We get the feeling that the upwardly mobile and somewhat hipster vibe to the neighborhood surrounding Gunner’s Run, 1001 N. Second St., is responsible for the noticeably substantial amount of vegan and vegetarian dishes available at the sports bar and gastropub — which also happens to be situated in a happening corner of The Piazza at Schmidt’s. And their interesting takes of vegan dishes tip the scales in their favor.
The seitan vegan wings ($10) are available in a number of flavors, such as hot, spicy BBQ, teriyaki and Jamaican jerk. You can consider them wings in spirit. Don’t get us wrong, they are tasty, but they have more of a passing resemblance to steak in appearance and texture than wings. The heartiness, texture and crunch definitely will scratch the wing itch for most vegans — but if you order them with the hot sauce, know that their definition of “hot” is geared towards the soft-candied palettes of the upwardly mobile. If you want something close to a respectable level of buffalo-wing spicy, ask for your wings to be “Nashville hot.” For fans of spicy foods, this will be spicy enough for you not to be angry at them for calling the wings hot.
Back in carnivore country, the deviled eggs ($8) were of the highest backyard-barbeque quality, and the chef rightfully styled them as the best of the best of comfort food instead of overthinking them as something fancy.
The Southern fried chicken and waffles ($14) can be ordered with either syrup or gravy. The syrup might seem like the obvious choice because of the waffle, but believe us when we tell you that their gravy is magical. The waffles and the chicken by themselves were OK enough in their natural state and with the syrup, but the gravy elevated them both way more than anyone could reasonably expect. We actually wanted a lot more of the gravy to baptize the living daylights out of everything on the plate, and some biscuits to sop up whatever was left. Another solid comfort dish was the meatloaf sandwich ($12), juicy with a demi-glaze, gouda and caramelized shallots.
Dessert was a nice surprise. The flourless peanut butter torte topped with toffee ($6) was smooth, rich and decadent, which is saying something considering how much toffee and flourless anything usually scares us away from the average dessert. But here, all the elements came together in fine fashion and won us over.
If you are within strolling distance of The Piazza and in a mood to grub, graze, guzzle or just gab, Gunner’s will give you a good “run” for your money.