I decided to give The Happy Hooligans’ delicious vegan comfort food a try and the restaurant’s flavorful approach changed my negative perception of plant-based food.
During my visit on Thursday I had the pleasure of meeting Matt Lau, the restaurant’s owner.
His passion for vegan food showed through his knowledge of every ingredient and item on the menu, making it easy for a newcomer like myself to feel welcomed and comfortable ordering.
For Lau, this is not your typical vegan food.
“Our vegan food is not the typical healthy vegan food,” Lau said. “This is comfort food, so prepare to come here to eat and you have a nice, soft couch to sit on after because it’s gonna fill you up and you’re going to get knocked out.”
Being new to vegan food, Lau guided me through the entire menu and suggested some of the restaurant’s popular dishes. These included The Backyard Burger, Buffalo Cauliflower Bites and flautas, which I ordered with a Thai Iced Tea to wash it down.
The first item that was brought out was the cauliflower bites. I am a die-hard fan of buffalo wings, so this was a true test to see how the vegan Buffalo Cauliflower Bites compared to traditional buffalo wings. Before delivering the food, Lau explained that the dish was prepared with a house-made buffalo sauce.
At first I was skeptical, but Lau proved me wrong.
The cauliflower was perfectly crispy with a soft, sweet inside you wouldn’t expect from something so deeply fried. The vegan buffalo sauce was indistinguishable from the traditional non-vegan version and had a perfect spicy kick that paired nicely with the Thai Iced Tea, making the bites my favorite dish of the day.
Next, it was time for the Backyard Burger and the eatery’s new vegan take on In-N-Out Burger’s animal-style french fries with plant-based Thousand Island dressing, cheese sauce and caramelized onions.
The burger contained a vegan patty, house-made vegan bacon, onion rings and mac and cheese. I’m not the biggest fan of onions, but I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to try them.
When the behemoth of a meal finally arrived, I didn’t know where to start.
The hamburger was massive, with enough toppings to make three hungry college students full with leftovers. The animal-style fries were the perfect pairing to the burger and made the better impression on me between the two.
The onion rings were some of the best I’ve ever had. They were paired beautifully with melty cheese sauce that tasted very similar to dairy cheese, not to mention the fries were perfectly crispy and not too soggy from soaking up the sauce.
The burger, however, was a bit too unwieldy for me. Maybe because I don’t like to get my hands messy, but I found it difficult to take a bite out of it. I quickly fixed this problem by using a knife and fork, but I would have preferred to take a big bite out of it without worrying about overflowing toppings.
Overall though, the hamburger tasted amazing and I would order fewer toppings next time.
The Happy Hooligans deserve an abundance of praise for the amount of creativity and thought put into the food. If you’re trying to get some of your friends into vegan food, I would recommend this restaurant as it’s one of the best
options around San Jose.
