The restaurant business is cutthroat, and I'm guessing that running a vegetarian place in a cow-munching state like Texas is no picnic. Back when I was in culinary school I entertained the notion of one day opening one--actually what I had in mind was a combination vegan bakery/coffeeshop/Pagan bookstore with classroom and workshop space. Perhaps one day when I'm independently wealthy I'll give it a try; the thought of making cupcakes for a living does have its appeal.
Once upon a time, for a brief shining moment, Austin was a haven for vegetarian and vegan restaurants. At one point we had a half dozen all-veg places and even one that was totally vegan. It was an embarrassment of riches.
One by one they fell like dominoes. The guy who ran Cosmic Cafe--which was in the location that was once the city's fancy-schmancy veg place, West Lynn Cafe--decided to close up shop--now the space, which used to have gorgeous Hindu murals and live sitar music, is now a generic yuppie taco barn. Cosmic was my first introduction to Indian food; when it closed, I cried.
Then Nu Age Cafe, the vegan place I'd only been to twice, shut down unexpectedly because of the death of its owner. I never even got to try the Sesame Seitan! Dhaba Joy, a vegan bakery/cafe down on Guadalupe with actual vegan soft-serve, closed unexpectedly last week under some fairly shady circumstances--poof, and it was gone. I never even got to try their food.
The most crushing blow came in 2007 when Mother's Cafe, the first veg restaurant I ever went to in my life, burned down. It burned down! A homeless guy was cooking steaks in their back garden. If that's not bad karma, I don't know what is. I was absolutely devastated when I heard; Mother's didn't just have excellent food, they had a beautiful garden area with plants that were decades old and a pond full of koi that were all roasted alive in the fire. It felt like the end of the world. I can only imagine how horrible it must have been for the owners and employees.
The three other all-veg places here in town that I know of are Mr. Natural, Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse, and Casa de Luz. Casa is macrobiotic and I've never been there, although I've heard good things about it. I loved Bouldin Creek the one time I went there but they're always mega crowded and there's no parking. (I don't do well with large crowds in small quarters.) Mr. Natural's food is...kind of uninspiring, to me, although they have the BEST veggie burger in the history of the world. I keep meaning to go back there and try some more things from their menu (and have the veg burger again, yum.) Plenty of other places around town offer veggie fare; Kerbey Lane Cafe has an entirely vegan platter and they'll swap out tofu for eggs in any of their fabulous scrambles and omelets.
Still, the loss of my two favorite places to eat in the entire universe (Mother's and Cosmic) was hard to accept. I watched the news online like a hawk to see how the rebuilding efforts were going at Mother's. When they reopened last fall I wanted to turn cartwheels.
The loss of the garden space was really a shame, but they took the opportunity to add more seating and revamp the decor, and have put in a lot of new plants that will one day be as huge and lush as the old ones. (There are new fish, too.) The menu is as fantastic as ever, with many dishes either vegan or easily veganized, and even most of the desserts are vegan! They've added a few new dishes too, like the sloppy joes made with TVP (which aren't terribly sloppy but are delicious).
I'm hoping to have my birthday dinner at Mother's this year, and I'm already dreaming about the food:
Mashed potatoes with sage (they taste like Witchcraft!)
Sloppy Momma Joes
Salads with their locally world-famous cashew tamari dressing
Jamaican Stir-fry, just a little sweet with cashews and pineapple
Peasant's Meal - a big bowl of rice and beans or chili with soup or a salad
Vegan banana whole-wheat pancakes
Smoothies, Belgian chocolate cake, apple pie...oh my!
Pretty much all entrees are under $10, and their weekend brunch is known far and wide. Seriously, if you're ever in the Austin area, you have to try Mother's. And if you live here, why aren't you eating there right now?
Yeah, you're probably surfing the Net in your underwear at 3am, but still, get thee to Mother's! Soon!
For hours, the full menu, and more, visit their site.
(Incidentally I have found an Indian place I love just as much as Cosmic, the Clay Pit; I just miss my old love, and its far more comfortable atmosphere. I've been to the Cosmic location in Dallas, though luckily I never have occasion to visit the DFW area, which is almost as awful as Houston. Ugh. I intensely dislike 90% of Texas...or, rather, 90% of Texans. It's a beautiful state full of crazy people and Austin is the only safe place for sanity.)
I keep forgetting to tell you about Baby Greens on South First! They have yummy vegetarian and vegan wraps and they're resonably priced. :) http://www.ilovesalads.com/
Posted by: Nadia | October 21, 2008 at 03:45 PM
Actually, Houston has fantastic veggie/vegan options like The Hobbit Cafe, great Thai places, and terrific little Vietnamese joints.
And from how folks drive in Austin, I'd have to disagree on it being a bastion of sanity.
Posted by: K. Donnelly | December 15, 2008 at 09:01 PM