Gingergrass - Silverlake

We must be on a Vietnamese food kick lately. Or, maybe it's just that we went to Din Tai Fung twice last week and needed a week off again. So, this Friday, we decided to try Gingergrass in Silverlake. It was finally a WARM, sunny day. I thought I would be wearing sweaters and jackets forever. But, Friday brought us a beautiful 80+ degree afternoon. We found parking easily enough, behind the restaurant. When we arrived inside, it was pretty busy for 12:30 on a Friday. We were seated at the last available table. Being that we almost always spend Fridays in Arcadia, switching to Silverlake brought the 'hipster' level up a ways. But it wasn't too annoying.

The decor was pretty minimalistic, and we appreciated that each table had hot sauce, chili garlic sauce, and hoisin sauce. The menu offered a wide variety of choices, and it was very vegetarian friendly. After careful perusal, we decided to start with the fresh tofu summer rolls - "with lettuce, vegetables and herbs served with our vegan nuoc cham." Delicious. And at $4.50, pretty reasonably priced. The portion was a bit smaller than at Blue Hen, but the quality was MUCH better. Ingredients were fresher, and the tofu was quite well prepared.



For our entrees, I selected the Gingergrass Tofu lunch plate - "crispy tofu with shiitake mushrooms and baby bok choy served with our vegan nuoc cham sauce". At $7.95, it was quite the bargain. It was light, but still filling. The bok choy and mushrooms had just enough seasoning to be interesting, but not so much that they lost their fresh veggie tastes. The dish was also served with broken rice and Vietnamese slaw, which was an excellent, very light, tangy concoction. No nasty mayo or anything like that. I declared this dish to be delicious!



Brian chose the Wok-Tossed Noodles with tofu - "egg noodles with your choice of chicken, beef, or tofu tossed with bean sprouts, onions, carrots, and cabbage". It looked quite filling, and it was $9.75. Brian particularly enjoyed how the onions were prepared - all grilled and sweet tasting.



We will DEFINITELY come back here. There were quite a few items on the menu I wanted to try - particularly their basil-lime elixir and their fresh ginger limeade. They also serve alcohol and are open for dinner. There was a large selection of daily specials posted on a large chalkboard at the front of the restaurant. Lots of yummy things to try!

In our food satisfaction, I completely forgot to take a picture of the exterior. Oh well.

Gingergrass
2396 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90039

323-644-1600

The Blue Hen - Eagle Rock

On this dreary, rainy Friday afternoon, we decided to stay close to home for lunch, venturing only as far as Eagle Rock. We wanted to try the new-ish Blue Hen Vietnamese Kitchen. They use organic, locally grown produce, and they are vegan/vegetarian friendly.

Blue Hen is in a strip mall on the north side of Colorado, a bit east of Eagle Rock Blvd. At lunch time, the little parking lot was crowded, but we finally found a spot down at the far end. The restaurant is quite small, but nicely done on the inside - a lot of dark, modern wood and colorful abstract art on the walls. Very modern feel.




We were both pretty hungry, so we decided to start off with the spring rolls as an appetizer ($5.75). You have your choice of chicken or tofu, and, naturally, we chose tofu. They came out pretty quickly, and were very attractively presented. They were served with the usual spring roll-type peanut dipping sauce. The spring rolls were quite good, and the lightly fried tofu strips inside were a nice touch. I would have liked a little stronger mint presence, though.



For our entrees, I chose the rice noodle salad (also known as bun). It comes with Imperial rolls on top, and again, you have your choice of chicken or tofu. Tofu for me! Also, if you're vegan, you can request a vegan soy sauce instead of the fish sauce normally served with this dish. At first, I was a little disappointed that there was no chili sauce on hand to add to my salad, but one bite of the Imperial rolls told me why. They were SPICY. Quite good, and a nice complement to the lighter flavor of the rice noodles and greens. The dish was a bit heavy on bean sprouts, and I probably could have used a bit more fish sauce, but overall, it was quite good. $8.00 for this dish.



Brian had the carmelized ginger chicken and tofu. It comes with a side of brown or white rice and some fresh market greens. Brian seemed to like it quite a bit, as he barely stopped short of picking up his plate and licking it clean when he was finished. ($8.75).



Overall, quite a good experience. We could have used a water refill before the end of the meal, but other than that, the service was good. We did overhear one server telling a neighboring table that they were out of the broth they used for their pho, so it wasn't available today. That's a shame, because I could imagine that would taste good on such a cold, rainy day. They were also out of their lime tonic, which Brian had wanted to try. Oh well, another time. I can definitely see us coming back to the Blue Hen when the mood strikes us.

Blue Hen Vietnamese Kitchen
1743 Colorado Blvd.
Eagle Rock, CA 90041
323-982-9900