9th July, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
A few weeks ago, I went to Mighty Cone for the first time. Located on South Congress, Mighty Cone is a well known Austin favorite. I tried out the avocado cone, and it was really delicious. If you’ve never been before, the cones served are filled with chicken, avocado, or shrimp that has been breaded and then fried, then stuffed into a soft tortilla with a delicious but not overly mayonnaise-y coleslaw served on top, drizzled with a creamy, somewhat spicy sauce, and the whole tortilla is placed inside a paper cone to make it easier to eat. The cones are made fresh when you order them, and the breading is very good – originally a recipe for fish breading from Hudson’s on the Bend. It’s a fun and decadent meal (I say “decadent” because I felt a little gross after I scarfed mine down – not because the food wasn’t good, but because it was so good that I was licking my paper cone by the end of the meal, and yet it’s a very filling, somewhat unhealthy meal). It was a great vegetarian meal I would highly recommend, and a portion of the proceeds from Mighty Cone go to the Sustainable Food Center, which is also very cool. Check it out if you haven’t yet!
2nd July, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
photo credit
I eat at Little City pretty frequently because it’s conveniently located within walking distance of where I work but also because the food is really tasty. They have several vegetarian options that aren’t too expensive and are great for a quick, light lunch. Also, they use organic greens in a lot of the salads and sandwiches, and their coffee is fair trade. When I go, I usually do the combo, which is a half sandwich and half salad with a drink and chips and salsa, all for $6.95. Not bad. I like the Mediterranean Veggie sandwich: tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, olives, hummus, and sprouts on wheat bread. It’s surprisingly filling and the bread always tastes really fresh. The salsa is spicy and flavorful, so that’s a nice little addition. I’ve also had the Raspberry Pepper Salad, which combines greens, dark chocolate, strawberries, and blue cheese for a really interesting flavor. My one complaint with the salad is that even the large size doesn’t feel like a completely full meal. It’s satisfying, but it typically leaves me hungry a few hours later. The same is true for the Avocado on the Half Shell–a whole avocado stuffed with tomato, red onion, chili powder, and cilantro, drizzled with hot sauce and citrus. It’s really good, but not one of their more substantial items. Several of my friends have ordered the Poet’s Plate, which offers seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables, hummus, olives, pesto, havarti cheese, blue cheese, and fresh bread. While I haven’t ordered it myself, it looks like a good amount of food and seems to be one of the more popular items on the menu. I also enjoy the place itself–there’s usually interesting art on the walls inside and there are spaces to sit outside and watch people pass by on Congress. Overall, it’s a really nice, local establishment near a lot of downtown offices, and it’s nice to have a veggie- and organic-friendly option for weekday lunches or coffee breaks.
25th June, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
This week I went to Marakesh for a light lunch. I think their website is under construction, but here is some info on the restaurant. It’s right on Congress near the Capitol, and it’s a nice relaxing place for lunch with pretty quick service. You order at the front, and then you can find a table and your food will be delivered right to you. I had the vegetarian plate #1, which included falafel, tabouli, and humus with pita. The humus and tabouli were pretty standard, but I thought the falafel was some of the best falafel I’ve had. In general, I think Mediterranean restaurants do vegetarian foods really well, and Marakesh was no exception! I’ll try to update with a picture later today if I can figure out how to transfer it from my phone.
18th June, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
Koriente is this adorable little restaurant nestled at the very end of 7th street, right by Beauty Bar. They serve up Asian-inspired dishes, with an eye for offering healthy and fresh meals. They have a lot of vegan options, and many of the items are served with organic spring greens. I’ve gone there on several occasions, and I love getting the Noodle Garden: “a nest of spiced mung bean noodles on organic spring greens, with avocado, red bell pepper, red cabbage, and cucumber in our own balsamic soy sauce.” Delicious and just the right amount. Also, if you dine in during lunch, you get free miso soup and salad with an entree. At $6.50, it’s a steal. They also offer bubble tea, regular tea, and Ruta Maya organic coffee. The people who work there are so nice, and the place itself has fun decorations and lots of windows with natural light and pretty flowering plants outside. Check it out the next time you are looking for a quick and healthy option for lunch.
Noodle Garden
4th June, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
I posted a few weeks ago about my failed attempt at trying out the vegan food at Cheer Up Charlies, because for awhile there, they weren’t serving any food. Now, there’s a trailer, the Vegan Yacht, in the back up and running. So, in case anyone’s confused, Cheer Up Charlies is the bar inside the small building, and the Vegan Yacht is the trailer in the back that serves up vegan sandwiches, quesadillas, and chili for around $5-$6 each. They also serve vegan desserts and coffee. I happened to be there the other night when we had that torrential downpour all of a sudden, so I ran to the trailer, ordered the avocado/tomato/tempeh “Slamwich,” and ran back into Cheer Up Charlies. I was in such a rush I forgot to order some beet brownies, which I think sound very interesting, but I guess that leaves something for next time. Anyway, they brought in the food, and we ate in the comfort of Cheer Up Charlies, a fun little bar with lotsa funky decorations. I hear they have great dance parties, too. Which goes right along with the Vegan Yacht’s late night hours–they’re open for lunch from 11-3 and late night eating from 7-2 Wed-Sat. My sandwich was made with organic produce, the homemade bread was amazing (olive ciabatta), and it was served with a side of fresh fruit. Nothing too fancy, but a yummy, cheap, vegan, and conveniently located trailer for some healthy fare. Be sure to bring your cash, because they don’t take credit cards. And let me know if you get to try the beet brownies!
21st May, 2010 - Posted by carsi - 2 Comments
Fete Accompli started off as a catering company, but it now offers lunch and dinner for pick up from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m Mon-Fri. They utilize seasonal and local foods whenever possible, so that makes for very fresh tasting fare. Also, I saw on facebook, through VegAustin.com (a great resource for Austin vegetarian restaurants), that Fete Accompli now has Vegan Mondays, so I went ahead and tried it out this week. Although it’s a small take-out store, the place is very bright and sunny, and there are a few tables outside for sitting with umbrellas for shade. The staff was very helpful and everything was served in biodegradable containers–always a bonus! As for the menu options, they had several hot and cold sandwiches to choose from, including a vegan bbq sandwich that I was tempted to try and will hopefully go back for in the future. The other menu option was to pick four of the several salads that were on display in the case next to the counter, plus a cookie. I opted for the salad selection because there were so many yummy looking options, but it was hard to choose just four. I picked out the beet salad, a mushroom and quinoa salad, garlic roasted zucchini, and steamed greens, plus an oatmeal cookie. The no-egg tofu salad looked really good too, but that will just have to be another one to try out next time. Everything was so colorful and fresh and delicious; I’m bummed my pictures didn’t come out. If you’d like to see pics of some of the food, VegAustin.com’s facebook page has quite a few on their wall. At about $10 with tax and tip, it wasn’t the cheapest lunch you could find, but it was definitely worth the price for such a quality meal.
14th May, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
Last week I went to Magnolia Cafe on Lake Austin Boulevard for lunch with my parents and we all got tasty vegetarian dishes – Magnolia Cafe has a lot of vegetarian options, and although better known for its great breakfast foods, Magnolia Cafe is also a great place to go for a light and healthy lunch.
My Father tried the “Love Veggies” which is described as “a steamy platter of broccoli, mushroom, spinach, yellow squash, zucchini, onion, and bell pepper in spicy garlic and serrano butter. Served on brown rice topped with jack cheese.” His looked the most tasty of the 3 dishes we ordered, and he said it was really good. For $7.95 it came with a lot of veggies.
My mother had the Chef salad which was $6.50 and gigantic. It was enough salad for 3 meals. It had broccoli, black olives, avocado, egg, and other goodies on it.
Finally, I had the Veggie Taco, which had avocado, black beans, cheddar and jack cheese, tomato, sprouts, and sour cream. I wasn’t crazy about it, it was a little too sloppy for me and the chips that came with it weren’t very crisp, but it was only $4.50.
7th May, 2010 - Posted by carsi - 1 Comment
Katherine and I went over to Beets Living Foods Café today for lunch to try out something new–it’s a raw and vegan restaurant on West 5th. I had been wanting to go there for awhile, and I was excited to try out some funky foods. Because of traffic, we were not able to have our meal there, so we placed our to-go orders at the counter. All our food was packed in compostable containers, even the plastic cover for my soup, so it was good to see a restaurant being environmentally responsible. The atmosphere is also very nice–lots of sunshine and modern décor, and everyone working there seemed helpful. They were not, however, very efficient. At one point, Katherine counted 10 customers and seven employees, yet we still had to wait quite awhile for our meals.
Beyond that, the food was pretty overpriced for very small portions. After glancing at the menu and seeing the pricey options, I opted for a soup and the salad sampler. I ended up paying $13 (with tip) for three small 2 oz. samples of salads and a tiny cup of soup. I realize that having high quality fresh veggies can get expensive, but they don’t even state that the food is organic. At least at Daily Juice, another fairly expensive vegan raw restaurant in town, some of the produce is organic and the portions will leave you reasonably full.
Let’s get past the slow service and the expensive menu and get down to how the food tasted. The Curried Carrot Soup was the highlight of my little meal–it was cold, but the garlic, ginger, curry, and carrot flavors worked well together, and I wished that I had ordered more. Plus, it had a bit of a kick. My salads, however, were a bit underwhelming. The restaurant was out of the Tex Mex Cabbage, so I replaced it with the Cabbage Kraut, which tasted a bit like pickled cardboard. The little cup of Sprouted Lentil Salad was very bizarre tasting, which is a lot coming from me since I am pretty open to most foods. I’m not sure why, because I like lentils and tomatoes and a lot of the ingredients, but it just didn’t taste that great. Maybe it was the vinegar? The best of my three salads was the Kale Salad, which was simple and crunchy but lacking in pizzazz.
My little lunch
After reading some of the reviews on Yelp, I realize that I should have tried one of the full entrees, like their versions of a pizza, burger, or chalupa, or some of the desserts. Expensive though they are, they get rave reviews online. So, in sum, I will go back and give their entrees a chance, but for now, I say if you want the most raw and vegan bang for your buck, I’d stick to Daily Juice.
30th April, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
Last weekend I went to lunch at the vegetarian Indian cafe, Bombay Express. It’s an old favorite of mine and I hadn’t been there in awhile. There have been times before when I ate dinner at Bombay Express, took home the leftovers, and then immediately started to eat the leftovers, continuing to eat to the point of making myself feel sick – and yet still continuing to eat. It is that delicious. And the reviews on Yelp are very good, and I’ve spoken to friends of mine who are Indian who say it is the best Indian food in Austin.
The green part: it’s all vegetarian. And delicious. If you’re looking to branch out and try new vegetarian foods, and foods that are very different from what you’ll get at most Austin Indian restaurants, it’s a great choice.
The not green part: everything is served on disposable plates. Some things are even served on styrofoam. It’s a little out of control and I’ve backed off of eating there because of it. When I went last weekend, I probably hadn’t been there in about 1 year, and things had gotten a little better, with the use of paper plates for more dishes than had previously been the case. But I still felt wasteful eating there.
Here’s what I had:
Thaali: an assortment of different dishes. Served on a plastic tray, so not to good for the environment. The food was good but because of how it’s served, I don’t think I would get it again. The next two dishes are much tastier and a little greener in their presentation.
Masala Dosa: A generously-sized, extra fine crepe made with rice batter, filled with seasoned potatoes. Served on a paper plate, it’s one of my favorites and is a meal in itself.
kachori: fried dumplings with a spicy green pea filling. I get these every time. These yummy little guys are served in a little paper tray.
So there you have it – the green and not so green of Bombay Express. I hope to someday have the courage to strike up a conversation with the owner about the styrofoam.
23rd April, 2010 - Posted by carsi - 4 Comments
Today for lunch I wanted to try out Cheer Up Charlie’s because I had heard it had tasty vegan food (and also because it’s an awesome name. Who doesn’t love that song?). So I was surprised when I got over to its location on East 6th to find that it is no longer a food trailer but instead occupies this little building:
After speaking with the bartender, I discovered that Cheer Up Charlie’s is in the process of changing things up. Instead of the food trailer, they’ve got a bar in the building, which they want to turn into a smoothie bar that will continue offering alcohol. They also are working on getting the food thing figured out, since the permit situation is complicated for the new building. I put my name on the email list so I will get notified when they start serving food again, so check back for a review at a later date. So annnyway, I went ahead and bought a handmade vegan coconut macadamia chocolate while I was there, and it was sooo good. The creamy, nutty filling went really well with the vegan chocolate, which to me tasted like a high quality dark chocolate. Yum.
Then, I wandered next door in search of a meal and came across Me So Hungry:
This little food trailer recently relocated to East 6th and serves up cheap, delicious, and vegetarian-friendly Asian fusion cuisine. The menu is fairly limited, but they offer noodle bowls, banh mi, rolls, and a salad. Everyone on Yelp raves about the banh mi, but since I didn’t actually plan this little trip, I didn’t know that until after I left. They have BBQ tofu that I was considering, but that will have to wait till next time. Instead, I ordered the Pad Laos Noodle bowl with Lemongrass Tofu:
I brought it home and put it on a plate and look at how much food that is! For only five bucks! And it was so tasty! The lemongrass tofu added an interesting citrusy flavor to the veggies and noodles. Very good and very filling, and I have enough leftover for another meal. Not only was it cheap and tasty, but the service was exceptional. I spoke with Christina, the woman who runs the place, and she was very friendly and helpful. And they’re open till 3 am on the weekends! So even though I sort of stumbled across this place, it was a pleasant surprise, and I’d definitely recommend it for a nice lunch or a late-night meal.
16th April, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
We try to give out recommendations each Friday for either restaurants that are in some way environmentally friendly, or that may have good vegetarian options – either way though, we prefer to only write about restaurants we enjoyed eating at. But I didn’t end up going out to eat this week, so I have a couple of reviews saved up on restaurants that had somewhat disappointing food.
(1) Sago’s
I went to Sago’s for dinner a few months ago with friends. Located in the Triangle, it has a nice atmosphere and the service was pretty good for a Friday night. I ordered the grilled squash, zucchini, and goat cheese tacos. Below is a not so good quality picture of my meal using my cell phone. I was a little disappointed, mainly because there were only about 3 pieces of grilled vegetables in each taco. Most of the volume was just shredded lettuce. For $7.99 though, it was about what I expected – mostly just paying for the atmosphere and the 3 baskets of chips I had to eat because I was still hungry at the end of my meal. They were delicious chips though!
(2) Manuel’s
I went to Manuel’s (north location) a couple of weeks ago and had the mushroom enchiladas verdes. They were good, but not worth $14. I remember reading on the menu that Manuel’s does try to be environmentally friendly in some of the ingredient choices they make, and I believe the owners also do a lot for the Austin community, which is very admirable and I would like to like their restaurant. But a lot of the price reflects the atmosphere and not the food, and if I’m going to pay that much for enchiladas I would like them to be really good, especially when there are so many choices in Austin.
9th April, 2010 - Posted by carsi - 2 Comments
Photo Credit
The Snack Bar on South Congress is a lovely diner and lounge with a great patio and tasty, organic, and local fare. I went there with a group of girl friends one evening and sat out on the patio. We shared the Pitcher of Fun, which is just a pitcher of any of their fancy drinks, and we ended up deciding on the sangria made with organic white and red wines, odwalla juices, and agave. Very good and almost too easy to drink. At that time of night, they were only serving up the Global Plates, which include mostly tapas-style foods inspired from a variety of cuisines, including American, Latino, European, Mediterranean, and Asian. Many of the menu options are or can be made vegan. There’s also the option of ordering Global Big Plates, which are combinations of the smaller plates to make full entrees. We all ended up deciding to get our own Global Big Plates. I chose the Asian plate with seitan skewers, okonomiyaki (leek and cabbage hash cake), and a bun bowl of greens and noodles. The seitan was a bit chewy, but it had a very flavorful peanut sauce that made up for it. I had never tried okonomiyaki before, but it had a pleasant taste and was surprisingly filling. I ended up eating more than my fill because everything was so good. My friends tried out the American dishes, including the burgers and mac and cheese, and there were positive reviews all around. Another reason this place gets my thumbs up is the variety of foods on the menu that will please everyone from strict vegans to meat-loving burger enthusiasts. With tasty organic and local food, a view of South Congress, lots of menu options, and a really delightful sangria, this was a perfect place for our girls’ night out.
2nd April, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
I tried out Buenos Aires Cafe‘s new East location a few weeks ago. I thought it was a really cute restaurant, and the food was reasonably priced for a semi fancy atmosphere. The waiters were all very professional and there was live music and impromptu salsa dancing – very saucy! I had the small spinach salad ($5.99), which the menu described as “A refreshing blend of organic baby spinach, feta cheese, organic Fuji apples and spicy roasted pecans tossed in our homemade sweet and tangy vinaigrette.” It was nice and fresh. Then I had two empanadas, the verdura (spinach, ricotta, parmesan cheese and onions- $2.59) and the tuna (tuna, tomato, red pepper, onion, green and black olives – $ 2.59). I loved the verdura empanada.
My husband had the gnocchi quartet ($12.99), which the menu describes as “our homemade pumpkin-cinnamon, sweet potato-chipotle, cilantro-jalapeno, and potato-herb gnocchi tossed with roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and haricots verts and olive oil, finished with specialty sauces and fresh parmesan.” It was really delicious and my husband said it was the best gnocchi he had ever had.
For dessert we had the “Dark and Spicy Chocolate Crème Brulee” – “dark chocolate and spicy pasilla and cayenne peppers” – it was reeeeally good, both rich and spicy.
It’s a nice local business to support too! Their website says “At Buenos Aires Café we are committed to serving the highest quality food, prepared with love and care from the hands that make it. We use only the freshest ingredients available and make an effort to support local farmers and market whenever possible. We hand pick all the vegetables and fruits used at our restaurants. Our greens are organic and dressed with our signature dressings prepared on site daily. We do not use trans fat oils, only pure olive oil and canola oil. The meats served are also organic. Both the pork and beef cuts are naturally raised, hormone free and certified organic. To give back to the community is part of our mission and commitment. Buenos Aires Cafe recycles all the cardboard boxes, we make weekly trips to the Ecology Action of Texas. We give all of our vegetable scraps for composting to our next door neighbor Clay Worksin exchange for herbs.” Very cool!
I had some awesome pics of our food but now I can’t find them on my computer – dang you, technology!
26th March, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
Blue Dahlia is a cute little bistro on the eastside that serves up salads, sandwiches, breakfast, and larger entrees, along with beer, wine, and coffee. The menu states that they use organic produce when available and that they are committed to optimizing the effect their restaurant has on the environment. Not only are they organic and environmentally friendly, but the food and atmosphere make for a very pleasant visit. I went a few weeks ago with my family, just as the weather was getting nice, and it was so lovely. We sat outside in the back, it was sunny, the plants were green, and the food was really delicious. I got the brie with walnuts and apricot preserve, pictured above, and doesn’t it just look so good? It was served on crispy fresh baked whole wheat bread, and the cheese and preserves went really well together. At first I didn’t think this would be enough food, but I actually ended up having leftovers. I would really recommend this restaurant to anyone, especially if you’re looking for a patio on a nice day.
19th March, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
This week I tried out Elevation Burger. It’s located near the Arboretum at 9828 Great Hills Trail. They serve 100% organic, 100% grass feed, free-range beef. I gave up beef for lent, so I didn’t try the burgers, but my father-in-law and husband each had one and thought they were pretty good. I had the veggie burger, toped with caramelized onions, lettuce, tomatoes, and “elevation sauce,” a creamy tomato sauce, which was pretty good as far as veggie burgers go. At $3.89 it was a good price too. What I was really impressed with though was the french fries, which are fried in olive oil – they were the best fries I had had in a long time. I also had a vanilla milkshake with black cherries and chocolate sauce, which was very tasty as well. It wasn’t very busy when we went and the service was very good – we were even asked if we wanted extra fries near the end of our meal, but by then we were too stuffed. It’s a nice place to check out for a mid-week dinner.
12th March, 2010 - Posted by carsi - 2 Comments
I love Casa de Luz. Organic, vegan, macrobiotic–so green and healthy! My friend Kerry introduced me to this place by having her birthday celebration there last year, and I was instantly impressed. So the way it works is you walk in during their set hours (6-8:30 for dinner), pay a set fee ($11.09 for dinner and lunch, $6.47 for breakfast), and you get whatever they’ve cooked up that day. And it is usually something really awesome. They take care to provide you with a very balanced meal consisting of soup, salad, and an entrée plate with grains, greens, veggies, beans, and pickled vegetables. This is how healthy they are: “our grains are soaked overnight, we avoid foods containing gluten, no sugar or artificial ingredients are added, we use genuine whole foods, campus-grown herbs (when we can), sprouts grown in-house, prepare meals accordingly with the seasons, triple filter our water to remove fluoride, and use natural cleaning products.” Not much more you can ask for!
Their menu changes daily, so check their website before heading over there if you want to see what you’ll be getting. The meal is so filling and delicious, and the soup and salad are unlimited. Nobody I went with needed more food, but if you would like one more serving, all you have to do is ask, although I think they would prefer that not too many people request seconds, since they have a limited supply.
In addition to this tasty healthy food, they also have yoga and tai chi classes and classes about massage and relaxation. If you can, check out the free yoga class on Friday afternoons. Also, you can volunteer to help make the food in exchange for a free meal.
5th March, 2010 - Posted by katherine - 1 Comment
For Restaurant Review Friday, our goal is to not only present some restaurant ideas for the weekend that highlight local or organic food, but also some vegetarian menu suggestions at more mainstream restaurants.
In February I had dinner at Jardin Corona with some friends. I can’t find a website for the restaurant, but its rated 4 stars on yelp and google, and I thought it was delicious and very reasonably priced. I had the veggie fajitas and they were great. I’ve found that the veggie fajitas at most Mexican food restaurants are pretty standard – zucchini and/or squash, onions, and maybe green peppers that have been sautéed. The fajitas at Jardin Corona were unexpected and scrumptious with all the usual veggies, plus sautéed carrots and button mushrooms. And the veggies had a spicy flavor that went really well with fresh sour cream and guacamole. For $8.99 it was a great value, and there was enough leftovers for 2 more meals.
26th February, 2010 - Posted by carsi - 1 Comment
The other day, I dropped by Daily Juice to grab a salad for lunch. This place has delicious smoothies, but the food there is also really good, if a bit expensive. I had the Avocado Caesar, which didn’t taste much like a caesar salad, but it was tasty, vegan, and raw. The raw food movement is something I’m pretty unfamiliar with, but some people are pretty into it. These people believe in eating only an uncooked, unheated, unprocessed, and organic plant based diet. This belief centers around the idea that raw foods have more nutritional benefits than foods that have been cooked. There are some drawbacks to this type of diet, including the possibility of food poisoning, nutritional deficiencies, and the fact that some foods, like carrots and tomatoes, release more nutrients when cooked. Check out the Wikipedia entry on raw foodism if you want more basic info. Also, Daily Juice has a list of recommended reading on their website if you’d like to delve deeper into the topic. If any of our readers have tried out or are currently practicing this kind of diet, feel free to share your experiences and thoughts on the topic.
19th February, 2010 - Posted by katherine - 3 Comments
I recently tried out the new Torchy’s Tacos location on Spicewood Springs. Torchy’s is part of the Go Local program Carsi wrote about, which promotes local Austin businesses. Additionally, Torchy’s buys all of its food products from local Texas-based businesses (with the exception of their green chili’s from New Mexico), so it’s a cool business to support. I went on a Saturday afternoon around 3:00 and it was still packed at that hour. It was worth the wait though -I had the fried avocado taco for $3.25 and it was a delicious, inexpensive lunch. The employees there were very friendly even though they were up to their hips in taco orders, and the restaurant was very clean.
5 stars!
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