Cherrywood Coffeehouse: Vegan Breakfast tacos and coffee, what more do you need

Last night I was at the Vegan Nom with, what can only be described as a plethora of vegans including the wonderful organizers of Vida Vegan Con, and I learned that the Cherrywood Coffeehouse’s vegan taco options are not as well known as I, a taco connoisseur, would have guessed. In fact, someone even accused me of “holding out”. I took this comment to heart and decided to put things right by breaking out the old blogging machine and posting some pics less than 24 hours later. If that’s not service, I don’t know what is.

Cherrywood coffeehouse is a lovely little spot right of 35 next to the monarch convenient store on 38 1/2 street. They have salads, hummus tacos and sandwiches, and smoothies along with espresso and beer but the real draw for me is their breakfast tacos with their delightful shoestring potatoes.

The range of vegan ingredients is extensive and I think they are the only place in town that puts deep fried tofu cubes in a taco…with deep fried potatoes. Ah, the healthy vegan diet.  They also have soyrizo, guacamole, mushrooms, refried beans, and lime rice. I always have a really hard time deciding but the last time I went with an tex-mex theme for one (tofu, potato, and guac on flour) and a Mexican theme (beans, rice, and mushrooms on corn) for the other and it worked out really well. And I didn’t have to eat again for the rest of the day because these suckers are pretty big.

It can get really busy during prime brunch hours, especially if it’s a nice day and the patio fills up, but on weekdays you can always find a table. And they serve breakfast tacos all day so check it out next time the taco craving strikes.

 

Elsi’s Breakfast Tacos

A few months ago Molly from the Lonestar Plate did a fantastic post about the best places to go for brunch in Austin. I had heard her rave about the vegan chorizo from Elsi’s before but after reading more I had to try it as soon as I could make my way to distant north Austin. 

Elsi’s is a great place to go for brunch because it isn’t so packed you have to wait in line. I asked Molly what specifically to order because they had a fair amount of choices and she recommended a build your own breakfast taco with black beans, soy chorizo, and avocado. I have had a lot of vegan chorizo in my life. In fact, I think it was the first fake meat product I ever tried. But Molly definitely knows what she is talking about here. Unlike every other version of vegetable chorizo I have tried this one was actually made with vegetables! It had little bits of onions and pepper cooked right in it. It was also a little less greasy than many of the versions I’ve tried. The only thing missing on my taco was some fried plantains. Next time!

And here is a true story: this morning I wasn’t feeling so well and then I had a taco and then I felt fine! Great even! Full of energy and ready to start my day. Breakfast tacos do have some known healing qualities but now I think there is a good chance that they can SAVE LIVES! I’m thinking about writing a book, “A taco a day”. I’m sure it will be a best seller although clearly am going to need more personal anecdotes.

Working Austin favorites into your vegan meal plan

Today’s blog post comes from Carolyn from the blog content guild who wanted to share with you how to make restaurant dishes at home. I do love migas and I sure miss the version they used to have at Snackbar. 

Trying to find the quintessential Austin food is likely to start an argument for the ages. Your friends will insist the food truck phenomenon is the cat’s meow but you’re more partial to the cutting edge foodie culture championed by the master chefs of Austin. Either way, when it comes to breakfast everyone can agree that Austin has cornered the market on breakfast tacos and migas. As you well know, finding acceptable versions to fit into your vegan meal planisn’t going to be easy. We hear there are quick to-go options for the intrepid vegan who’s willing to traipse all over town, but wouldn’t it just be easier to make them?Mouthwatering migas

Migas is a dish from Spain and Portugal, although some people think it can be traced back even further to a type of African couscous. Traditionally, it was a dish for using leftover bread that wasn’t fit to eat in other dishes. In Texas we’ve changed it around a bit to include tortillas instead, along with scrambled eggs, onion, pepper, tomatoes and cheese. Obviously, the eggs and cheese aren’t going to work so we’re going to need some creativity. Fortunately, the food wizards who make soy products have made it easier for us.

Ingredients
- 1 14-ounce package soft tofu
- 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon canola oil, divided
- 3 stale corn tortillas torn into strips
- 1 pinch of ground turmeric or to taste
- 2 jalapeños, diced
- 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chile or to taste
- 4 scallions, trimmed and chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 cup shredded vegan cheese
- 1 cup of your favorite salsa

Drain the tofu in a colander. Add the teaspoon of oil to a skillet and heat over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the tortilla strips and fry until golden, then remove and set aside. Add the rest of the oil to the pan and crumble the tofu into the pan along with the jalapeños, chipotle, turmeric, salt and scallions. Cook the mixture until the water has evaporated and the tofu has the consistency of scrambled eggs, about five minutes. Add in the tortilla strips, tomatoes and vegan cheese and you’re ready to go! Add some of your favorite salsa if you want, or eat it as is. You can also eat the mixture in tortillas, but that’s a lot like our next option.

Tremendous tacos

Tacos are the perfect breakfast food. Tasty as any pancakes and a trillion times more portable, you can’t go wrong with this Austin favorite. Your quest for vegan breakfast tacos could be a little bit easier as places like Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse and Whole Foods have vegan options. That said, don’t you think it’s time to spread your culinary wings? Who knows, you could be the next food truck rock star if you create a bunch of tasty recipes to share with the world. Take inspiration from the migas recipe to create your own delectable version of Austin’s favorite breakfast food.

Whole Foods Breakfast Tacos have Daiya Cheese Now!

I think I have probably written about whole foods breakfast tacos more than anything else on this blog. To me, tacos are the perfect food and sometimes the only food! The breakfast taco is the most important taco of the day and when it comes to vegan breakfast taco options whole foods just has more than anybody else, and they are a great deal, and I can stop right on my way to work. Sure, they are kind of evil, but I have friends that work there that love it and they really do promote vegan food more and more. The key factor to their taco brilliance is that they are so freaking good. The spelt tortillas are warm and comforting, on a good day the roasted potatoes are salty and soft and crunchy all at once, the pico de gallo is always fresh and delightful.  So at least one morning a week I go, get my coffee, and stand in an oftentimes epic line behind people in teeny tiny little jogging outfits to wait for my taco.I spend the time thinking if I will get my regular -tofu potato pico on spelt- or branch out and get vegan chorizo, roasted vegetables, cilantro lime rice, black beans, re-fried beans or spring for avocado instead. Over the weekend  (they serve breakfast until 1, it is 11am the other days) I was looking at the new signage and noticed another free topping- Daiya Vegan Cheese. So, if you are a fan of Daiya you are in luck! The new vegan cheese has really taken over the lamar store. They even have premade take and bake vegan pizzas. I had one with seven different kinds of olives for my birthday a few weeks ago.

mmm olives.

ALSO don’t forget that Vegan Drinks is this Wednesday at Snack Bar. You don’t have to be a vegan to come!

The Freakin Vegan at Taco Deli

I love Taco Deli. It is one of those places that I regretfully didn’t try for a long time. We take our dogs to the Spyglass greenbelt access point sometimes and I had seen Taco deli for years but I didn’t stop in until a couple years ago and then I was soon hooked. The whole place has kind of  a summer camp at a strip mall kind of feel to me. Maybe because we sometimes hike there but also because there are tons of trees around it and on summer days everyone is sitting outside looking active and happy with their dogs.

today was not a summer day

I noticed the breakfast tacos seemingly everywhere around town but they were always eggs, bacon, & cheese so I didn’t think that they would have a lot for me. I couldn’t have been more wrong! Taco Deli is one of the most veg friendly taco joints in Austin.  They have 5 vegetarian tacos on the menu and most can be easily veganized. The black beans are vegan so you can choose the Frontera Fundido Portabella (no cheese) it comes with roasted poblanos, sautéed peppers, and onion strips or the Florentino which comes with sautéed spinach, mushrooms, and peppers or the Veggie Taco which is their veggie mix of shredded cabbage, carrots,  zuchini, mushrooms, peppers, celery, and onions sautéed in olive oil and sherry. They also use the veggie mix in the burrito and the tortas.

The most fun part is that they have a secret vegan taco. I heard from someone somewhere that  this off menu item is called “The Freakin Vegan” and now this is what I typically order. At first I was a little hesitant. What if I ordered the freakin vegan and they looked at me like I was just making shit up? So far, that has never happened so I happily get my black bean, avocado, verde sauce, and pico taco on a corn tortilla.

I also highly recommend the chips and guacamole. You get a ton of chips for only a few dollars with some of my favorite guac in town.  You can also get rice, beans, guac, or roasted peppers with any order. I wish that every place had the options of Taco Deli. They really only have two things that I wish I could change. One disappointment is that they don’t use tofu, tempeh, or seitan which, for me,  is kind of sad. The non-vegan menu is really creative and I think it would be so easy to sub fake chicken or pressed tofu in any of the chicken tacos with fantastic results. Also, they close at three every day and that can be pretty early for us to make it there on the weekend but that isn’t really a problem since most people aren’t that lazy. So the next time you sleep over at your favorite south Austinite’s house and you are cruising up mopac stop in for a taco. Studies have shown that it only takes 5 minutes and your happiness factor will enlarge by approximately 67 percent. And 67 percent isn’t the kind of number that you can laugh off.

Goodseed Organic

I have passed by this trailer many times and wanted to stop for their breakfast tacos but it has always eluded me. Every time I go over there with the trailer as my destination it is all closed up but when I am in a hurry going somewhere else it is wide open. Today, I was headed over to the Fair Bean for one of their delicious empanadas when I noticed it was open AND I was hungry so I did a U-turn and stopped by for a quick taco on my way to work.

Their menu was very vegan friendly and very raw food oriented although I wouldn’t call it a full on raw food place. The first thing that I noticed was that they carry Buddha’s Brew Kombucha which I am totally obsessed with and bought a case of at the farmer’s market last weekend. So that is great to know that there is another place I can get it since they don’t carry it at whole foods or Wheatsville.  The breakfast menu included a manna bread peanut butter and jelly sandwich, oatmeal with homemade hemp milk, and steamed greens.

The tacos had the usual vegetarian suspects and for vegans they had a bean (black or refried pinto), seasoned potato, and avocado taco which is what I opted for. They also had the largest choice of tortillas that I think I have ever seen, including a gluten free brown rice tortilla, sprouted corn, wheat, flour and sprouted wheat. My taco was cooked on the spot and came out in just a couple of minutesIt was delicious! Both the potatoes and the beans seemed to be seasoned quite nicely and the avocado had a vinaigrette dressing. The filling could have easily filled two tacos and I was nervous that they only gave me one corn tortilla but it held up. The tortilla was kind of strange and I think next time I would go for a different one. The salsa and the pico were both spot on and added a nice flavor to the taco. I think it is a nice addition to the south austin vegan taco scene.

For lunch they have several different options including a couple different green salads and a pasta salad. I think this is a great spot for quick healthy eating, especially if you stay away from gluetan or are . And the coffee was good too!

VeganMoFo- Taco Town III

Sometimes I have a waking nightmare that I will be riding up to Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse and find a sign that says, “closed to put up condos”. In Austin this seems to be happening more all the time. Nothing was worse than going to the Cosmic Cafe for my birthday and seeing that it was closed. But thankfully Bouldin continues to go strong. It is one of my favorite coffee shops in Austin.

Bouldin is on South First, just down the street from me so I like to hang out under the oak trees and drink Mexican Mochas and watch the hippies and the scenesters do there thing.

On beautiful Sunday mornings it can get kind of busy but the people and staff are so laid back that you never feel like you are in a rush to get your food and get out. It is the kind of place to while away the morning.

It is also my favorite vegan food in Austin. I somehow didn’t even realize for the first few years that it was an all vegetarian menu. All of their entrees can be made vegan, and really they should be made vegan because Bouldin Creek has the best tofu scramble I have ever had in my life. It could make anyone go vegan. So often at restaurants the tofu has too many spices and is too liquidy, and the tofu has been crumbled into pieces that are just too tiny. At Bouldin Creek the ‘fu always comes out absolutely brilliant. You can sub it in any of the egg dishes, I love the Breakfast Sammich with tomatoes and spinach mixed in the tofu on a poppyseed bagel. My man Dan loves the Slacker’s Banquet which is rice & beans with vegan cornbread. They even have a soul food plate.

The tacos are out of this world. They are all named after people and each is delightful. Especially with a homemade potato hash cake on the side.

Here is what I had, on the left is the Ren, sauteed onions, garlic, jalapeno, and tofu scramble. In the middle is the glorious potato hash cake, which is crispy on the outside creamy in the middle and filled with rosemary goodness. The taco on the right is the Timmy and had homemade vegan chorizo, tomatoes, and red & black beans.

Bouldin’s chorizo is out of this world good. You can even order a side of it and on its own it is quite good which I can’t say for any other chorizo I have ever had.

Now I am so hungry, I hope I’m not driving everyone crazy with this taco tour, I will try to go back to cooking at home now that the weekend is over.

VeganMoFo- Taco Town II

After blogging yesterday about the wonder that is the Whole Food’s Breakfast Taco I became really hungry. I knew that only a breakfast taco could satiate me and so we went to Polvo’s for a glorious breakfast that only cost $4.20. I got one taco that had mushrooms, spinach and potatoes.

And the other was napolitos, beans, and rice. One of the greatest aspects of Polvos is that they have three different salsa’s that are some of the best I have ever had.

After Polvo’s we drove out to the Hill Country to play some Frisbee Golf, it was the most beautiful day.

Vegan MoFo- Taco Town

Austin Texas is famous for a lot of reasons and it is a great city to live in. Not only is it beautiful and filled with lots of fun outdoor activities but it is also a really fun city, has the countries best movie theater, an awesome music scene, multiple great festivals, and a lot of friendly people. All of these are great reasons to enjoy living here but there is one aspect that I could never live without—the breakfast taco.

If you have only had a bad experience with these (maybe a McDonald’s burrito) I implore you to come to Austin and try them out for yourself. Nearly every place in town has the standard variety- the bacon egg and cheese- but you can often find vegan versions as well, like black bean and potato. The key to a great taco is in the tortilla and having a good salsa or fresh pico de gallo.

My favorite vegan versions in Austin are Mr. Natural, Bouldin Creek, and Polvos, they all have multiple options and plentiful combinations. However, when it comes to vegan breakfast tacos nothing beats Whole Foods. Whole Foods actually started as an Austin company so the store at corporate headquarters can blow your mind (an your wallet) they even have guided audio tours through the store! It is massive and their are numerous little islands throughout the store that you can dine at. There is a sushi stand, a raw vegan table, even a chocolate island with a chocolate fountain. But the thing that brings me to whole foods again and again is the breakfast tacos. They are only open from 7 to 11 and the line can get pretty long but the wait is worth it because for just two dollars you get your choice of flour, corn, wheat or spelt tortillas warmed up and filled with any combination of
tofu scamble
fried potatoes
black beans
roasted vegetables
cilantro rice
or vegan sausage
they you can top it all off with salsa, pico, jalapeños, and cilantro if you wish. They are only 2 bucks and always huge. You can make your own at home pretty easy but nothing beats the whole foods taco in my world. I love them and when I go out of town I crave them.