The Vegan Hooligans

The Vegan Hooligans
4862 Eagle Rock Blvd N
Los Angeles, CA 90041
323-257-2229

The Vegan Hooligans is a pop-up restaurant that serves vegan fare at Abby's Diner on Friday-Sunday, usually from 6pm to 9pm. I found out about Vegan Hooligans on social media. Abby's Diner just a little south of Mediterranean Triangle, it's a small diner with about four booths and two counters.

The setup is different.  You sit down, then after you order you pay!  I have never had that happen before.  The only time I heard it happen was in the 1990's when Denny's forced black customers, including black FBI or secret service agents, to pay in advance.  They did that for every customer.  They should put it on their social media.

The Carnivore-$10- Bolillo with tofu meat, sauteed green and red peppers, cheese, chili, and spicy mustard.  Almost a good sandwich.  Why almost, because the bolillo needed to be toasted about 3-4 more minutes.  Instead I got a sandwich where the bread just fell apart!  If I wanted a dish that I needed a knife and fork, I would have ordered it. But, I ordered a sandwich. 

Anyways, the meat was good.  A bit chewy, but good flavor and texture.  The grilled veggies were fresh and cooked right.  The vegan cheese didn't melt all the way.  This sandwich had bold flavors and even non vegans would like this sandwich!

Hooligan fries-$8. Crinkle cut fries with house made chili, cheese and chives.  This was a good  example of chili-cheese fries.  The chili, same tofu meat, was good.  But, the beans could have been cooked for a bit longer.  Lots of gooey cheese sauce. The fries were perfectly done.  They have fries for $3 on the menu.  They should add with cheese sauce for $4, for those who don't want the chili.

Service is good but annoying.  First of all, it's a damn diner, not a concert.  The music was just blasting.  Turn the damn volume down.  The servers are friendly, but they are practically watching over you like a hawk.  As I mentioned earlier, the practice of paying after you sit down and order is strange.  The server then asked if I needed change.  Which is a pet peeve of mine.  If a server says I'll be back with your change, I will say 'keep it' if I forget to say so when she comes to pick up the money. And if I forget to say so, and a server has to make the long, uphill walk back to my table, well the server can get another job, since this job is too hard for the server.  But, I hate it when servers ask if I need change. It just shows how lazy they are!  Just get the damn change!

I wouldn't go back to Vegan Hooligans.  They missed the mark on both dishes, basically Cooking 101 stuff.  Plus their payment policy is dumb!