All About Austin, Part 1.

The skies were rainy as we made the descent in to Austin, Texas on my recent trip. It seems I bring bad weather with me, as they hadn't had much rain in recent weeks, but no worries, I was determined to eat my way through Austin & have a good time doing so. I was lucky enough to have tour guides, the lovely Crystal & Chris from Vegan Explosion! Additionally, my friend Charisse, who I met up with in Chicago, was in town as well, so it was a big vegan party.

Our first stop was Wheatsville Food Co-Op for their famous Popcorn Tofu Po'boy! This sandwich comes on a thick hoagie roll & was piled high with delicious popcorn tofu, fresh vegetables, & smothered in cashew tamari. The tofu is awesome, I understand why people adore it! My only issue was you could barely taste it with the giant roll. I tried the Popcorn Tofu Po'boy in sandwich bread later in the week & it was super flavorful, which I preferred to the hoagie roll. On the side, I had a peanut butter cup, but it was nothing to write home about & the filling seemed a bit wholesome & seemed to contain oats. Bottom line, you NEED some Popcorn Tofu! They also have very tasty Southern Fried Tofu & are generous with the samples if you want to try before you buy!

Just down the street from Wheatsville, you'll find Toy Joy, home of fun toys for all ages. In addition to awesome items like Cram Cream wares, Blythe Dolls, & shark shower curtains, they have vegan soft serve made from soy & coconut, bubble tea, sundaes, & a full menu of shakes from Strawberry to "Notella"! The flavors rotate weekly, so check the webpage to see what you'll get before heading over there. I knew I didn't want to miss out on peanut butter soft serve, so we headed over, despite our full bellies. I ended up with a small Peanut Butter & Vanilla swirl soft serve, & I shared a yummy Mint Cookie Shake with Crystal. If you're in the area, Toy Joy is certainly worth a visit!

The next day, we headed to one of the two Mr. Natural locations for lunch, home of 100% vegetarian Mexican nosh. We all grabbed the lunch special, as it's a good deal at $7 for a large plate of food of your choice. Charisse & I decided to split a bunch of items, so I was able to try just about everything on the menu that day. We shared 2 types of Tamales, Potato Patties, Tofu & Peas salad, Carrot & Raisin Salad, Gorditas, Refried Beans, & of course, dessert! Mr. Natural has a full pastry case selection (buyer beware, most items have honey) & is known for their vegan Tres Leches cake. I was amazed by the fluffy whipped cream like frosting on the outside & my attempts to get the recipe failed. The cake itself was a bit dry in some sections, but the moist sections were great. I would totally give the Tres Leches another try! The food was good, but looking at the daily selection, listed on their webpage, I would likely go another day, or order off the menu.

After lunch, we decided to hike up Mt. Bonnell, despite the rainy weather. We also stumbled upon a nearby garden with ponds full of lily pads & peacocks wandering around, which was quite a sight to behold! We managed to work up an bit of an appetite, so headed to Cornucopia Popcorn Creations for a snack! I had heard they had a fair selection of vegan popcorn flavors, but we were thrilled to hear they had just added more & now have around 20 vegan flavors! We sampled a ton of options like Jalapeno, Watermelon, Green Corn, Cinnamon Toast & many, many more. I ended up with a sweet combination of Green Apple, Banana, & Blue Raspberry, while everyone else went savory with the very unusual, but delicious Dill Pickle popcorn! The owners were very friendly & mentioned they are continuing to work on vegan flavors, especially cheesy ones! I wish we had something like this locally, I love popcorn!

After a bit more cruising around, we decided to head to Austin Cookie Lounge for another snack. Freshly baked cookies in about 10 minutes? Yes, please! Basically, you pick a dough, then mix-ins, they bake it for you & hand it over after a few minutes of cooling. Vegans have the option of Vanilla Sugar Cookie dough & the recently added Chocolate dough, with lots of mix-in options like dried fruits, nuts, Oreo cookies, & chocolate chips. The day we went, they also had a few vegan cupcakes in the pastry case. I had a Vanilla cookie with Pineapple & Cashews, then Chocolate with Peanut Butter Chips. We were a bit underwhelmed by the cookies, likely because we've been spoiled by all the awesome recipes available to us, but this place is open until Midnight on Fridays & Saturdays, so it's a great place for a late night sweets fix.

Another great place for a late night fix is Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse, an all vegetarian cafe open until Midnight. We found ourselves there more than once after 11pm, happy we were able to grab a bite. Unlike many late night spots who's food suffers as the night wears on, the food here is delicious all the time! I had the Oven Cake Breakfast; blueberry cornbread fresh off the grill with agave nectar & a side of their amazing tofu scramble. The Veggie Royale was also a solid offering. I had it with chipotle-pecan pesto would be curious to try it with BBQ sauce next time. The scramble was definitely the highlight & after scoping out the plates of others, I would get the El Tipico next time! Did I mention you can get vegan queso there, made by Crystal & Chris from Vegan Explosion? Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse certainly serves up some of the best vegan grub in Austin, so make sure you get there!

Bright & early we headed to the gigantic flagship Whole Foods on South Lamar, on a quest for donuts & fritters. After missing out the day before, we weren't going to let it happen again, as we all know I have a serious love for donuts! First of all, this is one HUGE Whole Foods with a people mover to get you inside, a Raw Foods bar, a wall of prepared vegan dishes; this place is no joke! We were able to score 5 types of donuts, 2  jelly filled, plus an apple fritter, so we promptly took them upstairs to dive in. Sadly, I was less than impressed. The donuts were pretty dense, almost dinner roll like, with none of those big air pockets one expects in a yeasted donuts. The jelly filling helped a bit, as the filling softened the insides a tad. The apple fritter fared a bit better, although it was seriously lacking apples. Verdict? Bummed! My heart still belongs to Ronald's Donuts.

Counter Culture is a new spot on the vegan scene in Austin, serving up 100% vegan & some raw fare on the North side of town. Look for a decked out turquoise trailer & a giant tree with picnic benches in a convenience store parking lot & you'll find the owner Sue, ready to feed you. A group of us, including Kristen from Sugar Skull headed over to get our grub on. I opted for the BBQ Jackfruit, as I make Jackfruit Carnitas myself, so I was interested to see how it would taste, as I've only had Jackfruit at Pure Luck in LA & at home. The jackfruit was much softer than what I've had in the past, I tend to like it with a bit more texture, but this was tasty & served on a soft & lovely wheat roll. I also had a taste of raw bruschetta from a friend that was quite good. If you're in the North, definately support this vegan business & when you're done grabbing a bite, head over to Room Service & Hog Wild for awesome vintage wares. (Don't miss the bunny covered bathroom at Room Service, it's an amazing sight!)

Along a strip of South Congress, aka SoCo, you'll find a lot with a row of food trailers, including the famous Hey Cupcake! (Yes, they have vegan cupcakes.) In that row, you'll also find Mambo Berry who serves up vegan tamales & juices. Opting for a quiet night in, we swung by to grab some tamales to eat while watching a movie. The tamales were 3 for $7 with a side of chips & came in either Sweet Potato Pecan or Chipotle Mushroom. While we were waiting, we noticed the freezer open. Looking in, we saw frozen tamales were being placed in the microwave! It looks like Mambo Berry uses a local, readily available frozen tamale brand you'll find at most stores, puts them in a crock pot all day. If they run out, they nuke them in the microwave & charge you a pretty penny for them. We weren't very thrilled, especially since they're quite tiny. The upside was, we served them smothered in delicious vegan queso, made by Crystal, so at least not all was lost!

As you can see, Austin is not lacking for us vegans & there's no way I could fit everything in to one post! I'll be back next week with yet another installment of food & fun from the Lone Star State!