Vegan food in Austin: Food trucks & stores

With taco trucks, cocktail bars, ice cream shops, and even a plant-based grocery store, there’s no shortage of vegan food in Austin. 

My Austin adventure continues with this post that could easily have been called The Tale of Too Many Tacos… 

Vegan food in Austin

Arlo’s

One night a bunch of us ventured to Arlo's food truck for dinner, which is stationed next to the vegan bar, Cheer-Up Charlie's.

Arlo's focuses on vegan comfort foods like their renowned bac'n cheeseburger, tacos, and fries.

The night we were there, they had a special - two chick'n tacos for $8. We placed our orders and waited. Once the food was ready, Kristy and Chris went to the window to get theirs.

What they didn't realize was that the special was actually for 2 baskets of tacos. So for $8, you got 4 tacos. Between the two of them, they ended up with 8 tacos.

Plus, they'd ordered tater tots and chips and salsa for the table. We were all having a good laugh at the absurdity of the situation, while I was helping to carry their plethora of tacos to a nearby picnic table.

Then my order was up. I'd ordered the special, and David had placed his own order for street tacos and sweet potato fries. And before you could say hot sauce, there were 14 tacos to share between 4 people.

Jess and Sarah were already seated with the very sizable burgers they'd ordered. So they were no help where the taco avalanche was concerned.

I wish I could say that after our drinks we managed to finish all of those tacos. But alas, poor taco, we failed you this time. That said, I enjoyed every bite of the house made seitan, pico de gallo, and chipotle sauce.

When in Austin, it rains tacos. Best. Rain. Ever.

Cheer-Up Charlie’s

As I mentioned, Arlo's is adjacent to Cheer-Up Charlie's, a vegan bar with awesome drink specials.

The atmosphere is tiki hut meets 70's dive bar.

All of the cocktails are listed in the picture above. (If you look closely, you can also spy some chick in a gray dress taking the picture.)

The cocktails ventured outside of the ordinary gin and tonic and cranberry vodka to include things like elderflower, rosewater, kombucha, and coconut milk.

I ordered the Rosie Cheek with vodka, watermelon, rosewater, and raspberry. David had the Gin Wilder made with gin, grapefruit, lemon, and elderflower.

They both went down easy - not too sweet, not too strong, just a good balance all around.

Wheatsville Co-op

And of course, no vegan road trip is complete without multiple grocery store visits.

I visited the flagship location of Whole Foods in Austin, and their local food co-op, Wheatsville.

They had a bounty of vegan specialty items, and the much-talked-about popcorn tofu. It comes in both traditional and buffalo flavors.

We picked some up for the road. I only wish we'd gotten more of it.

The tofu has great chew and bite and loads of flavor. The buffalo was my favorite, but I wouldn't kick either one of my plate.

Book People

Last but not least, while we were in Austin, Kristy was doing a talk at Book People promoting her cookbook, But I Could Never Go Vegan.

I've raved about Kristy's book in the past. And I was excited to hear her talk about it in person.

Kristy is one of my dearest friends and an amazing talent.

She talked about her journey from cheese monger to ethical vegan. And she shared some chewy cookies that are featured in the book.

There was a moderator asking questions. And at the end there was a Q&A with the audience.

Kristy did a beautiful job fielding questions and covering sensitive topics with honesty and care.

By the way, Book People is a multi-level bookstore and one of those places where a person could easily linger for hours.

If I'd had more time, I was hoping to go back and spend some more time just scouring the aisles and checking out their vegan cookbook section.

The plant-based food scene continues at restaurants like Bouldin Creek Cafe & Counter Culture in this post on being vegan in Austin.