Category Archives: Events

Win a Freeto Burrito and read all the #atxvegan news and events for the week!

The Freeto Burrito at the Vegan Yacht is BACK Baby

Right now it’s a soft opening with freeto burritos and freeto burrito supremeos but soon all the old favorites will be back like, the TLT, Buffalo burrito and buffalo bowl, chili stuffed potatoes! A Mock chick’n wrap salad and even a chili dawg! My dream is that they add breakfast 🙂

News

The Vegan Yacht opened in South Austin at a shop on Machacha called the ’45. The Frito Burrito is back and they will soon be adding to the menu. Also, inside are some vegan items to buy like Zucchini Kill treats.

Nadamoo scoop shop had a soft opening on South Lamar and will soon be having a whole range of vegan offerings.

‎Nissi Vegmex‎ an all vegan Mexican food trailer coming soon!

Kerbey Lane released their summer menu and you can see more easily on their menu what can be made vegan. Their new head chef had the local chain once again change their vegan burger and sausage recipe. Some people are calling the fake meats a good change from their previous offering others are calling it “mushy garbage”.

Added to Lazy Smurf’s Vegan-Friendly Guide this Week:

Brentwood Social House has vegan curry pies and they also have a room dedicated for the wee ones filled with toys.

Ah Sing Den 1100 E 6th St Cocktail bar with vegan snacks and entres marked on their menu including Curried Sweet Potato hash at brunch, Thai Curry Udon, and a Thai Banana Split.

Austin Daily Press– 1900 E. MLK. and on East Ceaser Chavez. This sandwich shop has one vegan torta that sounds really good, Pickled Green Mango, Coconut Braised Kale, Ginger Peanut Sauce, Toasted Peanuts, Red Cabbage Salad And they have tempeh and vegetable tapas.

Southern Pressed Juicery 11010 Domain Drive, Ste. 102 inside Wanderlust Yoga. More than just juice they also have smoothie bowls, coconut yogurt, superfood salads, Pad Thai Zoodles, and vegetable sushi rolls.

Austin Food Company & GreenSpace Cafe. at the Squarerut Kava Bar on Barton Springs. Mineral Rich vegan food like local grain bowls, Goodness Gracious Wild Stir-fry, and Electrified Wild Blueberry Pancakes made with Irish Sea moss and ancient grains, topped with freshly made date sauce.. Also has weekly meal plans.

Miriam Rieck, Licenced Massage Therapist – Swedish and other modalities offered with local Austin herbalist plant essences.

Angel Donuts and Treats – Brick and Mortar Bakery 8300 North FM 620 Drive Thru Food Trailer 12342 Ranch Rd 620. Three varieties (chocolate, powdered sugar or cinnamon) of vegan cake doughnuts but they sell out quickly.

Spokesman 440 E Saint Elmo Rd Ste 2 This very interesting space is a coffee bar that also has quite a few beer taps. They also do panini sandwiches and have a chickpea salad one with vegan mayo and toasted sunflower seeds.

Independence Fine Foods 1807 W. Slaughter LN, SUITE 100. They have a tofu scramble with Green Chiles, Chili Roasted Cauliflower for breakfast (say no cheese) and some veggie sandwiches for lunch.

Upcoming Events

June 9 at 8am at the Vegan Nom Coach Jacobie with J-FIT Nation will be doing a 1-hr Bootcamp class. It’s Vegan Fit Camp.

June 12 Vegan night at Winebelly was off to a great start with their fabulous Truffled Poutine and Tomato bread but then they lost power. The event is rescheduled for next Tuesday.

June 12 Healthy food meetup from ATX vegans at Casa de Luz

July 14 Elle’s Cafe Elevated Vegan Night. Elle’s Cafe will be delivering a fixed 5 course pre-fixe menu for 30 people that is vegan whole food plant based, oil-free, and gluten-free. More info and RSVP.

June 17 There are still tickets available for the annual Austin Vegan Party Barge

June 18 is Vegan Book Club at Central Market North. The group will be reading Animal Farm.

Contest Closed Congrats Sherri!

TO WIN a Freeto Burrito

To celebrate their opening on Manchacha the Vegan Yacht will be giving away a Freeto Burrito. To enter leave a comment on the Facebook post!

Last week’s winners for BBQ sandwiches are 

Alison, Erica, Zach, and Spencer please check your email.

BBQ Revolution GIVEAWAY + #atxvegan News

BBQRevolution3

Austin’s own Barbeque Revolution is BACK!!! It is now located in front of White Mountain Foods at 3301 E. 5th St.

Giveaway closed 6/7/2018  To win a free sandwich of their new MahCrib (Smokey Tempeh ribs slathered in barbecue sauce and topped with slivered onions and tart pickles, all on a hoagie style bun) just comment below and I’ll choose FOUR WINNERS at random.BBQmahKrib

More Upcoming Events:

Thursday 5/31/2018 Celis Brewery is having a Vegan Brews and BBQ night hosted by Southern Fried Vegan

Friday 6/1/2018 Is June ATX Vegan Drinks at Possum Park, it will be BYOB and you can get food from The Great Y’all, Bistro Vonish, Zucchini Kill Bakery, and newcomers, SNO Place Like Home.

Saturday 6/2/2018 The Wandering Vegan Market at Buzz Mill from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. It’s the last market until September and your last chance to buy cruelty-free skincare products, makeup, jewelry, candles, succulents, artwork, clothing and much more while eating a Plow burger.

Saturday 6/2/2018 This weekend  Vegandale is coming to Houston! There will be vendors from all over like No Bones Beach Club in Portland and Compton Vegan from LA plus all your favorites from Austin like Rabbit Food and Capital City Bakery.

Sunday 6/3/2018 Monthly Vegan Brunch at Mr. Natural at 1901 E Cesar Chavez St 10:30am-2pm . This one will have soul food including Fried chic’n, Sweet potato waffles with bourbon maple syrup, Mac and cheese.

Tuesday 6/5/2018 Vegan Night at Winebelly. This South Austin favorite will have a full vegan takeover of their menu all night.

You can also still get tickets for the ATX Vegan Party Barge June 17.

Restaurant News:

The Vegan Yacht will soon reopen in the ’45 parking lot.

Rabbit Food Grocery Recently had their grand opening at their new spot by the Beer Plant.

Recent additions to my Austin Vegan Friendly Guide include Loro’s  Smokehouse with their Szechuan Bowl and Won Tons and Thai Salsa Jugo Fresh Juice which has vegan entrees downtown along with smootheis, a popcorn tofu sandwich at Holy Roller downtown, another vegan taco at Barley Bean Cafe, Breakfast tacos at The Funkadelic Brunch in South Austin. Bento Picnic on the east side which has cute bento box meals, Yuyo a Peruvian restaurant on Manor, Le Bleu on Burnet at 183 which is an offshoot from the Saigon le Vendeur truck which and has tofu and seitan for their vermicelli bows, Sushi Bang Bang on 183 also has lots of vegan sushi,  and a nice update that Bao’d Up in Mueller is back to using vegan dough. ls-austin-vegan-guide

Anything I missed please leave in the comments!

Taco Cleanse Release Party at Book People Dec 7th at 7

Facebook Event

The best selling “cleanse” book of 2015, THE TACO CLEANSE, is having release party this Monday, December 7th at Book People on 6th and Lamar. Come and get your book signed while playing Taco Trivia, taking pictures with a DOG in taco costume, and get your book signed by REAL TACO SCIENTISTS! We will be answering all of your questions and giving away tons of prizes. You can buy a case of books and BOOM just like that your Christmas shopping is done. The Taco Cleanse is approved for all stages of life and an acceptable part of any diet plan!DSC_0759

AUSTIN- Make plans to come to the first ever Vegan Bazaar Friday May 29

The last time I went to the Marchesa Hall it was to see performing cats.

I even saw a cat play the piano.

The Vegan Bazaar next weekend is going to be EVEN BETTER THAN THAT.

First of all, there are going to be tons of vegan vendors from all over the country. If you’ve been vegan for a long time and you haven’t tried any of the new products out this shit is going to blow your mind. And OH YEAH if you are a vegan hater or one of those people who say “I could never go vegan because the cheese is so gross” you are going to try some of the new fermented cashew or macadamia cheeses and you’ll probably just go vegan on the spot. The world has changed! All of our favorite local companies will be there too with the usual vegan doughnuts, cupcakes, and ice cream that Austin is so famous for. They are also going to have some of our most delicious food trucks representing including Cool Beans, Vegan Nom, Sadie B Foods, and Arlo’s which will all have vegan tacos if you are, like me, on a taco cleanse (it’s a way of life) but they’ll have other stuff too for all the non taco loving weirdos out there. And there is even going to be an Earth Balance Photobooth! Have you tried their freaking puffs? You will get too.

You can make a whole day of the event because they are going to have speakers and demos too. I am really excited that Gene Baur of Farm Sanctuary is coming to give the opening talk, if you haven’t seen him on the Daily Show watch it now!  And Terry Hope Romero who wrote two of my all time favorite cookbooks the Veganomicon and Viva Vegan (the best vegan Latin cookbook out there) is going to be here too!

And there will be cooking demos! Chocolate Expert Fran Costigan is going to demo vegan desserts! I went one of her workshops at the last Vida Vegan con and I learned so much. Bianca Phillips aka Vegan Crunk is going to demo DIY Kombucha + Homebrewing!

And there will be panels! My friend Joanna Vaught will be moderating the vegan family and parenting panel with Monique Koch, Sayward Rebhal, Brian “Sexy Vegan” Patton.

And your’s truly will be moderating the How We Made Austin Awesome vegan community panel. We are going to have Kristen Davenport owner of Capital City Bakery, Jessica Morris co-owner of Rabbit Food Grocery, and Chris Rios owner of  The Vegan Nom. Molly Frisinger is also going to be there to talk about  how Texas VegFest came to be. We are going to discuss how our community got together and how you can participate here in Austin or how you can make your own town’s vegan activism just as fun as ours! Of course this will include the importance of cupcakes, tacos, and all the other parts of untraditional vegan activism that don’t leave people feeling hopeless about the world we live in. FAIR WARNING: Kristen and I sometime can get into arguments so this panel could turn into a Jerry Springer style melee with chairs flying and secret baby daddies showing up. YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN.

It’s the first ever VVC sponsored even that’s open to the public and I’ve even got a discount code ” weheartaustin ” so go to Evenbrite. Buy some tickets. Have the best day ever. There may even be a pig there. It’s going to be so fun.

Come to Texas VegFest this Saturday April 4th!

The other day I was at Unity Vegan Kitchen eating the most amazing chimichangas and chatting with owner Leslie about Texas Vegfest where she will be vending along with many of our other favorite vegan food trailers. She talked about how at her first Vegfest she was so blown away by how many other people out there care about animals  just like us and what a fabulous community we have. She told me that Vegfest actually inspired the name Unity Vegan Kitchen which I thought was just beautiful. Sometimes as a vegetarian you can really start to feel alone when the default at any meal is always meat so it can be really heartening to be surrounded by other people who celebrate your lifestyle and are stoked on vegan food. Suddenly we get live in a world where the vegan barbeque has the longest line.

It’s also a world where you don’t need pants. 

Although I think that only applies to the very young, I’m looking into it.

You can find out about so many awesome companies, local vegan friendly businesses, activists, and community groups that you are sure to find something to be a part of. Here is a list of who is going to be there.

And then there are food demonstrations and talks about vegan health and fitness going on all day. I’m especially excited to see Jason Wyrick talk tacos and Mo from Mo Betta Vegan cook up easy spring dishes deviled cukes and blackened chickpea salad.

I’ll admit sampling food is my favorite part.

But there will also be live music, kids activities, and other goings on throughout the day. So come hungry and leave happy (wait is that the mcdonalds slogan? I watch too much tv!). It’s going to be a beautiful weekend.

AUSTINITES: Call your local representatives *today* to help animals

The Cruelest Show on Earth

For years a group of animal lovers in Austin have been trying to stop some of the worst forms of cruelty to animals in our time. Yes, I am talking about the damn circus where they regularly control elephants and other animals through shackles and pain. Austin For Cruelty Free Entertainment is working to ban bull hooks and chains and they can win this campaign if you take five minutes to call your city council members today. I hear time and time again that the best way to actually make political change is to work at the local level. Just a handful of calls can completely sway a council member because not that many people are engaged so don’t put it off! I don’t want to call either but they even made a script for us so it will be super easy. Here are the details:

Hello Everyone. Thank you for supporting our campaign to protect animals in circuses all these years. We are now at the most important and critical phase of this years-long process to pass an ordinance that will ban painful devices used on animals in circuses, as well as banning chains used on elephants in circuses.
We need your help right now to help us pass this ordinance. Here’s what you can do today to help us out:

1) Call our city council members and mayor today and ask them to support this campaign. It only takes about 60 seconds to make each call. You will be speaking to a council member’s aide who may ask for your name and phone number; please give that information to them. Here’s what you can say when you call:

“Hello. My name is (your first name, last name). I live in Austin. I’m calling to ask Council Member (name) to support Council Member Tovo’s proposal asking the city attorney to write an ordinance that will ban painful devices used on animals in circuses, one that also includes a ban on chaining or tethering elephants.”

Our city council wants to hear from you about important issues so please call them now so they’ll know how important stopping animal cruelty in circuses is to our community. One last thing: Our city council is very busy so please make your call very brief.

Here are the city council names and phone numbers and email addresses:

• Mayor Lee Leffingwell – 512-974-2250
• Council Member Mike Martinez – 512-974-2264,
• Council Member Bill Spelman – 512-974-2256
• Council Member Sheryl Cole – 512-974-2266
• Council Member Laura Morrison – 512-974-2258
• Council Member Chris Riley – 512-974-2260

2) You may also email our city council and mayor all at once by going here http://austintexas.gov/mail/all-council-members. Your email will be sent to all of them once you click the SEND button.

Here’s what you can write in your email:

“Hello. My name is (your first name, last name). I live in Austin. I’m emailing to ask Council Member (name) to support Council Member Tovo’s proposal asking the city attorney to write an ordinance that will ban painful devices used on animals in circuses, one that also includes a ban on chains or tethering elephants. Thank you.”

3) Join us at 10:00 a.m., on Thursday, December 11th, at City Hall where the city council and mayor will vote on a proposal asking the city attorney to write a law to protect animals in circuses in Austin.

We’ll need you to do the following once you arrive:

• Register your support for this proposal by voting at one of the kiosks located in the lobby of city hall. Two of our members will be stationed next to the kiosks to assist you with this step. This takes 2 minutes to do so please do this.
• If you feel comfortable speaking in support of this proposal then sign up to speak for 3 minutes during the city council meeting. You do not need to speak for the entire 3 minutes but you cannot go over 3 minutes either. Please be polite when speaking, give your full name and simply ask the city council to protect animals in circuses by banning painful devices used on animals in traveling shows as well as banning chains on elephants.
Follow Austin For Cruelty Free Entertainment on facebook or twitter for updates.

Vegan Weekend Plans

One thing that I do to make myself feel really terrible is make a ton of plans for the weekend and then cancel them all. This is going to be one of those weekends because there is so much vegan action that sounds like a blast. But, if you read yesterday’s post and saw what my deepest desires are then you know that I won’t make it to all of these events. Hopefully there are more energetic people out there than me and so this post is for you!

First up, is the return of Vegan Drinks tonight at Cheer up Charlies. It’s super exciting that Arlo’s reopened at the Red River location and they are even giving away free french fries if you tell them the secret password: VEGAN DRINKS FRIES! . The drink specials will include The Vegan Yeti (White Russian), The Banana Hammock (pineapple, banana juice, coconut milk & rum), and Whiskey Root Beer Floats made with ice cream provided by Sweet Ritual! It’s tonight Friday at September 5th at 7pm.

On Saturday morning, I will spend the morning at the Beagle Brigade at Norwood Estate Dog Park. Then, at 5pm Unity Vegan Kitchen is going to be throwing a birthday party at their new location in South Austin! And they are going to be making their chicken and waffles with an even better recipe! Hard to imagine cause they were pretty amazing at the 4th of July Party. 

If you don’t stalk Austin vegan business you might not know that there have been a lot of changes in the past few weeks. The Northloop trailer park had to close down completely and Red Rabbit moved into Monkeywrench Books, Taco ‘Bout It closed down, Unity moved to the South Austin Social lot, and BBQ Revolution moved next to Brass Ovaries at 3111 Manor Rd. The Vegan Nom moved back to it’s original location on North Loop. The Dojo closed down and it looks like the Health Box shut down too.

On Sunday Mr. Natural is serving up their monthly vegan brunch buffer at the Ceaser Chavez location.  They will be serving a Boston creme cake as a special treat. Counter Culture will also have brunch, as they do every weekend, this time they will be continuing the special of Blueberry Blue Corn Pancakes with Organic Maple Syrup which are amazing! And as usual Counter Culture will also be hosting the Rabbit Food Pop-Up shop so get your orders in. And if you haven’t read about it, please check out their awesome kickstarter ’cause it’s going to be the best thing ever.

On the horizon for next week Counter Culture will be hosting a Wine and Cheese night on September 10th. If you haven’t tried their cheese, it’s so good! I promise you will love it. They have also gotten together another screening of Cowspiricy because the last one sold out and it’s getting rave reviews. Finally, next weekend there is going to be a AVVA+VRA End of Summer Cookout .

So that’s the weekend haps that I know about. I can at least guarantee you one thing, I will spend the weekend eating vegan food.

Happy Veganmofo!

Taco or Beer Challenge

taco or beer challenge

If there is one thing I can promise to always stand for it’s that I am pro-choice ’til I die.

If there is one thing I am always hungry for, it’s tacos. Last veganmofo I even did an all out Taco Cleanse.

I am thrilled that these two defining passions of mine are finally coming together in the Taco Or Beer Challenge. I think the whole idea might have started as a satire of the ice bucket challenge, you do something, tell everyone that you did it, and then donate to a cause. Why waste a bunch of water and pour ice on your head when you could instead eat a delicious taco or drink a refreshing beer (or both!) and then donate to fund abortion? It makes a lot more sense to me! I made these awesome breakfast tacos which had refried beans, avocado, salsa verde, green chile peanuts and homeade queso fresco. Then I donated to the Whole Woman’s Texas Action Fund. It breaks my heart that our lovely feminist abortion provider Whole Woman’s Health had to close their doors in Austin because of disgusting Republican political shenanigans.

Please take the challenge, here is a great site that can shows different ways you can fund abortion. If you are in Austin I also have a list of my favorite tacos. And if you do, you can nominate someone to take the  I am nominating my pal Jojo the Vegan in Brighton because she is awesome and visiting Austin right now so I know she has easy access to tacos!!!

 

Vegan Bake Sale for Austin Pet’s Alive this Sunday at Wheatsville South

It’s time again for this year’s Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale and out Austin contribution gets bigger and better every year!

me & Kristen at the Counter Culture sale last year

If you like you can still sign up to bake here  http://tinyurl.com/2014AustinWWVBS

But if you want to help the leaders of Austin’s no-kill movement and thousands of pets find forever homes the best way is to let everyone know about the sale this weekend! Share our Facebook event! Harass your friends! Dedicate songs to us on the radio! Whatever it takes!

We will be at Wheatsville South this Sunday April 27 from 11:30am – 3:00pm

There will be gluten-free, soy free and savory items at the sale. And maybe even some dog treats.

The most exciting part is that we will also have treats from Sugar Mama’s, Happy Vegan Bakery, Red Rabbit Bakery, Mr. Natural, Patticake Cupcakery, Unity Vegan Kitchen, and of course Capital City Bakery.

Help us make this sale this best yet!