The Good Fork Pub: What’s Vegetarian Editorial Review

The Good Fork Pub in Brooklyn’s Red Hook serves meat, but it tags its vegetarian and vegan dishes right on the menu. You can read the list and order without guessing. Three tags appear: V for vegetarian, VE for vegan, and GF for gluten free. The food list runs through Starters, Mains, Dessert, and a short Weekend Brunch section.

Start with the starters. The Roasted Carrots arrive on smoky baba ganoush with spices, nuts, and agave, and the menu tags them vegan and gluten free. Vermont sharp cheddar, roasted red peppers, and pickled jalapenos make up the Pimento Pub Cheese, which comes cold with crackers and crudite and carries a V. The Vegan Caesar trades the anchovy dressing for a vegan one and adds nori furikake to little gem lettuce and sourdough croutons. The regular Caesar uses anchovy, so a vegetarian should order the vegan version. The Curry Fries have no label, so ask the kitchen what goes into the curry before you order the fries.

For a main, order the Veggie Burger. The menu tags it V. You get a housemade patty with american cheese, arugula, housemade pickles, and chimi aioli on a toasted brioche bun, plus hand-cut fries. A 2022 Infatuation review described the patty as mung bean, and Time Out’s review from the same year called it an actual veggie burger. Ask your server whether the recipe has changed. You can top the burger with a fried egg for $4 or housemade kimchi for $3. Skip the bacon add-on. Kimchi can contain fish sauce, so ask the server before you add it to the burger. Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pie, also tagged V, finishes the meal.

Meat fills the rest of the page. The kitchen sends out Korean fried chicken, a gochujang cheesesteak, a smashburger, a hot dog, bangers and mash, and fries topped with a crab dip and bacon. Weekend brunch adds a breakfast hash with chorizo. The pub posts no note on shared fryers or grills. A strict vegetarian should ask how the cooks handle the veggie burger and the fries.

Drinks get as much space as food. Bartenders pour a rotating tap list of lagers, IPAs, and Guinness, and the menu adds bottles, ciders, and house cocktails such as a frozen watermelon margarita, a Pimm’s Cup, and a Black Manhattan. The wine list covers sparkling, white, orange, rose, and red.

The pub sits at 391-393 Van Brunt Street. The site lists hours of Monday through Friday from 4pm to midnight, with the kitchen opening at 5:30pm. Saturday and Sunday run noon to midnight. Book through the reservation form on the restaurant’s site or call (347) 786-9896. Private events and catering inquiries go through the same contact page.

Bring friends who eat everything. They can split the fried chicken while you order the Veggie Burger, the Roasted Carrots, and the Vegan Caesar. On a weekday, arrive before the kitchen opens, grab a seat at the bar, and start with a beer and the pimento pub cheese.