Back in July, I wrote about the opening of Mohawk Bend, a vegan-friendly (but meat serving) gastropub in Echo Park. The evening had been a fun one, but not all the dishes were the ones you’d write home to Mom about (not that I write home to Mom about every dish I eat). While we did graze on some tasty fare on that fateful opening night, there were enough duds — particularly a vegan pizza that left everyone at my table a little, uh, uneasy — that my lasting impression of Mohawk Bend was not necessarily the greatest. In fact, for months after, the most prominent memory I had of Mohawk Bend was their pizzas that suffered from soggy crusts, among other things. For all the the things the restaurant did right that night, I couldn’t really dispel that pizza from my mind — particularly the offending vegan pizza — and as a result, I’ve neither gone back to Mohawk Bend nor have I recommended it to anyone looking for an East Side dining option.
And yet despite this, I headed back recently for a media-comped brunch at Mohawk Bend. I’m not going to lie: I was totally apprehensive, but I knew that as long as I avoided the pizza, I would be fine.
Would the restaurant be able to redeem itself after its rocky opening? Results and pictures after the jump…
Some humble scrapple. I believe this was vegan, but of course since I’m a miserable food blogger, I made little to no mental notes. Here’s what’s most important: these squares of polenta goodness were light as air and delicious. Mohawk Bend redemption was well on its way!
Introducing the Huevos Divorciados [insert brief flamenco guitar riff]. The quintessential Mexican breakfast: chilaquiles, a fried egg, and salsa (among other things). Very tasty; although, I didn’t love it as much as everyone else did, but ONLY because strong Mexican flavors aren’t my faaaaave for breakfast (sorry Meh-hee-co). Still, very good, and if you love things like Huevos Rancheros, you will adore this dish.
As this is brunch, one must not overlook the essential brunch libation: a Bloody Mary. I enjoyed this one greatly because it was spicy and also quite garlicky. Very good indeed.
Elvis French Toast: French toast with bacon and bananas and a peanut butter maple syrup. This was good, but quite frankly, not as amazing as I thought it would be. I mean, don’t get me wrong: I had two helpings, but it was no SCRAPPLE.
Here’s a better angle. Definitely solid; although, for my French toast fix, I’m more inclined to get the monster offerings at Canele in Atwater Village or Square One in Los Feliz.
This right here may have been my favorite dish of the brunch: fried eggs and ham. Sounds simple, but thanks to some super fresh ingredients (I love me some beets), this dish really soared. Hmm.. that sounds excessive. I loved it though.
Speaking of simple dishes, wild mushrooms with eggs soon arrived, and man was this good. Again, great ingredients elevate the whole thing. Vegans fear not: you can get this with tofu instead of eggs.
I’ve totally lifted this photo from The Savory Hunter because my waffle picture has evaporated. So get this: the waffle above is 100% vegan AND gluten free. The batter has some sort of bean puree in it to make fluffy. Sounds nasty, yes? Well, IT’S NOT, AND YOU WOULD DO WELL TO NOT MAKE SUCH ASSUMPTIONS. I thought this waffle was delicious. There definitely was a little bit of a savory undertone to it, but a splash of the pecan maple syrup will hide that, if that’s an issue. Honestly, I never knew such a ridiculous sounding waffle could be so good!
My old nemesis: the pizza. The kitchen brought this out to us voluntarily (I certainly didn’t order it), and it was with great trepidation that I reached forward and grabbed a slice. I am very happy to report though that this pizza was damn good. The crust was crisp, the cheese gooey and melty (to be fair, this wasn’t the vegan pizza, and I wasn’t about to test that one out again either. I’ll leave that for the vegans). The point is this: Mohawk Bend has upped its pizza game and thankfully erased my memories of its opening night fumbles.
And that was brunch! Mohawk Bend is now back on my radar, and for anyone venturing to the Silver Lake Farmer’s Market on a Saturday morning, it might be a lovely idea to head down Sunset Blvd afterwards and drop in for some scrapple and fried eggs…
Mohawk Bend
2141 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 483-2337
www.mohawk.la/
Qiang raised his head and said: how do not recognize me? That turned around the effort to betray you?