Susan Feniger's Mud Hen Tavern Opens Saturday

This Saturday, Dec. 7, Susan Feniger and executive chef Kasja Alger will reintroduce their Hollywood restaurant as Mud Hen Tavern, complete with new menus and a new look. The business partners closed the previous iteration, Street, for an overhaul earlier last month. Feniger told Squid Ink that she felt the restaurant may not have been a good fit for the neighborhood.

With Mud Hen Tavern, Feniger and Alger are offering a neighborhood pub instead. The renovation included the addition of communal tables, booths and a bar with a draft beer system. The food and drinks menus will emphasize hearty fare, cocktails and regional beers.

The food menu will be seasonal, changing three to four times a year, and designed with various dietary preferences in mind. There are chicken and waffle croquettes, fried chicken Cobb salad and a spicy black bean veggie burger. Four pizzas will be available, with three that can be baked with vegan cheese instead at no extra cost. Meat-eaters will have to have pay extra to add housemade sausage to their pies.

Green eggs & ham at Mud Hen Tavern; Credit: Ryan Tanaka

“I think the hangover burger is fabulous. We have a spinach potato pierogi that totally reminds of my childhood. We're doing that with roasted beets and a horseradish mustard sauce,” says Feniger. “The paninis are fantastic. One of my favorite sandwiches, like everybody, is the Godmother at Bay Cities. We have a yummy version of this.”

See also: A Conversation With Susan Feniger: Mud Hen Tavern and the Closing of Street

Each category of the one-page menu includes at least one vegetarian selection that can be made vegan. There's a vegetarian tostada featuring chorizo that's walnut-based. “The walnut chorizo is a great way to get that richness. We have a delicious mocha dessert that's vegan. We've tried to make sure we're doing interesting vegan food,” says Feniger.

Draft beers on tap this coming Saturday include Golden Road Brewery's Get Up Offa That Brown, Bootlegger Brewery's Palomino Pale Ale and Strand Brewing Company's Atticus IPA. A drink called Go Figure — made from fig-infused Markers Mark, Combiers Fruits Rouge, five spice and lemon — is one of seven cocktails available. Morgan Fox of Upstairs II and Pourtal Wine Bar, along with cocktail consultant Tricia Carr, created the bar program that also has a wine list and beers by the bottle (or the can).

“While we were tasting different beers and cocktails, we were testing out the food at the same time. We made sure the combination would really work,” says Feniger.

Fans of Street should be heartened that the menu is still available for catering and a possible re-opening in the future. Another element of the former restaurant that will remain is the weekend brunch menu, offering unlimited small plates for $25 per person.

Vegan mocha cake at Mud Hen Tavern; Credit: Ryan Tanaka

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