The Unvegan » Alligator

Gator Sausage at Steingarten

The Unvegan — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:00:45 +0000

Someone dropped a burn in my beer.

You know what’s great? Sausage. You know what goes great with sausage? Beer. So what does Steingarten, a recently opened restaurant/bar in West LA, have to offer? That’s right, sausage and beer. But not just any sausage and beer, sure they have your generic bratwurst, buckwurst, Polish and Italian sausages, but similar to Wurstkuche, they like to get exotic. With rabbit, venison, alligator and elk, these are truly some sausages to be reckoned with and not for those with a weak stomach.

But before the sausage, I had to worry about my beer. Not knowing the Dutch on the beer menu, I chose a random Bock beer that came in a 500 ml bottle for 10 bucks. It was called Aecht Schlenferla Rauchbier Urbock and as I waited for it, I decided on my sausage. Really there was no other choice but the Alligator and Pork (in one). The other sausage offerings were intriguing, but just not exotic enough for my first trip to Steingarten. At 7.50 it came with one of four toppings, but since they were all veggie-based, I skipped out on them. For an additional 5 bucks, I added a side of their Parmesan French Fries.

My beer came soon after and I popped it open. In taking my first tip, I could tell that this was no ordinary beer. There was some sort of additional flavor to it that I just couldn’t put my finger on. I passed it to my buddy, he took a sip and immediately knew. BBQ. Yes, my beer tasted like some smokey BBQ. Then I turned the bottle around, read the label and realized the beer’s website was smokebeer.com. It was a unique beer to say the least, and the unvegan in me loved the taste…at first. But after the first glass, the novelty of it wore off. 500 ml of smokey beer was just too much to take (but that didn’t stop me from finishing the bottle). Next time I’ll be sure to have a chat with Steingarten’s wandering beer maven before making a choice.

Looks like some gator in there.

As for the sausage, when my gator came out, it was long, shiny and just looked delicious. There was a miniature pickle hanging off to the side of the plate, which just looked awful, but I kept it quarantined and luckily there was no pickle juice for my sausage to do battle with. I bit into my gator and liked what I found. It had a slight hint of spice, which I assume is due to the cayenne pepper that runs through all alligator veins (science fact, look it up). In terms of flavor, the sausage was full of it and each bite was surprisingly juicy. Nonetheless, the sausage needed a bit of ketchup to keep it lubricated due to a surprisingly dry bun. In fact, midway through the sausage, the bun split in the middle and made finishing up a bit difficult. Yet, it was not enough to diminish the greatness that was alligator sausage. Could I have distinguished the difference between gator and more normal sausage? Possibly not, but I was certainly glad the gator went down smooth.

Have cone with my fries.

As for the fries, they made a great, huge side for my sausage. The parm added some great flavor, but the garlic aioli and curry ketchup made them taste even better.

Steingarten is definitely a place I am ready to go back to. I’d love to try out a few more sausages and beers, (and figure out of the Rabbit and Spirit sausage really involves eating the rabbit’s soul) but next time I’ll do a little more consulting for the beer and hope the bun has a little more durability.

Gator Chomping at Tart Restaurant

The Unvegan — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:08:00 +0000

Munchin' on gator.

On the recommendation of a friend, I ventured out to Tart Restaurant near The Grove on Fairfax to try out their alligator. This friend had never actually had the alligator, so it was a bold suggestion, yet I always thought it would be great to consume gator just as Brandon Graham consumed Tim Tebow in the Senior Bowl on Saturday. Tart isn’t just some random restaurant serving gat0r, though. The whole place is a Southern theme, which the gator fits right into, so I went in looking forward to some good Southern eats.

The gator was actually an appetizer, so the four of us at dinner split it. It was described on the menu as “White Meat Alligator Tail marinated in buttermilk and Cajun seasoning…” It came out and looked just like little bits of fried chicken, but we knew there was something more interesting lurking beneath that breaded and fried exterior. I took a bite and could truly say that this didn’t taste like chicken. Instead, it tasted a whole lot like calamari, but without the ring shape. I should have guessed it would taste like this since it came with cocktail sauce. To me, it tasted overly fried and a bit too chewy. I’m not sure what a gator connoisseur would think, but I’ve tasted a lot of strange foods in my day and my gator experience didn’t leave me searching for the next place I could try gator.

Fried up good.

For the main course, I ordered their Southern Fried Chicken. This was a free-range chicken served with a Crispy Grit Cake, Mustard Greens, Corn on the Cob, and Lavender Honey. All of this looked great except for those frightening mustard greens. I substituted these for some Mac & Cheese for a little price increase, but it was a small price to pay to avoid greens. The chicken was massive when it came, and really didn’t need those sides since it was already so huge. Nonetheless, it definitely looked good. The batter was light and slightly flaky. I tasted it and the flavor of the batter wasn’t terribly strong. This gave the chicken more of a subtle taste that was pretty welcome and went pretty well with the honey.

Cheesy and basic.

The side dishes were pretty great. I loved the grilled corn, while the grit cake was relatively flavorless, but had a great texture. Finally, the Mac & Cheese was pretty damn good. It came in two little bowls and was really basic in a good way. Sometimes trying too hard with Mac & Cheese can have disastrous results and it was nice that they kept this pretty simple at Tart.

With the gator and all, this was a pretty good meal. It didn’t set a new standard, and was a little pricey, but I could definitely embrace this Southern cooking as a tastily fried comfort food.

Greg Givan: Unvegan Hero

The Unvegan — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:34:36 +0000

Looks like meat to me.

It takes a special type of person to realize the seemingly unlimited possibilities with eating meat. One of these special types of people is Greg Givan. Givan throws an annual barbecue, and this year his theme was “Grill around the Globe.”

The lineup sounds like an unvegan fantasy, “…Givan ordered yak (California), alligator (Louisiana), crocodile (Bolivia), elk (New Zealand), boar (Texas), llama (California and elsewhere), kangaroo (Australia), as well as antelope sausage.”

I didn’t even realize there were elk in New Zealand. Either way, I would’ve loved to have been at this BBQ. Instead, I will have to settle for traveling around the world and eating exotica as I go.

For recognizing the delicious potential of a multitude of animals, Greg Givan, you are a true Unvegan Hero!

(via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)