Atom Willard (far right) and Against Me! (photo: Ryan Russell)
Although nothing compares to his wife’s cooking at home, when Against Me! drummer Atom Willard has to eat out, three places come to mind right away. Two are in his home base of Los Angeles, which makes things easy, but one of them is way over in Athens, Georgia. Luckily, it’s a regular tour stop for his band, who are currently on the road to support Transgender Dysphoria Blues.
Willard: There’s a spot in Athens, Georgia called The Grit. It’s actually a vegan restaurant that we’ve all been to separately, and then we went all together last time we were through there, and they make some of the most awesome vegan food, that doesn’t taste like vegan food [laughs]. That place is rad. Okay, then there’s this other place… and I’m going to tell you about two vegan restaurants, but I’m not vegetarian even. There’s this place in Los Angeles, and it’s in the valley, and it’s called Vinh Loi Tofu, and they make ramen soup that is awesome! It’s amazing! It’s wheat udon noodles and amazing faux chicken whatever things… I don’t know how they do it. But my wife and I go for that soup a couple times a week.
So if you had to choose one of those two restaurants to be in Los Angeles, which one would it be?
Oh, geez, that’s such a terrible thing, because then one of them would be out of business! Wait, do they swap locations? Because I want them both to exist.
Which one would you want in LA?
Well, I would want The Grit, because I only get The Grit once per year, whereas I get Vinh Loi twice a week. So I could swap them for awhile and then I’d wiggle my little nose and swap them back again after a couple of years and it will be great.
For some reason vegan places often lack in the atmosphere side of things. What’s the atmosphere like in those places?
It’s funny you should bring it up; kinda lacking [laughs]. In both cases, it’s really a little bit less than… [laughs] there’s a lot of practical lighting, as it were. For the soup place in LA, we usually get it to go, just because it’s not that rad to hang out in there.
What else do you like on the menu at The Grit?
Okay, so there’s this thing called The Golden Bowl and it’s rice-based and all of these vegetables and then there’s this nutritional yeast gravy, which sounds incredibly gross, but it’s really good. It’s pretty awesome.
Have you brought any vegans there and gotten their opinion?
Yeah, we have a vegan in the band. He’s a Swedish vegan, so there’s an element of mystery still. Even though he’s vegan; there’s the Swedish element, which is a tough nut to crack. But he was very excited about the place.
What about the place in LA? Brought any experts in there to get their opinion on it?
No, I haven’t, because, to be honest, we don’t want the secret to get out. It’s already hard enough to get your food. Okay, I have another place in Los Angeles that we love. It’s this Indian restaurant called Anarbagh and it’s absolutely the best Indian food I’ve ever had. And I’ve had it all over the world, including in England where Indian food is basically the national dish. This place is fantastic. It’s so good and all of our friends go there, and it’s almost part of their daily routine. It’s incredible.
But it’s not vegan?
No, not by any means is it vegan, or vegetarian or healthy… it’s laden with butter and amazingness.
-Jason Schreurs
Against Me!‘s Transgender Dysphoria Blues is out now on Total Treble Music.
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