Mohawk Bend Opens June 28 with Focus on Vegan Eats

After over a year of trackage, countless updates, and a name switcheroo Tony Yanow of Tony's Darts Away is just about ready to debut his seasonal neighborhood restaurant and beer parlor, Mohawk Bend.

Headed by not one but two executive chefs, Randal St. Clair and Sera Pelle, St. Clair will focus on meat preparations while Pelle helms vegan edibles which compromise 60% of Mohawk Bend's menu. Another 20% of the menu is devoted to lacto/ovo vegetarian with the final 20% falling to protein (inclusive of seafood and fish approved on the Monterey Bay safe fishing list, natural pork, and bison). To prevent cross contamination in a kitchen preparing both vegan and non-vegan fare, two separate cooking stations were established.

Patrons can except thin crust pizzas fired between 600° and 700° in Mohawk Bend's custom pizza oven. Pizzas are made from organic 00 California flour (gluten-free potato/corn/rice crust will also be available), as the restaurant's mantra goes, ingredients are sourced locally and beer/wine is mostly selected from within the state.

Sample pizzas include “Pig Newton,” topped with locally-cured Serrano ham, goat cheese, fig and rosemary tapenade; “Five Oh!,” an updated version of the Hawaiian pizza with slow-roasted pineapple and locally-cured and smoked pork loin; “Fun Guy,” with roasted mushrooms, shallots, herbs, Bellwether Farms’ Crescenza cheese and truffle salt; and the “Bittersweet Symphony,” with radicchio, balsamic roasted sweet peppers and smoked mozzarella. Aside from pizza, other dishes range from fire-roasted artichokes to to a "Dork" burger (duck plus pork) to Carlsbad mussels with fennel, vadouvan, garlic, white wine, and butter.

As for the beer/wine/liquor situation, Mohawk Bend will offer 65 California beers on tap (plus 5 out-of-state beers on tap from a featured brewer every month), in addition to a two-firkin cask system. Wines are on tap too, six of those, and the venue's cocktail program follows the local theme pouring 100 all-California sourced spirits mixed and muddled with whatever fruits and veggies are in season.

Mohawk Bend opens its Spacecraft-designed digs June 28 in the former Ramona Theatre on Sunset in Echo Park. Hours of operation still tbd.
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