Weekend Brunch at Mohawk Bend

When I was invited to try brunch at Mohawk Bend, the craft beer bar and restaurant which opened last fall to much buzz, I was very intrigued.  Brunch service just began and I was curious to see what owner Tony Yanow had in mind as his establishments are known for their extensive vegan options.

In addition to several dozen taps of local craft beer, Mohawk Bend has a full bar and cocktail program and a Pisco Sour is an excellent way to begin a morning meal.  It is made with frothy egg-whites and Pisco, so you could consider it a meal in a glass.  Who doesn't enjoy eggs at breakfast?  The Pisco Sour was well executed, not too sweet or tart and appropriately frothy.

Sorry vegans, but Huevos Divorciados is the must order item at brunch.  It is made with fried eggs, chilaquiles, red & green salsas, queso fresco and crème fraiche.  The fried corn tortillas were at that perfect stage between nicely crispy and soggy and the salsas were piquant and flavorful.

The Vegan Scrapple was a pleasant surprise as the dish is usually made with pork leftover bits (scraps, hence the name scrapple) and cornmeal before being combined and fried.  This version includes vegan sausage and was served on a bed of tomato sauce.  It was reminiscent of polenta cakes and rather tasty.  I have never had the pork version, but this is a filling dish that while not evoking meat, was satisfying as it is. The other ingredients in the scrapple include broccolini, rappini, spinach, onions, scallions, pasilla chiles, thyme, sage, soy milk, organic polenta, and house made veggie stock.  Just like the traditional version, the chef uses the leftover scraps of what is available in the kitchen, although in this case that means veggies not bacon bits.  The tomato sauce had a nice slight kick from garlic and chile de arbol.

Elvis French Toast is a tribute to The King: french toast sandwiches with bananas and bacon and served with peanut butter syrup.  I was not a fan of this dish which was served cut-up in four pieces.  I had a version without the bacon and it likely doesn't work as well as the bacon can aid the flavors in coming together.  The bacon-fiends I was with enjoyed this dish significantly more than I did.

Sera's Signature Waffle is both vegan and gluten free.  The waffle is served with a choice of peanut butter, maple or pecan syrup.  If you are not a vegan, I do not recommend this dish as it doesn't capture the essence of a waffle as it lacks the eggs which help provide texture and consistency.

It never hurts to add a bit of greens to a meal, especially when the JJ Kale salad is on offer.  It is a wilted salad of kale seared with garlic and chili, topped with julienned jicama.  The jicama is sweet and refreshing and has a wonderful crunch and the seared kale also provides some crunch and pow from the garlic and chili.  A healthy accompaniment to the Huevos Divorciados or the Scrapple.

Best of all should you want to have a brew with your brunch, the full selection is available.  Beer, it's what's for breakfast.  Plus, Mohawk Bend now takes reservations.

Mohawk Bend: 2141 W. Sunset Blvd, Echo Park.  Phone: 213.483.2337 | mohawk.la

Brunch by Way of the Mediterranean

Momed, the Modern Mediterranean restaurant and cafe on South Beverly Drive, recently added a prix fixe brunch ($14.50) on the weekends that includes a choice of brunch entree and either orange juice or Intelligentsia single origin coffee.  The brunch selections are not your standard fare of scrambled eggs or pancakes but variations of what might be found on breakfast tables in Turkey and the Levant. 

The most familiar offering may be the Challah French Toast prepared with house-made challah, date syrup, and a fruit salad of sliced bananas, dates and nuts.  The fresh challah was light and airy and the date syrup added a rich element to the dish.  The fruit provided a refreshing counterpoint.

The Khachapouri may be the most unusual breakfast offering.  These traditional breakfast flatbreads are offered in two varieties: Kaseri cheese, scrambled eggs and onions with dried mint and sumac or Spicy soujuk sausage, scrambled eggs, Halloumi cheese and kalamata olives.  Soujuk is a spicy dried ground beef sausage that is the breakfast meat of the Eastern Mediterranean.  The soujuk version was delicious with the warm flaky bread filled with the mixture of cheese, sausage and eggs.  This dish is sharable and a recommended part of your brunch visit.  

The other option I particularly recommend is the Shashuka, eggs baked over oven roasted tomatoes, peppers and onions.  The dish was served at the table in a skillet and the tomatoes dominated the flavor but that was fine.  The dish is seasoned with spiced and is hearty and flavorful without being too heavy.

In addition to the classic Intelligentsia Coffee, Momed makes a mean Turkish Coffee (above) if you want a pick-me-up to begin your morning.  And if you want a sweet bite to send you on the road, the baklava (below) is a nice option.  Stick with the standard type however, as the butterscotch version was not as good.  The classics are classics for a reason.

Other options for the Prix Fixe brunch are Skillet Omelettes with your choice of fillings (including barrel aged feta), Breakfast Hand Roll with eggs, Akawi cheese, Aleppo chili, tomatoes and mint in a pita, or the Mediterranean Morning Plate with barrel aged feta, halvah, labneh, olives, cucumber, tomatoes and honey with pita and preserves.

A tasty way to begin the weekend, no matter what you choose.  Best of all if your brunch companions are in a sharing mood you can try them all.

Momed: 233 S. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills.  Phone: 310.270.4444 | Website: atmomed.com

John O'Groats: Brunch 7 Days a Week

John O'Groats on Pico Blvd near Rancho Park has been serving breakfast and brunch all week long for almost three decades.  It is a neighborhood standby that I had never been to, so a confederate and I had brunch there on a weekday this week to sample their offerings and avoid the weekend hordes.  The restaurant has been successful over the years and has absorbed two adjacent storefronts into its original spot, tripling the original seating capacity.  The Pico location is only open for breakfast and lunch, from 7 am - 3 pm.

This is not a "chef driven" restaurant.  It is updated diner and brunch spot classics, with some innovations and some nods to the healthy eating demographics of West LA.  The biscuits are allegedly a highlight of the menu, so we began with them.  The biscuits were on the dry side and even a pat of "Land o Lakes" butter was not able to make them moist or satisfying.  Neither the Colonel or Bisquick has anything to fear.

We both opted for the 2x2x2: two each of pancakes, eggs and bacon.  They offer both traditional and turkey bacon, or for $1 more spicy turkey sausage.  The pancakes are a choice of buttermilk or buckwheat.  I ordered the buttermilk pancakes with scrambled eggs and spicy turkey sausage.  The sausage was spicy and flavorful and the eggs were fluffy and light.  The sausage was worth the surcharge.

The buttermilk pancakes are large.  The order of two was more than I could eat at this meal even if I wasn't saving room for other meals that day.  They were of a medium consistency, not heavy but also not light and airy; something in between.  This was a lot of breakfast and aside from the biscuits, we enjoyed everything we had.

On the weekends, O'Groats serves corned beef hash.  During the week a salmon hash is available but I am holding out to try the corned beef version on a weekend visit.  The omelette selection also looked promising.

The ambiance was cozy without being precious.  There is also an Encino location which served dinner as well as breakfast & lunch, but that location was not visited.

John O'Groats: 10516 Pico Blvd. (West LA).  Phone: (310) 204-0692.  Website: ogroatsrestaurant.com