A Veggie-Friendly City

It's no secret that Austin's population is eclectic. Austin is an ever-changing city. With a phrase dubbed "Keep Austin Weird", it's only fitting for the city to have a welcoming attitude. Many Austin restaurants, grocery stores and online support groups provide resources for the city's vegetarians.

A really popular health food store to try in Austin is Mr. Natural. Mr. Natural's website describes the store as being a "natural foods restaurant, bakery, juice bar and health food store all rolled into one." They offer vegetarian, non-dairy, wheat-free, and vegan food. They have an East and a South location, both close to downtown Austin. Oh, and Mr. Natural also offers meditation classes in their Meditation Room. Keep Austin Weird.

Casa De Luz opening gate, Photo Courtesy of their website

Another vegetarian place to check out is Casa de Luz. Their food is completely animal-free and extremely health conscious. On their website, Casa de Luz calls their restaurant a "community dining room where conventions go by the wayside." Casa de Luz is unique to Austin because they focus on macrobiotics, a "philosophy that aims to achieve balance and peace in people's lives through awareness and common sense living." Casa de Luz encourages people to "take control of their lives and to educate them to make healthy choices and decisions." They offer an experience that is worth trying at least one time.

An online guide to Austin vegetarian restaurants can be found at Austin Web Publisher's Listing of Vegetarian Restaurants.

Not only does Austin offer vegetarian friendly grocery stores and restaurants, but many groups also provide

Photo Courtesy of VNA

support and information to vegetarians. A group that promotes vegetarianism and mutual support for vegetarians is the Vegetarian Network of Austin. I have never been involved in this group before, but their website is easy to find when searching online for support groups and information. Through their website, you can seek out information about vegetarianism, view the group's goals and mission and also join the group. You don't have to be a vegetarian to join because the Vegetarian Network of Austin aims to inform, not to change.

Another support group to check out is Vegans Rock Austin. Though this is a vegan group, vegetarians and yet-to-be vegans are definitely welcome. Vegans Rock Austin holds events and outings for its members and offers an online forum. Members can chat and provide support to each other via this forum. Vegans Rock Austin's website offers recipes and places in Austin to eat as well as answers to frequently asked questions and links to related groups and restaurants.

I hope that I have provided resources for new and current vegetarians and have sparked interest in those who aren't. The switch to vegetarianism is not just a change in diet, but a change in lifestyle. Luckily, Austin, Texas, is welcoming to this lifestyle. Best of luck to those looking to make the switch and to those who already have!

Trudy's, the Best of the Best?

One of the hardest things about being a vegetarian is having to pick and choose from a select variety of options on a restaurant menu. I grew up with parents who love good food, good friends and who don't mind splurging on a family dinner. I, therefore, view mealtimes as a time to get together with friends and share tasty food. Whenever a friend invites me out to eat, I rarely ever refuse. What's tricky about this? Sometimes the places my friends choose to eat at aren't vegetarian friendly.

Trudy's Central Location, Photo Courtesy of Trudy's

Luckily, it is pretty common for restaurants in Austin to have vegetarian friendly dishes. And, menu items can easily be altered to be vegetarian. So, I decided to research a favorite Austin restaurant to see just how easy it is to eat vegetarian. I went to Urbanspoon Austin and found that they named Trudy's as it's number one 'best' restaurants near The University of Texas at Austin. Perfect.

I've had the pleasure of dining at Trudy's Tex -Mex and I thought it was delicious. Better yet, I had no trouble finding items on the menu that were vegetarian. Trudy's offers an online version of their menu, which makes it convenient to check before you dine to ensure they serve a vegetarian dish to your liking.


One of my personal favorite dishes that Trudy's offers is the Vegetable Plate. You get to choose from FOUR sides, yes, four. (Be careful, though! The Borracho Beans and Refried Borracho Beans are NOT vegetarian!). If you're used to ordering veggie plates, then you know you usually only get to choose from a measly three. Having the option of ordering a Black Bean Burger is yet another perk. Restaurants rarely ever offer a veggie or black bean buger!

Stuffed Avacado, may be ordered without chicken. Photo Courtesy of Trudy's

In fact, for almost every category on their menu, ranging from tacos to enchiladas, a vegetarian option is offered. Most restaurants have chicken and beef enchiladas and I find myself paying for the meat and only getting the cheese. But, Trudy's offers and actual veggie enchilada, giving me what I pay for. And, that's how restaurants should be.

The atmosphere, the menu options and the food at Trudy's are unique to the restaurant and worth giving a try.  They also offer breakfast, specials and party sized meals. Also, did I mention that you get chips and salsa while you wait for your delicious meal? Now that, is the icing on the cake..or, the salsa on the chip.

Fellow vegetarians, I do consider Trudy's to be the best of the best. I challenge you to give Trudy's Tex-Mex a try. I bet you won't be disappointed.

Drag Food: Rasta Pasta

'The Drag', Guadalupe Street, is one of the most popular streets to students of The University of Texas at Austin. Every student that lives in West Campus crosses this street in order to get to class. If you want to pick up some burnt orange swag, you'll stop by The University Co-Op. And, if you're looking for a quick grocery shopping trip, you'll shop at CVS. But most importantly, The Drag is a hot spot for eating.

Store Front, Photo Courtesy of Rasta Pasta's website

Most of the restaurants on The Drag have stayed the same over the years, so eating around the area can become...a drag. So, I was excited when I heard about the opening of a new restaurant, Rasta Pasta. And, Rasta Pasta is anything but a drag, especially for vegetarians.

Rasta Pasta follows a Rastafarian theme throughout the restaurant and their menu. The vibrant red, yellow and green colors create a bright atmosphere that is complemented with reggae tunes bumping through the speakers. The atmosphere is very relaxed. When you walk in, the waiters greet you at the door while you seat yourself.

The menu offers quite a few options that are all pasta dishes, of course, and are moderately priced. Every dish is made fresh to order, which makes it easy for vegetarians to adjust the dishes to exclude meat and substitute more vegetables. Many of the dishes can also be made vegan, all you have to do is ask your waiter!

Montego Bay, Photo Courtesy of Rasta Pasta's website

I have tried the Chicken Montego Bay, without the chicken. And, I have to say that it was delicious. I crave it all the time. Better yet, the alfredo sauce is made light, not super thick and creamy like most restaurants. I ordered the lunch portion of the Montego Bay to-go and it filled me up pretty well. I can't imagine being able to finish the dinner portion. But, during my next visit, I decided to order the dinner portion of the Dreadlock Ravioli anyways (minus the meat!).

It came with a simple house salad with a spicy house dressing. Never have I tasted a dressing so unique and so delicious. It had a lime taste with a hint of garlic and a blend of spices that I can't quite pinpoint. My main dish came with freshly toasted garlic bread and one of the largest portions of pasta I have ever seen. The marinara sauce had spices in it that I had never tasted in a traditional sauce. I didn't want to stop eating it, but my stomach made me. To my surprise, the owner of Rasta Pasta, Jamie, came out and introduced himself to me and told me a little bit about the restaurant's history. He made sure I enjoyed my meal and asked me what I liked most about it, truly interested in my feedback. After our conversation, I boxed up my leftovers and enjoyed it for lunch the next day. It tasted exactly the same as the evening before...amazingly delicious.

Rasta Pasta on The Drag is the only location the restaurant has in all of Texas and basically the entire country. Only three more locations are in the U.S. and they are all based in Colorado. You'll definitely get your money's worth with the quality and quantity of their food. Rasta Pasta is a truly unique restaurant to Austin and is definitely worth trying.

Favorite SXSW Street Food Bites

Even if you have been living under a rock, Austin dwellers know the city was rocked by South by Southwest this past week. The huge music and film interactive festival took place at almost every club and hotel lobby in the downtown area and virtually every music venue in Austin. Needless to say, SXSW is the highest revenue-producing special event for the city of Austin (Colonel6's Blog).

For the hardcore SXSW attendees, eating throughout the day was a must. Eating on-the-go was a must as well. Who would want to miss their favorite band  play because of lazy waitresses at a dine-in restaurant? Food stands and trailers have become the perfect alternative. Yet, another question arises. Which popular food stands offered vegetarian options at SXSW? And, which stands came out on top?

Crepe Crazy, Photo Courtesy of Girl Eats World

The Austin Convention Center had a few food stands
inside like a grilled cheese stand creatively in the shape of one of those cheese-head hats that Green Bay Packers fans wear. But, most of the food seemed like something you would get in the terminal of an airport, which is actually quite vegetarian friendly. But, trail mix and Cheeto Puffs are hardly considered a meal.

Auditorium Shores, on the other hand, had more of a carnival-food feel. "Tacos Nachos Burritos" and "Corn Dogs and Funnel Cakes" were the names of some of the stands. But, the most popular stand with a never-ending line was Crepe Crazy. They served crepes that were sweet, fruity or filled with chocolate and ones that were savory. Unfortunately, the Veggie Pesto crepe was the only vegetarian savory crepe they offered.

Only a few food trucks lined Sixth Street, but many were parked on nearby streets close to venues that were having shows. A wide variety of foods were served from these trucks, from barbecue and tacos to hamburgers and french fries and there always seemed to be people munching on these tasty food truck eats. From what I saw, only the taco trucks seemed to have vegetarian friendly items like cheese quesadillas and bean tacos.

Sugary treats (all vegetarian!!) seemed to be the most sought-out food on the streets, namely Sixth Street. Hey Cupcake! had a steady line everyday and night of the festival. The Hey Cupcake! trailer seems to always have business. So, it was no surprise that the trailer with a giant rotating cupcake was a hit at SXSW. On St. Patrick's Day, they sold cupcakes with green icing at an inflated price and still had a long line. But, my favorite cupcakes were sold out of a window at a club, Flamingo Cantina. They were homemade by a lady who wasn't even marketing herself. Or, she didn't do a good job of doing so. It seemed sketchy, but my sweet tooth couldn't resist a $2 cupcake compared to a $3 Hey Cupcake! and a line to wait in.

Snow cones also seemed to be a hit at Jim Jim's on Sixth Street and Red River St. At $4 for a medium sized cup, these over-priced treats were actually worth paying for. Instead of a cup full of chunky ice with sugary syrup poured over the top, Jim Jim's serves snow cones that seem to be a mix between sorbet and Italian ice. What makes it even more worth the price? Walking miles around downtown in the sun for hours. But, none of sweet treat lines compared to the one at Crepe Crazy at Auditorium Shores.

Stony's Pizza line at SXSW 2011, Photo Courtesy of Keith Axline

The line surpassing the one at Crepe Crazy
was the line at Stony's Pizza on Sixth Street and Red River Street. A slice of cheese pizza is $3 and a fifteen-minute wait in line. But, it's all worth it. Every single slice is served piping hot and fresh out of the oven. Yes, they make the pizzas in the back of the fire engine red truck. I typically stray away from long lines, but I couldn't resist standing in this one. After seeing more than a dozen people pass by me with a Stony's pizza slice stuffed in their face, I had to try it myself. I ate my first slice of Stony's Pizza on the 17th of March. The 19th was the last day I attended SXSW. I had seven slices of Stony's Pizza in that time frame. Yes, seven over the span of three days. The pizza is delicious and the freshness makes it irresistible. In fact, fifteen minutes was the shortest wait that I had. But, any amount of time was worth waiting for one of these slices. And, everyone else seemed to agree. Almost everyone ran over to the truck after working up an appetite from seeing one of their favorite bands play and stayed in the line even if they were missing the beginning of another show. Stony's Pizza can definitely be considered a SXSW street food favorite, maybe even the best pizza in town.

Slice of cheese pizza from Stony's, Photo taken by Cian O'Donovan

                                                                            

Dorm Food Dilemmas

Photo Courtesy of Azriha Eats World

If you have ever dined in a cafeteria, a Luby’s, or the like, then you know that eating in a dormitory cafeteria is a downgrade. What’s even worse? Trying to eat vegetarian.

The meat dishes in a dorm cafeteria are scary enough. It’s easy to tell that it’s the cheapest and lowest quality meat around. So, when you are able to find vegetarian choices, it’s the biggest let down to find that the vegetable soup is made with chicken stock or that there’s bacon in the one dish that you’re able to eat. Who puts bacon in green peas anyway?

If you’re like me, then you have to resort to eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches and cheese pizza, all the time. These dishes may be delicious, but they’re easy to get sick of. Take advantage of the rare times that your cafeteria serves a dish with some potential and get creative.

If they have tortilla chips out for chicken tortilla soup or Fritos for chili pie, put some chips on your plate, add shredded cheese, jalepeños and salsa, throw it in the microwave and you have some savory nachos! If you’re lucky, the cafeteria will have beans out that day that you can add to your dish to get some protein. But, that rarely ever happens.

So, here are a few ways to get your recommended daily protein from your cafeteria. Peanut butter is your friend. I have found myself eating a lot of toast with peanut butter or peanut butter and banana sandwiches. If you get tired of it, check out the salad bar. Most cafeterias will have a pasta salad section near the salad bar. Sometimes there are some protein-promising dishes like garbanzo bean salad or a cold vegetable salad that almost always contains beans.

Eating these dishes almost everyday for an entire semester or year can get very old. If you have a mini fridge, keep it stocked. There will be plenty of ‘bad’ days in a dorm cafeteria and you’ll have to resort to eating in your room. Going grocery shopping every now and then is a lot cheaper than eating out multiple times a week.

Here are a few things to add to your shopping list: peanut butter (of course), milk, cereal, yogurt, bread, canned beans, canned soups, crackers, granola bars and any of your favorite fruits and vegetables. Low maintenance fruits and vegetables include apples, grapes, oranges, pears, celery and carrots. Also, invest in some flatware, plates, cups and a can opener. They’ll definitely pay off.

So remember, keep an eye out for food in your dorm’s cafeteria that has potential, be sure to eat your protein for the day, keep your dorm room stocked with food that doesn’t perish easily and most of all, be creative.