Michael Lippman

I'd been getting a little tired of the "Office Burger" -- not so much the Office Burger itself, which I've only had a few times, but rather the now-pervasive idea of the Office Burger -- good meat, bacon, blue cheese (always blue cheese!), carmelized onions, arugula, French bread -- you know some variant of that, which Father's Office started and now everyone is doing. 

But yesterday, after my dentist appointment right down the street from F.O, it was 5:30 PM, perfect time to go to F.O., not yet a mob scene, I was hungry, I was craving something, and the Office Burger is definitely something to crave.  So I didn't resist the impulse.

Undeniably great burger.  But here was epiphany:  it's sweet .  Like really sweet.  Is it just the carmelized onions or is it something else too?  There's apparently a "bacon compote" on the burger?  What's bacon compote?  Does that mean it's made with fruit?  Or is "compote" just the method of working with the bacon?  I dunno.  No one who's written about the burger has broken down what this compote is.  But the sandwich is SWEET.  So deliciously sweet. 

And so now I totally get why there's no ketchup at F.O. -- it would be redundant in the sweetness department and it would ruin the particular sweetness of the Office Burger!  So it makes little sense to focus on the no ketchup factor, which many do, and better to recognize that this burger delivers what the classic American burger delivers:  Meat and sweet. 

Add the crunchy french roll, slightly bitter greens, good aged meat, a bit of smokiness from the bacon (add the fact that the meat was perfectly cooked to medium rare, as I ordered it) and I'm majorly re-tipping my hat to F.O.  For the next few days,  I'll be raving about it. 

Oh, and I'll be researching that compote, and I'll get back to you on that.  Or if you know what it is, post a comment.