Echo Park Loves Mohawk Bend

Mohawk Bend opened last month and is enjoying enormous success every night. Offering a menu that appeals to craft beer lovers, vegans, meat eaters and would-be cocktalians, Mohawk Bend has come up with the right formula of hip and hipster. As mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to come back to check out a few other cocktails. One night, I tried the Mildred Pierce and Fire Station 20.

Mildred Pierce– Tru Organic gin, FruitLab jasmine liqueur, agave, brandied cherries, orange, lemon, Miracle Mile bitters, soda

Fire Station 20– Crusoe silver rum, lime, soda, float of FruitLab hibiscus liqueur, brandied cherry

All the cocktails at Mohawk Bend are made with local, California spirits.

On two separate nights, I managed to try all the appetizers including the steamed artichokes, calamari with squid ink aioli and bacon-wrapped dates.

I tried flatbreads with a variety of dips including spicy white beans, black-eye pea hummus, spice roasted eggplant, house ricotta with pepernata, mashed avocado with goat cheese and California olive tapenade.

My friend loved these eggplant rolls with Serrano ham, smoked mozzarella and basil.

Thai Town Mule– Hangar One Kaffir Lime vodka, lime, St. Clair ginger beer, lemongrass

Sidecar- E&J VSOP brandy, lemon, FruitLab orange liqueur, sugar rim

I’ve tried two different pizzas including the Abe Fromin and Pig Newton. I preferred the Pig Newton with Serrano ham and goat cheese but the Abe Froman was good as well with sausage and peppers.

I love mussels and these were good. Very nice broth.

dork burger = duck + pork

pimp burger = pork + shrimp

We found it was easier to fork and knife the burgers as trying to hold on to them proved a wee bit difficult. I would probably get these burgers without as much sauce next time.

I loved the sides. The keenwah and warm kale salads were wonderful. You could also get the kale salad cold.

Vanilla daiquiri– Charbay Tahitian rum, house-made vanilla bean syrup, lime

My friend’s vanilla daiquiri was way too sweet for me but it suited him.

For the vegetarians out there, Mohawk Bend strives to keep a 60% vegan menu (and 20% lacto-ovo– you could say this was 80% vegetarian then). They even have a separate prep and cooking area for the vegetarian/vegan dishes.

We tried all the desserts which are considered vegan. Unfortunately the freezer was out that day so  no soy ice cream for the warm chocolate cookie.

I know some thought it was blasphemous not to have “real” desserts but the vegan ones weren’t bad at all. I didn’t mind the s’mores and I love real chocolate.

We also tasted all three Art in the Age liqueurs. I am familiar with Root the most as it’s a key ingredient in many fine root-beer tasting cocktails. There’s also Snap (ginger) and Rhuby (rhubarb). I thought those two tasted a bit too chemical-like. I’d stick with Root.

I can’t wait for Mohawk Bend to open for lunch and happy hour!

Mohawk Bend

2141 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026 – 213-483-2337