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Come Together. Right Now. Over Me.
30August 10th, 2009vegan stuffCurried Seitan Bahn Mi.
Forty years ago this weekend, The Beatles walked across a pedestrian crossing outside Abbey Road Studios, London and signaled the end of the Swinging Sixties. Their iconic, final Abbey Road album was about bringing things together – after all, it begins with John Lennon’s anthem for togetherness, “Come Together”, and ends with Paul McCartney’s appropriately titled “The End”. Sometimes, the best things in life mean so much more when brought together than enjoyed on their own, just like the final recording sessions of The Beatles.
Take my favorite things: vegan food, awesome music, special beer and good friends. Bring them together, give them to me in abundance and I’ll be as sound as a pound.
I write this post replete from all of the above, following this afternoon’s visit to what is arguably LA’s best bar, The Verdugo in Glassel Park. The Verdugo is usually a late-night haunt for us, it being dark, candle-lit and having an innovative beer menu. Today, though, we were spoiled with not only some amazing beers, but the a visit from Hot Knives, the “out there” vegetarian bloggers, chefs, beer experts and all-around-cool-dudes who had brought along a streamlined, but very effective vegan food menu. They called it the Gnosh Pit, and oh boy, did we GNOSH!
The bad news is that Hot Knives has a very limited engagement with Verdugo – only two days. The good news is that you can catch all this again NEXT Sunday 16th (although the menu items may vary from what we describe here).
Let’s talk about the food. First, they approached the occasion from a tangent, offering five menu items – two entrées, two sides and a dessert. With two entrées, the good news is that you’re going to eat not one, but two signature dishes:
Vegan BBQ Bun.
The “BBQ Bun” was a force to be reckoned with – Oyster mushrooms roasted twice and soaked in sweet vinegar spiked BBQ sauce, served between a soft, seasme-seeded bun.
Curried Seitan Bahn Mi with Seeded Cole Slaw.
The “Bahn Mi” was ready to kick you in the fucking face (time and time again) with fresh green chilies, cilantro, spicy curry seitan (the best I’ve had in a long time) and crusty bread. It was HOT, TASTY, CRUNCHY and so amazing that I ate two and wished I’d taken another home for dinner.
Fresh Chips.
Yeah, and the sides were also out of this world. Taking potato chips and making them special is rather tricky, but the Hot Knives dudes made it happen. The chips were sliced thin, fried hot and fast and served with kim chi dipping sauce. They vaporized from the table in about eight seconds, if that’s any evidence of the their delectability.
The cole slaw (pictured above with the bahn mi) had purple cabbage, green cabbage and some other stuff, all served in a tangy sauce with the perfect combination of crunch and mush. These guys know how to make a coleslaw hater become a coleslaw lover.
Lambic Pop. (That's what she said!)
On to the end, the desert was out of this world. Frankly, Lambic is not to everybody’s taste – it’s like a cross between raspberry daiquiri and a hard beer. The Lambic Pops (ignoring the phallic representation) could have been a meal in and of themselves. What an amazing idea?!
The Hot Knives Dudes making our epic feast
The Hot Knives folks were so nice — after every visit (and there were many) to the food area we were served politely, told to “tell our friends” and given food and a friendly attitude to die for. I’d do this every weekend (or every day) if my work schedule and liver allowed it.
Ah, the food. Well, that’s just one item of convergence we’re talking about here – the next is music. Talking of The Beatles, as we sat down to enjoy our Fresh Chips, George Harrison came over the PA system with his eponymous “For You Blue” from the album recorded a few months before Abbey Road. Yeah, he probably wasn’t singing about the erect, blue Lambic Pops, but the music was great and the pops were cold, so who gives a shit? The Beatles were followed by Dandy Warhols, Velvet Underground and many of my favorite bands in tight rotation.
Ok, we have food and music, let’s talk about beer. In fact, after several Pliny The Elders (strangely the very first post on this site), I’m not going to talk very much about the beer, except to say that with 20+ beers on tap you can find one of LA’s best beer selections at your beck and call. Just show up at Verdudo, read the beer menu and let your designated driver take you home. Enough Said. Remember to check in advance, though, which beers are vegan. Most of the craft brews served here are, but better to be safe than carnivorous.
Outdoor Patio at Verdugo Bar
Food, music, beer, FRIENDS – yeah, what was originally a 45 minute stop over on the way somewhere became a 2+ hour chillin’ session when we ran into the awesome Foodeater of To Live and Eat in LA . We talked about friends, food, beer, and stuff we wouldn’t post in a family oriented blog (I’m serious). Upon leaving, our perspective of what’s important in life was firmly reinforced: Awesome food, great music, special beer and good friends.
For more updates about what’s going on at Verdugo Bar, follow them on twitter…. @verdugobar
Tags: alcohol, bahn mi, bbq, beer, beer, hot knives, seitan, verdugo
19 responses to “Come Together. Right Now. Over Me.” 
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How am I supposed to “come by and say hi” if I don’t know who you are? Silly quarrys!
I heard about this event and was thinking about going. I will definitely be there next week.
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veghead August 10th, 2009 at 07:52
I was there! It rocked. I’ll be back next weekend… I’ve met quarrygirl, you will know her as she’s the hottest chick there. Sadly she’s married 🙁
But the food really was out of this world. I ate three of those pops and they went straight to my head. The dude serving them warned: “don’t give this to a kid”.
I agree on the event: beer, food, music and friends. I hope Verdugo do more of these vegan events.
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May have to stop by to check out the Lambic pop. I loooove lambic but have never had it in it’s frozen form. Intriguing!
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Damn, this food was so fucking good. No way around it but to curse. I could have (should have) eaten two more banh mi before I left.
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that bbq bun is one of the most beautiful things i’ve ever seen.
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Food looks delicious! I can’t agree with you more…there’s not much better than great music, even greater friends, and some leisurely time to talk over good food.
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I was there on Saturday! What time did you go? I was there at around 3:30. I only got the bbq sandwich. Maybe I should go back and get the banh mi.
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Vegetarian August 10th, 2009 at 18:53
Alex and Evan are great. I met them at craft beer fest in echo park. Solid homies.
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Wow! This sounds amazing, and this bar is really close to my house! Must make mental note to go on Sunday.
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Jeremy August 15th, 2009 at 18:31
I hate to tell you but Pliny The Elder is not vegan. I was devesatated when I found this out. The brewmaster at Russian River Brewery says that he uses Gelatin in all of his beers. Sucks!!
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Jeremy August 15th, 2009 at 23:45
I was WRONG! I am so excited. There is an update on barnivore.com that says:
So….“Blind Pig, Damnation, and Pliny the Elder on draught in bars, or in bottles = good
Anything else (primarily only in bottles – these are barrel aged mostly sour beers) = bad
Anything served in their brewpub in California = bad”AWESOME. Pliny the Elder back on the list!
http://www.barnivore.com/beer/Russian%20River%20Brewing%20Company?keyword=russian
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I just got back from the bbq and LOVED it. The lambic popsicles were the best. Although the fresh potato chips were pretty good, too. And the bahn mi. Okay, I can’t pick my favorite. Such friendly group of people. Really great vibe. Thanks for the good food!
11 Trackbacks / Pingbacks
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[…] took over the verdugo patio and transformed the place from an dark and cold foodless bar into the ultimate summer hang-out, complete with an all vegan menu, tons of board games, and a stellar music playlist. after two […]
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[…] attended both hot knives events at the verdugo in august, and i can honestly say they served some of the best food that i’ve ever eaten. not just […]
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[…] The last time we raved about Hot Knives was after attending some patio sessions at Glassel Park’s Verdugo Bar last summer. We whiled away a couple of warm afternoons drinking from an amazing beer selection while Alex and Evan served up some imaginative and very, very tasty vegan food. We’ve also long been fans of their blog where they wax lyrical about beers of the world and publish recipes to die for. […]
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[…] first cookbook, “Salad Daze”.Now, Hot Knives (a.k.a. Evan and Alex) are known to us as the genius chefs behind both the Verdugo Bar Patio sessions of summer 2009, as well as the inaugural event at the pre-opening of our local pub, (and favorite bar in all of […]
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hot knives salad daze vegetarian and vegan cookbook release party | quarrygirl.com October 5th, 2011 at 07:50
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Jim August 10th, 2009 at 07:05