Sun, 05 Jun 2005
Great Beer and Great Art in Los Angeles
I went down to the Scala Galleria on Montana in Santa Monica yesterday to check
out their art by Carrie
Graber. They had about 10 pieces of hers including a couple small original
paintings and a number of giclees on canvas. Her paintings are amazing.
I had never checked out that area of Santa Monica before, so I wandered down Montana towards the beach. It's mostly little boutiques, but there are also a number of coffee cafes and restaurants. I stopped at the bluffs and read for bit. On the way back, I stopped in a little pub called Father's Office. From the "Beer" sign outside, I thought it would be a dive, but it was actually a trendy little place.
It reminds me a bit of City Pub in Redwood City. They have 36 beers on tap, mostly California microbrews and a few international beers. I had a great IPA, Bear Republic Racer 5, and an even hoppier double IPA, Russian River Brewing's Pliny the Elder. Both were fantastic beers. Surprisingly, they had Greene King Abbot Ale. I've never seen Greene King in the states. I asked if they ever get the IPA, which is probably my favorite English beer, but the manager said that it doesn't travel well, which is kind of weird considering IPA's were originally made for export.
The only disappointment was the food. They have an absurd policy of "No substitutions, modification, alterations or deletions. Yes, really." When did beer snobs become food snobs? Since I couldn't get a burger without cheese, I ordered some chorizo which wasn't very good.
