Tag Archives: north loop

“Taco ‘Bout It” goes all vegan & creates the first vegan trailer park in the world!

UPDATE 8-26-2014 – Due to unforseen circumstances the Northloop trailer park is no more. Taco ’bout It had to shut down, Red Rabbit moved inside Monkeywrench books, and Unity & BBQ Revolution are still looking for new spots. Trailer parks really have a way of breaking your heart 😦

Vegan Trailers BBQ Revolution, Unity Vegan Kitchen, and Red Rabbit Bakery opened one by one at the Northloop House and Yard. The taco trailer “Taco ‘Bout It“, also at the park on North Loop, offered one simple vegan friendly taco right when they opened. But, as vegan trailers opened around them, they started adding more exciting vegan tacos to the menu and they watched their vegan sales outpace their meaty counterparts. The owners realized it would be more profitable to go 100% vegan and thus the first all vegan trailer park in the world was created.

This might be my favorite story ever.

I want to send it to every taco joint in town.

If you make us tacos WE WILL COME! Check out Taco ‘Bout It’s menu:

The first vegan trailer park in the world, right here in Austin Texas!
There is BBQ Revolution where Blake Newman is smoking tasty vegan proteins and serving up traditional sides like mac & cheese and potato salad.

They’ve even been running a deal with the Americana Tattoo parlor next door (it uses all vegan ink BTW) that if you get a BBQ Revolution tattoo in a visible place from Dean Mitchell you get a free meal once a week for life!

Next door is the best doughnuts in town from our favorite anarchist collective Red Rabbit Bakery. They have their standard vegan doughnuts most days like Mexican Chocolate and Maple Glazed with Walnuts but then they also have specialty doughnuts like the Austin Cream Pie (Vanilla glaze with chocolate pudding filling) and rotating specials made with seasonal ingredients like Hill Country Peaches. 

Next door to them is our beloved Unity Vegan Kitchen run by one of my favorite vegan chefs in town, Leslie Nelms. This woman can cook! She first came on the atxvegan scene at VegFest 2013 when everyone was completely blown away by her cashew lasagna. Since then her trailer has gone on to great success, pleasing pretty much everyone with a menu that has everything from muffalata sandwiches to healthy spring rolls packed with vegetables and garlicky quinoa. Last week she was even running a Chickn’ and Waffles special. This Saturday they are celebrating their one year birthday!

It’s great to watch the community around the Northloop House and Yard develop. They regularly throw Vegan Riots with live music and all sorts of vendors and sometimes even a pig or two will stop by like they did at the 4th of July party! You know it’s a vegan party when a pig shows up.

The big events also bring in tons of other favorite organizations. At the last event, Action For Animals, Bistro Vonish, Vegan Drinks, Sweet Ritual Ice Cream, and Skull & Cakebones were all selling their wares and promoting the cause.

Rabbit Food Grocery had a popup shop selling us everything from the new Earth Balance mac & cheese and Bee Free Honey to vitamins

Maximum Salad made an awesome video where you can see the whole thing. (We are clearly all way excited about the pigs)

 

This Friday BBQ Revolution is even running a fundraiser for the Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary which was robbed so please go check it out if you can!

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You say you want a revolution, a BBQ Revolution

It’s kind of been an embarrassment that we don’t have vegan barbecue in Austin. I think it’s the most common question I get asked and I’ve got nothing to recommend. There were a couple places using barbecue sauce but as we Texans know, it’s not about the sauce so much as the smoking. If there is one thing the newest vegan trailer, BBQ Revolution, is all about it’s smoking! They even put together a giant smoker to make up there savory vegan goodness on site. I’ve been watching the whole project unfold on instagram and dying to try it and last night I finally got to brave the traffic and the cold to order my first plate of authentic Texas vegan barbecue.

Oh, and did I mention this new barbecue trailer is next door to the Rabbit Food Bakery trailer, aka everyone’e favorite anarchist doughnut making collective? It almost makes me want to sell our house in south Austin and move back to our little apartment on North Loop….almost.

BBQ revolution has just a couple of options right now, as they have just barely opened, but they do plan on expanding the menu and have specials like fried green tomatoes . I tried both the soy curls and the wheat roast which were both smothered in the Texas-style barbecue sauce. They will also soon be offering local Hearty Vegan Tempeh which I’m excited to try. I don’t have a lot of other vegan barbecue to compare this too but I can tell you that it’s legit.  It was intensely smokey so I really enjoyed mixing it with the more neutral sides. I tried the macaroni & cheese which was old school nooch-based but super creamy and the potato salad which reminded me of my grandma’s; mellow and delicious. They also serve it as a traditional sandwich with white bread, pickles, and onions.

If you want to try it, and you should, tonight is the night because they are throwing a huge grand opening party. They are going to have fire dancer’s and music, beer, Red Rabbit is going to stay open late and sell doughnuts, Rabbit Food is going to have a pop-up shop with all of their awesome products, and they are even selling local soap. It should be a total throwdown. It is going to be cash only and they are going to have a limited menu “$9 plates $5 sandwiches 3 protein choices and 3 sides to choose from with a plate. Sandwiches come with potato salad, coleslaw and of course pickles and onions!” The weather should be a lot nicer than it has been and hey, if they run out of food, note that the Vegan Nom is closed for the weekend but Sweet Ritual is a few blocks away and I heard they have an amazing sweet potato ice cream.

Austin’s Vegan Bakesale is COMING Sunday April 29, 2012!!

I love everything about charity bakesales. I think my favorite part is when folks are first dropping off their treats and you get to see all the enthusiasm; everyone from professional bakers to little kids who frosted their first cupcake are all smiley and excited. I love during the sale when the families with little children come and a parent tells the kid they can just get one thing and they look like they are going to cry having to make the decision. I love it when the joggers slow down, try and look away, but can’t resist all the sweet treats in front of them.

Capital City Bakery will be donating whoopie pies and cupcakes!

Austin’s vegan community has been putting on bakesales for years now and every time they get a little bit bigger, the offerings become more elaborate, and the amount of money we get to donate to organizations that help animals or people in need gets a little bit heftier. I’m hoping this year will keep on trend because we have more sponsors than ever before AND a new vegan trailer is having their grand opening party on North Loop in Counter Culture’s old spot at the same time!!! On April 29th MonkeyWrench Books is going to be hosting our World Wide Vegan bakesale and donating all the money to Sunday Day Farms Animal Sanctuary. Even Brooke from Sunny Day will be at the sale so if you want to find out more information about their wonderful animal sanctuary she’ll be there for the asking. They are such a wonderful organization and I am so happy that we are donating money to animals that have been abused or neglected.

Wes made these pistachio rosewater cupcakes once and I can't wait to see what he bring this time.

We still need your help! The more people that bake the better so please sign up if you haven’t had a chance yet. If you are a little intimidated by vegan baking let me assure you that many pioneers have already done a ton of work figuring out how to do it and it is easy to get great results! There are lots of fantastic recipes out there on the ppk, the worldwide vegan bakesale site, oh she glows, and tons of other blogs. Here are some guidelines for substitutions. The trickiest part for those new to vegan baking is usually honey (it’s made by bees so it isn’t vegan), non-dairy creamer (which contains dairy!) and weird ingredients with long scienc-y names. Usually at the bottom of an ingredients list it will say “contains Milk” but if you aren’t sure ask the friendly folks and Wheatsville, Whole Foods, or even Central Market and they should be able to help you out if you can’t google it. Most vegans don’t worry about “May contain trace elements” because that just means that the same machines were used to create the product.

I love when people change things up and make savory items! These tiny pies were a huge hit at Austin Bakes for Japan

If you still aren’t sure about your baking prowess please consider helping staff the table at the event and most importantly spreading the news about the bakesale by inviting all of your friends on facebook, posting about it on twitter (use #atxvegan if you want to be a badass), pinning recipes in pinterest, taking photos on instagram, adding bakesale volunteer to your Linked in resume, + 1 on google plus and whatever other cockamamie networks you can think of. 

And don’t forget to come out Sunday April 29th for some decadent treats. There is going to be gluten free and sugar free options so no excuses! In addition to cookies, cupcakes, and cinnamon buns there is also going to be Donut Holes from Red Rabbit Bakery! And Zico is donating boxes of coconut water!

mmm doughnuts

And oh yeah, I am going to make ICE CREAM SANDWICHES because I love you all and I love Sunny Day Farms Animal Sanctuary. Sometimes it is hard to believe that I get to make ice cream and cookies to help poor animals that have been abused or neglected. Then they get to live in a world where they don’t have to worry and they are taken care of and loved. It’s bakesale magic!