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Pub ‘n’ Grub: German beer and vegan Pho in Silverlake
12February 21st, 2010gingergrass, LA restaurants
There are few things more satisfying on a warn day than naturally brewed German beer. Don’t get me wrong, I love all kinds of beers, but there’s something about a Pilsener, Bock or Maarzen that quenches one’s thirst quite on a hot day like none other. German beer also has a huge advantage in that it’s almost always vegan, due to the strict brewing purity laws Reinheitsgebot, established in the 16th century, which mandate only water, barley, and hops should be used to make beer. Nowadays, and thanks to the treacherous European Community, that law is effectively repealed, but many breweries brew the traditional way which uses no animal products anywhere in the process.
One the best places in LA to get German beer served in a (relatively) authentic atmosphere is The Red Lion Tavern, in Silverlake. Located on Glendale Blvd. this awesome mock-German bar is a fun place to visit. You have a choice of two places to drink – the lower bar is dark and cold – almost like a Bavarian beer cellar, with comfortable booths, stained glass windows and a friendly bar area with nine or ten German beers on tap at any time.
If you’re feeling more al fresco, there’s a HUGE (and I mean HUGE) patio upstairs adjacent to the parking lot complete with its own bar. Decorated like a Rhone Valley beer garden, the patio, as with the lower bar, provides such an immersive drinking experience that I completely forget I’m in LA every time I visit. The Glendale Freeway, moments away, will change to an Autobahn right before my very eyes as I stagger out of the Red Lion.
The staff at Red Lion are very friendly, and if you’re lucky you’ll get a REAL GERMAN person serving you while donned up in traditional national dress, complete with sashes and frilly collars. The fact that they can keep such a straight face when working there is awesome – to me, the entire Red Lion concept is so lovably, comically camp that I just can’t take it seriously, which is probably why I can’t keep away.
A note of caution for vegans, though, is that the food menu is also traditionally German, consisting of boiled meat, fried meat, sausage-shaped meat, meat pies, meat patties and meat on a stick. The only non-meat thing on the menu is a potato cake, but even that is cooked in the meat juices for “authentic flavors”. Sometimes, as friends have pointed out, the place can bee a little too meaty smelling – especially the inside bar, so I tend to go earlier in the day before the lunch rush then fill up on drink before heading a few steps down the road to fill up on grub.
A half-block away from the Red Lion, still on Glendale Blvd. is Gingergrass, an equally authentic establishment – but this time we’re not talking about Fraus in dresses, but a busy, non-nonsense Vietnamese cafe with a menu right out of a Hanoi street bazaar. I’ll start off by saying that Gingergrass is an omnivorous establishment, but is highly vegan friendly. The menu clearly states what can be made vegan (nearly everything), and our server was most helpful answering our picky, vegan questions.
organic tofu noodle bowl served over rice stick noodles with shredded lettuce, pickled vegetables, herbs, and your choice of regular or vegan nuoc cham. $8.75
On our visit we opted for the Organic tofu noodle bowl which was a hearty combination of noodles and vegetables in a tasty vegan sauce, topped off with lightly fried tofu chunks. The entire thing was absolutely wonderful, and everything was cooked just right. This dish alone would be more than enough to full up one, or perhaps two people, but we over ordered another two things, regardless.
vegetarian pho: mushrooms, carrots, bok choy, ginger and baked tofu in a vegan broth infused with traditional pho spices over rice noodles.
Next up was the Vegetarian PHÓ, a traditional deep bowl of soup crammed full of bok choy, carrots, ginger and baked tofu along with crunchy shredded lettuce and a generous side of bean sprouts, chilies and mint leaves. Again, everything was filling, healthy tasting, fresh and light.
gingergrass tofu lunch plate: crispy organic tofu with shiitake mushrooms and baby bok choy served with our vegan nuoc cham sauce. $8.95
Finally, we ordered the Gingergrass Tofu Lunch Plate which was a healthy serving of chunky fried tofu, shiitake mushrooms, bok choy, noodles and rice along with dipping sauce and a diced vegetable slaw that was to die for. This is just the kind of dish you want to scrape up with your chopsticks and eat quickly. Again, I can’t fault anything in this dish – it was incessantly fresh, perfectly cooked and wonderfully tasty.
So, what’s not to like about Gingergrass? Frankly, the only criticism I have is that the prices are deceptively low – only $9 for a HUGE bowl of noodles with sides and salad whereas on the westside a meal like this would be in the $11-$13 price range. You have been warned: the portions are huge.
So, a nice outing on a sunny day would start off relaxing on the patio or in the cellar bar at Red Lion while drinking ice cold beer from Germany, followed by a 2 minute walk to Gingergrass where helpful people will busily take your order and bring you plate after plate of fresh, healthy food. I love omni restaurants that specifically state which items on the menu are, or can be, made vegan and a bar with a safe-haven of vegan beer is a godsend.
Finally, as always, if you’re unsure that your favorite tipple is vegan, check out Barnivore.com where you can quickly look up most alcoholic drinks. Also, a few weeks ago I discovered the awesome veganbrew.com, a blog run by a couple of vegan beer and food lovers that show not only how beer is brewed (cuz they actually brew it step by step on the blog) but have some tasty recipes (beer battered seitan, anybody?!) as well as crucial advice such as the timeless: “DO NOT SQUEEZE YOUR SACK”. Check it out.
red lion tavern
2366 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90039
(323) 662-5337
gingergrass
Tags: pub 'n' grub, silverlake, vietnamese
2396 Glendale Blvd
Silver Lake, CA 90039
(323) 644-1600
12 responses to “Pub ‘n’ Grub: German beer and vegan Pho in Silverlake” 
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You know this is really awesome, but why can’t more places in LA just serve vegan food and awesome beer?
At this point, I don’t feel like that’s asking too much.
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gingergrass is awesome. i haven’t been there in a few years but i remember everything being delicious!
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scooter February 22nd, 2010 at 09:36
Red Lion is a great bar. The patio can get a bit busy, smoky and meaty at the weekends, especially on a hot day. The dark bar is more my kinda vibe, and I think all the beers they sell are vegan.
Thanks for telling me about Gingergrass – now I know where to go eat before walking around Silverlake to sober up 🙂
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trishells February 22nd, 2010 at 12:36
first time i went here i didn’t go back for years because of the smell trapped downstairs. unbearable to me. but i found the patio and, in my experience, it’s much nicer with only a hint of the smell. i’m a new regular here…and i can walk home!
i can drink some beer. u know this. but damn, something about that boot scares me. -
thanks for the shout out!
hey maybe the red lion tavern might be interested in adding tofurkey brats? we asked a biergarten here in albany and they went for it – great addition to the menu.
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brandon February 22nd, 2010 at 22:50
hell yeah. i used to work at gingergrass. i’d usually have them add broccoli to my pho chay, deelicious. regarding the slaw tho, it isn’t vegan unless to ask for it to be vegan. normally there’s fish sauce in the dressing, but they’ll sub it with vegan dressing upon request.
and red lion rules, aside from nothing on the menu (excluding beers) being vegan.
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miss anthrope February 22nd, 2010 at 22:52
@brandon, right on! for the record, we asked that every dish be made vegan, and our waitress even noted that any fish sauce would be subbed. our receipt had a little printed vegan symbol next to each item. AWWW <3
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“[…]that law is effectively repealed[…]”
This is not quite correct through. Not every beer in Germany have to be vegan but EVERY german beer brewed in germany have to. Just Brewers from other lands can sell their beer in Germany containing animal products.Compliments from Germany 🙂
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Susie May 11th, 2010 at 07:51
Just went to Gingergrass on Sunday for the first time. The most vegan friendly non-vegan restaurant I’ve ever been to. The waitress could not have been more helpful, even noticing that the chef put the wrong sauce on the tofu dumplings (it was a fish based sauce and she quickly substituted it). Highly recommend this place.
J February 22nd, 2010 at 07:58