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Vegan travel

Vegan in Austin: Plant-based fare at restaurants

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There’s no shortage of vegan food in Austin. Don’t miss brunch at Bouldin Creek Cafe, and lunch on the patio at Counter Culture.

Coffee pouring into cup at Bouldin Creek Cafe.

Considering the whirlwind of fun and food in Austin, it’s hard to even know where to start. I got to spend time with so many of my favorite bloggers and friends, fill my belly with tacos aplenty. And of course, there was Vida Vegan Con itself, which was the reason for the trip.

For this post, I’m just going to focus on the brick and mortar restaurants that I visited in Austin…

Vegan in Austin

Bouldin Creek Café

Cadry, David, Chris, Kristy, Sarah, and Jess at Bouldin Creek Cafe outdoor table.Dinner with David, Chris, Kristy, Sarah & Jess

I’ll start with my favorite restaurant from the trip – Bouldin Creek Café.

It’s a vegetarian restaurant, where most everything can be made vegan. In addition to lunch and dinner fare, they serve breakfast all day.

(Vegan breakfast available all day long? Heaven!)

There are two things that really set Bouldin Creek Café apart – their unique take on a tofu scramble and their service. Twice when we were there, our server was Blake, and she was attentive, friendly, and helpful.

As to the tofu scramble, the tofu is very firm, and each piece is thoroughly coated in nutritional yeast and spices. I’ve eaten a million tofu scrambles in a million different ways, but Bouldin does something out of the ordinary.

If you’re a nutritional yeast lover like me, you’ve got to try it for yourself.

Tofu scramble, hash browns, refried beans, salsa, and tortilla on plate.

I had the tofu scramble as part of el tipico, which came with black refried beans, perfectly crisp hash browns, and my choice of tortillas.

(Full disclosure: Not only did I order this on my first morning in Austin, I also ordered it on my last evening in town too. It is a crave-worthy anytime meal.)

(Update: After leaving Austin, I was so in love with this breakfast, I made my own version of it. Check out El Tipico: Austin breakfast.)

Close-up sweet potato pecan tamales on plate.

David had the sweet potato pecan tamales, which had just the right amount of sweetness and give. They came with beans, tortillas, and salsa.

Beans, greens, cornbread, and tomato on plate.

On another trip to Bouldin, I got the soul plate. The plate came with red and black beans, cornbread, collard greens, and brown rice.

All in all, it wasn’t a bad meal, but it was a bit bland. The collards were very lemony, which seemed a little off for a soul plate. (I thought they’d be smoky or very slow cooked.)

Walnut pesto pasta on plate with toasted bread.

David ordered one of the specials – walnut pesto pasta with olives and tomatoes. I snuck a bite, and it had a good pop of fresh basil flavor.

Counter Culture

Exterior Counter Culture patio at night.

Counter Culture is one of two all-vegan restaurants in Austin. (The other is Casa de Luz. There are loads of vegan food trucks, though.)

The first time I visited, I ordered the Pesto Rawvioli – raw ravioli made with thinly sliced jicama, topped with fresh pesto, and filled with cashew cheese.

It had a good bold flavor, and the jicama gave a pleasant subtle crispness to the dish. With the heat of the day, it was a pleasant fit.

It came with a choice of sides. I went with the Pac-Man, which is a kale salad with chia seeds, cashew dressing, and carrots cut into the shape of that Atari legend.

(We ate very late, and it was much too dark for any pictures to do it justice.)

Baked artichoke dip on plate with bread wedges.

The second time around, I ordered the spicy baked artichoke dip for the table to share. The dip had generous chunks of artichokes, a touch of jalapeño, and came with toasted bread for dipping.

We chose the gluten free bread, and it had a really nice flavor and texture. If they hadn’t said it was gluten-free, I don’t think anyone would have known.

Sausage and sauerkraut on crusty bun with kale salad.

For my entrée, I had sausage & sauerkraut on a whole-wheat bun with spicy mustard.

The flavor of the sausage was reminiscent of the Tofurky Italian sausage. And the sandwich felt like something I might make in a rush at home. Not bad, but not terribly exciting either.

Once again, I opted for the Pac-Man salad on the side.

Southern baked seitan with gravy on the side.

I was totally having ordering envy after seeing David’s meal. Luckily, he was willing to share.

He ordered the southern baked seitan. And it was fantastic. The seitan is marinated in their “special sauce.” Then it’s breaded and baked.

It is typically served covered in gravy, but David isn’t a gravy fan. He got it on the side instead. I happily dunked my wedges of seitan in it.

It came with a choice of sides, and he got sweet potatoes and cornbread (not pictured).

Vivo

Vivo sign: Tex Mex to Dine For.

One “must” that I had for Austin was obtaining a fried puffy taco.

As I’ve talked about before on my blog, I grew up eating them at Tasty Taco’s in Des Moines. Since then, I’ve started making my own at home (puffy taco recipe here).

However, I relished the opportunity of getting one in a restaurant again for the first time in over a decade.

Unlike the all-purpose flour based puffy tacos that I make, the tacos at Vivo are corn based. For that reason, they’re not as pillowy and bready as the ones I make at home.

However, it was still fun to have a platter of fried tacos with overflowing toppings, refried beans (made without lard), and rice.

They also kept the chips and salsa coming.

Hand holding puffy taco at Vivo.

Vivo is a non-vegetarian restaurant. However, they had 3 filling options for their vegan puffy tacos – guacamole, tofu, or beans.

I ordered one guacamole taco and one tofu taco. The tofu was a bit soft and under-spiced for my tastes. If I were to go back, I’d try the bean taco instead.

Keep the Austin tour going with more vegan food in Austin at food trucks, ice cream shops, and even an all vegan grocery store.

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Posted On: June 12, 2015
Comment: Leave a Comment

Comments

  1. Ana says

    June 12, 2015 at 11:34 am

    That tofu scramble looks to die for!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      June 12, 2015 at 11:38 am

      It was ridiculously good! If I lived in Austin, I’d get it all the time!

      Reply
  2. Veganopoulous says

    June 12, 2015 at 10:33 pm

    gosh that looks great, especially that seitan!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      June 13, 2015 at 6:37 am

      I’m glad they gave a large portion of it, because I swiped a lot of it from David! 😀

      Reply
  3. lazysmurf says

    June 15, 2015 at 8:38 am

    Everything looks so good! Bouldin is my favorite tofu scramble in the world! Slight correction, there is another all vegan restaurant, Casa de Luz has been the vegan macrobiotic spot since the 70s!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      June 16, 2015 at 1:50 pm

      I would have to say that it’s my favorite tofu scramble too. There’s a reason I had to order it for a second time before leaving!

      Thanks for the heads up on Casa de Luz. I’ll change that in the post!

      Reply
  4. Caitlin says

    June 15, 2015 at 11:14 am

    i’m not a tofu person (like at all), but i’m pretty sure i’d order a plate of that scramble. it looks incredible.

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      June 16, 2015 at 1:54 pm

      That scramble is pretty exceptional. I have a feeling it would help you make a little room in your heart for tofu. 🙂

      Reply
  5. Shell says

    June 17, 2015 at 2:03 pm

    Cad, the breakfast at Bouldin Creek Café looks amazing! I want the spicy baked artichoke dip, too!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      June 20, 2015 at 6:15 pm

      It was so good! I wish we had a breakfast place like that in our town.

      Reply
  6. Jojo says

    June 18, 2015 at 4:04 pm

    Oh man, I’m gonna miss Bouldin so much! I love breakfast all day and you’re right the service there is always wonderful. I wish I’ ordered that pasta dish now though because yum, it looks totally delicious.

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      June 20, 2015 at 6:16 pm

      They have the vegan breakfast game down. I would love a place like that in my city!

      Reply
  7. Susan says

    June 18, 2015 at 10:04 pm

    Oh my god! Recipe for that tofu! Thank you!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      June 20, 2015 at 6:16 pm

      You’re welcome! Let me know how it goes if you make it.

      Reply

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Hi, I'm Cadry Nelson. I'm the recipe creator, writer, and photographer behind Cadry's Kitchen.

Cadry's Kitchen is a vegan food blog featuring comfort food classics. Most recipes are ready in about 30 minutes.

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