has incredible appetizers like Chorizo Fritters and Liberty Duck Confit Salad.

Chef Sang Yoon's elbow-to-elbow, counter-service gastropub is famous for its Office Burger, a dry-aged-beef number dressed in smoky bacon, sweet…

If there’s one thing to know about Father’s Office, the 70-year-old bar on Montana, it’s that it’s one of the best places to drink craft beer in all of Southern California. They’ve got more than 40 taps of the really good stuff; their list reads like a Hall Of Fame ballot for breweries from the region: right now, they’re sporting Enegren, Green Cheek, Highland Park, Beachwood, North Park, Radiant, Bottle Logic, and MadeWest – among many others. All of these will go well with LA’s most controversial burgers – and one of my personal favorites – the always ketchup-less FO Burger.

Sang Yoon, who rose through the ranks while working in fine dining and has gone on to create a formidable culinary compound in Culver City, made his first mark in Santa Monica by revamping Father’s Office in 2000. The chef has built on the success of his bar menu, which includes a well balanced Office Burger with dry aged beef, caramelized onion, applewood bacon compote, Gruyere, Maytag blue cheese and arugula on a baguette. Matchstick fries are natural companions, as are the craft beers.

The Office Burger at Sang Yoon’s gastropub Father’s Office is legendary and often named one of the best burgers in Los Angeles. Made with a house dry-aged beef patty, the burger is topped with bacon, arugula, caramelized onions, Gruyére and Maytag blue cheese. Order a side of Salt & Vinegar Tots and ask the bartender to guide you through picking a beer, there are dozens of options including a “Really Good Shi…” list if you want to get fancy.

Located on ultra-cool Montana Avenue, Father’s Office is an old-school gastropub with an incredibly authentic retro vibe. Picture a gleaming, high-shine bar and warm-toned wood everywhere and you’ve got it right. Father’s Office has a surprisingly fleshed-out menu for a bar, but beware of their “no nonsense” approach: no reservations, no outside food, and no substitutions or modifications to menu items.

Chef Sang Yoon upgraded this Montana Avenue classic from a neighborhood favorite to a national destination in 1999. That’s when the L.A. native took over and started cooking gourmet bar food like the now famous Office Burger, which comes on a baguette with caramelized onions, bacon compote, Gruyere, Maytag blue cheese and arugula.

Rather than the hip nightlife of Santa Monica, we’d recommend a quintessential Santa Monica institution: Father’s Office. This is an intimate bar with a ton of craft beer on tap–and arguably the best burger in Los Angeles on the menu. Something for everyone, and in an unpretentious environment!

Chef Sang Yoon’s gastropub is best known for the so-called Office Burger: a dry-aged beef burger with arugula, blue cheese, onion compote, and sweet bacon. NOTE: Father’s Office is strictly for patrons 21 and up. Father’s Office: 1018 Montana Ave; 310-736-2224

Fathers Office - I would consider this the best gourmet cheeseburger I've ever had. Note: there's no ketchup or modifications which can be problematic if you have a picky S/O (cough, cough Andy!)

Grab a brew and a burger at one of Santa Monica’s most trendy gastropubs, Father’s Office. A celebrity sighting is a definite possibility!