Is it just me or is this the coldest winter we have ever had? The beagles and I are suffering through it with lots of blankets, heating pads, tv, warm sweaters, and hot soup. I can’t even blog because it’s so cold in my office. I picked the wrong year to not go on a tropical vacation. I wish I could hibernate.
I have been seeing lots of soup specials around town. Counter Culture and Unity Vegan Kitchen seem to be doing weekly or daily specials so you can go in and get soup and a sandwich. Of course Casa de Luz always has daily soup specials too. The Juicebox in South Austin always has vegan soup too, I love their green goddess and if you get a green smoothie to go with it you can will St. Patrick’s Day to get here already.
The Steeping Room is another good spot to go to in the winter so you can also have hot tea. They make a lot of their delicious soups from a coconut base. And you can get an adorable tea sandwich to go with it.
I love the Tom Kha at Little Thai food, which I’ve gone on about before, I’ve been trying to make my own Tom Kha at home but it’s not quite as good. Another soup I’ve been enjoying, way down south, is the Al Tofu Noodle soup from Tuk Tuk. Hao Hao has a hot & sour soup that’s similar but I don’t think it’s as good. If you live in the area both places deliver so that’s pretty huge. I also finally found a pho that I really like (it’s definitely not the one from whole foods) at PhoNatic they have a far south location and a far north location so for once central people are out of luck.
Then there are all the ramen spots, Daruma downtown, Ramen Tatsu-Ya, Michi Ramen, and the Dojo all up north, I do believe Tatsu-ya still only does vegan ramen on Sundays still but the rest have it every day.
Mr. Natural has a really good tortilla soup that you can order off their menu, you could even add Daiya cheese if that’s how you roll. Down the street from there Wasota has Egusi Soup with Fu Fu and you can even call ahead and have it ready when you come by. That’s really all I can think of, I’m sure their are tons of other Vietnamese, Thai, and Indian soups out there, if you come across a special one please let us know in the comments.
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In other news their are lots of parties on the horizon. BBQ Revolution and Red Rabbit Doughnuts are going to have a customer appreciation party this Friday the 13th at 7. Sweet Ritual is celebrating their 2nd birthday this Sunday the 15th with $1.50 cones all day! They also have a bunch of fun holiday themed ice creams you can take home. They are available all over town now. Counter Culture will also be throwing a holiday party with a white elephant gift exchange and cheese specials Tuesday Dec 17th. Just like at Thanksgiving, they will be doing holiday meals to go for Christmas in case you are going to a non-vegan event. Vegans Rock Austin is going to have a holiday potluck on 12/22. Capital City Bakery is moving into their building and they have a bunch of holiday specials and you can order pies, cookie dough, and other treats for Christmas.
Lazy Smurf's Guide 
I’m a vegan blogger, just arrived for a six week stay in Austin, from the UK. Irony has slapped a big L sticker on my forehead as I came to Austin to ‘flee the miserable British winter’. Ha! I hope it warms up soon! Meantime, I’m going to check out some of your soup suggestions. Thank you!
I’m sorry you came at such a cold time! It’s usually not so miserable, hopefully things will start to get a little nicer.
I’m exhausted just reading this. I’ll be over here resting. With a blanket.
If you ever venture north again, you should try the soup at Maoz.
The Vegetarian Network of Austin’s annual vegan holiday potluck and white elephant gift exchange on their usual second Saturday evening (see http://www.VegNetAustin.org for details). They had their holiday restaurant visit (this one was vegan) in the private wine room at Clay Pit last week (it was so enjoyable, there’s talk of making this an annual event too!).
Thanks for the heads up!
PhoNatic is NOT far north IMO. I consider Anderson Lane North Central. 🙂 Also, Pho Dan has the best pho in town IMHO. They are located at 11220 N Lamar Blvd B-200 by Lamar and Braker. I’ve tried a lot of pho all around Austin - they are my favorite. Just make sure you order veggie broth.
Well, I live far south so anything beyond 12th street is far north to me! I think I tried Pho Dan and didn’t like it nearly as much but I’m glad you found one you like!!
Yum! I’m craving soup now!
You mentioned Friday the 13th (correct) and then Friday the 17th. Is the Counter Culture thing on the 17th or on Friday the 20th?
Sorry about that, I fixed the Counter Culture Party is Tuesday the 17th
That last soup is exactly what I need in my life right now! It’s 26 degrees in my neck of the woods and that’s too cold for me.
OMG! It’s snowing on your blog, I love it!! It looks like there’s a tonne of fun stuff happening in Austin, I hope it warms up soon!
Man alive you have such good food in Austin! Is it really cold there? How is that possible? I thought it was always at least 90 degrees there. Ahh!
Huge soup fan here! Making a pot of Morrocan Chickpea Soup today. My favorite restaurant soup is Hao Hao’s vegetarian rice noodle soup (hủ tiếu chay) and we can get 4 good servings out of the $10 take-out version. Tasty Mulligatawny (great for when you think you’re getting the sniffles!) can be found at Bombay Bistro, Taj Palace, and Taj Majal Indian Cuisine (be sure to specify vegetarian).
I hate to do this to you, but Ramen Tatsu-Ya is only VEGAN if you order it WITHOUT the tofu and the brussels sprout. I found out that they cook the tofu in the same stove that they cook the meat and the brussel sprouts is cooked with animal grease or something. It’s totally fucked up. I only found out, because one of the cashier told me! This was after eating it like 3 times and she was the only person who mentioned that it’s only vegan without those two items.
THAT is so messed up since it’s listed as “vegan ramen”, I’ll see what I can find out.
The comments were closed on your Whole Foods potato blog, but I noticed today that they have the “Lazy Smurf” potatoes! There are two potato buttons, one with animal-free oil! You probably knew already but I’d not been to the taco bar since it was all jacked up and they charged extra for vegan cheese. They’ve fixed that now. The $3 taco is one of the best deals there.
Anyway, they also moved the donuts. Which are no longer labeled vegan (the regular ones aren’t, the cinnamon are)… Anyone know if they changed them, were never vegan, or are just mislabeled? Thanks.
WHAT! I will have to have check this out stat, I have been there a bunch but I haven’t noticed any Lazy Smurf potatoes! Also, I recently asked about the doughnuts and they told me that they were all vegan, that the label didn’t make it on every time. They have the nutritional information right there though so I’ll check it out and blog about it.
I didn’t literally mean it says “lazy smurf,” just that it lists potatoes twice. Once specifically animal-oil free which I assume you inspired.
I was so excited!
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