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Call To Action: Let’s help Tony of Tony’s Darts Away
12August 18th, 2010LA restaurants, mohawk bendI don’t think we’ve ever asked our readers to jump to a cause before. Usually we’re content with taking pictures of food, but some recent events have spurred us into action to ask for your help to support a potential new highly vegan-friendly and environmentally-friendly business that’s a few months away from opening. Read on to see what all the fuss is about.
You’ve heard us rave about Burbank’s excellent Tony’s Darts Away, the awesome restaurant where over half the food menu is vegan and there’s 38 local beers on tap. About the only criticism we’ve heard is that Burbank is a little far away for some LA residents, and the facility is way too small to cope with the demand at peak times. Tony Yanow, the affable owner of Tony’s Darts Away (interestingly, no relation to the “Tony” in the establishment’s name) is working hard to address those concerns and is in the planning process to convert a disused 1930s theater in Echo Park to a new venue modeled on his original location, but with much more space to accommodate hungry and thirsty vegans (as well as our omnivorous friends).
Initially labeled as “Tony’s East”, the new name is Mohawk Brasserie, and it’ll be on the corner of Sunset and Mohawk right next to Elf (one of LA’s top vegetarian restaurants) and coincidentally across the street from the new LA PETA headquarters (under construction).
The Old Ramona Theatre on Sunset, soon to be Mohawk Brasserie!
photo credit: echoparknow.com
However, all is not set in stone as there has been some limited local opposition to this establishment with local residents (likely a loud minority of people) attempting to stop the construction and progress for what seem to be nefarious and irrelevant reasons: proximity to a school, smells from the kitchen and parking concerns. There’s even a local “blog” where somebody has been spreading untruths about the planned restaurant to scaremonger the local residents.
What’s at stake here? Well, Tony has gone all-out to make sure that Mohawk Brasserie will be a foodie and beer heaven. We sat down with him recently (over a vegan dog and a couple of nice pints of beer, of course!) and he gave us a sneak peek of his plans. On the food side, they include a major expansion of Tony’s Darts Away menu, including the perfect combination of brick oven pizza alongside many more vegan and healthy options. Heck, Tony has even divided the kitchen into two parts: vegan and non-vegan so there’s no chance of getting real cheese on your pizza! Oh, and talking of pizza, Tony is having custom dough and sauce recipes created and will be offering not one but two vegan cheeses: Daiya and the new Teese.
For us beer-types, Tony is dedicating a large area of the bar for keg storage, so that beer can settle and be aged after it’s delivered from the brewery, resulting in a more consistent and tasty pour. Oh, and all beer will be from California, there will be no bottles on the premises and where possible all the food ingredients will be sourced locally to, as Tony puts it, “Create the smallest possible environmental footprint”.
It’s details like a divided kitchen and extra keg storage that set Tony apart from many other proprietors: He cares about the quality of his product, the integrity of his customers food and the environmental impact of the decisions he makes.
Tonight, Tony is appearing in person at the Echo Park Improvement Association Neighborhood Issues Committee meeting being held at 7pm at Williams Hall at Barlow Hospital. He’ll be answering questions from the Committee as well as local residents and explaining his plans for the restaurant and the lengths he’s going to in order to be not just a good neighbor, but to actively improve the area around where Mohawk Brasserie will be.
If you live around the area, and would like to see this special place open up do go along to the meeting and show your support for Tony and his plans.
Frankly, we can’t wait until early next year when Mohawk Brasserie will hopefully open for business.
For more information on this situation and interviews with Tony himself, check out Echo Park Now and The Eastsider LA.
Tags: echo park, pizza
12 responses to “Call To Action: Let’s help Tony of Tony’s Darts Away” 
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I love Tony’s Darts Away. I really hope this works out, and I can’t fathom why anybody would object. I have lived 2 blocks from Sunset and Alvarado for years – Tony, our intersection needs you!!
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devina August 18th, 2010 at 08:08
So let me get the straight: A guy is prepared to invest god knows how much money in a shitty old building in Echo Park to vastly improve it and open an upmarket restaurant and beer bar? And the residents are complaining? WTF?
In my experience as a litigator, in 9 out of 10 times these “residents” are either local competing business owners or have some distant political or religious objections. They pose as residents but rarely are.
Best of luck to you, Tony. Your project will be just fine.
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Zukibean August 18th, 2010 at 08:38
I work in Burbank so go to Tony’s every couple of weeks for lunch. I love it! Good luck to Tony with their expansion plans. I hope it works out, and if I were a resident of the area I would definitely be there to support them at the meeting. I know I will when they open even if I don’t live nearby!
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I hope this works out! I live in Silverlake and have been to Tony’s Darts Away in Burbank. I only wish they had a full bar!
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I checked out Tony’s in Burbank and thought it was a great place to chill with vegan food and beer. I particularly like the salads that can be ordered with the vegan dogs. And now he’s planning to bring pizza to the new location too! yay. I would be really happy if he opened a location in Echo Park, since it would be closer.
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Just wanted to tell you I love reading all of your reviews!! Hope you check out my vegan food blog!
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B.S. People just don’t know what to complain about anymore. Proximity to a school? I bet those kids will get straight A’s because of this new place. All the complainers will probably be the first ones to eat there and they’ll slap themselves for being idiots.
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There is a wine bar across the street, and a 7-eleven nearby as well, so the whole ‘school’ argument is perplexing. It’s a commercial street! That dormant space should be put to good use and this sounds like a great plan. I hope it works out. Go Tony!
(I think some of the drama may be part of another story that started back with the school itself. I could be wrong, but I think we’re talking about the same school here.)
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2008/03/lausd_emintent.php
http://www.historicechopark.org/id91.html -
Did anyone go last night? Work ran late…I was hoping to find out how it went.
Domo August 18th, 2010 at 06:38