Tonight I Dined: Citizen Eatery

Citizen Eatery, a vegetarian restaurant, has been opened for a few months now and I made it in for a Sunday brunch. There are plenty of options already labelled vegan, but I ordered the Shakshuka made vegan by subbing tofu for the eggs. The tomato sauce was nicely seasoned and it paired so well with the texture of the kale. Also, I'm a sucker for charred anything, and so the grilled tofu slices were my favorite part of the dish. The quality of the food was outstanding, and the decor so comfy and inviting. I will definitely return to taste some of their non-breakfast items!

Tonight I Dined: Flower Child

Flower Child is a healthy fast casual restaurant that has locations in AZ, CA, and TX. I visited the new location in The Domain complex in North Austin. The menu is clearly labelled, and there are so many vegan options! Instead of opting for a bowl, salad, or sandwich I went for the plate of 3 sides so that I could taste more! My plate consisted of yuzu brussel sprouts, Spicy Japanese eggplant, and Indian spiced cauliflower. The brussels were tangy and salty...it was my first time eating yuzu and now I can't get enough! I also really enjoyed the melt-in-your-mouth eggplant. Each bite was spicy and the cashews were the perfect pairing for a nice crunch. Unfortunately, the spiced cauliflower fell flat. Because it was supposed to be spiced, it came across as a little bland (I would have rathered a nice, fried cauliflower that isn't trying to be seasoned like from Aladdin's). The quality was really good, and the waitstaff had great vibes. I would definitely go back here and try one of the many other vegan options!

Tonight I Dined: Zucchini Kills Bakery

Also set up at The Wandering Vegan Market was Zucchini Kill Bakery, a 100% vegan and GF bakery in Austin. I ordered the swiss roll and a twinkie. The swiss roll is chocolate cake rolled with cream filling and enrobed in chocolate. The twinkie was chocolate cake with strawberry filling and drizzle, a combination perfect for Valentine's Day. Both of these treats were delicious as anything, but the winner here was the twinkie. Oh mah gah...the texture, the taste. For a twinkie, this was light and airy and great just the way it is. But my secret hope/plea is for Zucchini Kills to come to the Texas Veggie Fair in October and deep fry that ish.

Tonight I Dined: The Vegan Yacht

This past Saturday was The Wandering Vegan Market, a pop-up market of exclusively plant based vendors in Austin, TX. It was held next to The Vegan Yacht, a vegan comfort food trailer that I had heard endless great things about, but never managed to try before. The yacht was awarded Austin's best vegan burrito, so of course I needed to try it out. The monster is called the Freeto Burrito and it contains tempeh chili, cheeze, avocado and corn chips in a grilled tortilla. I may have mentioned before that I am straight up not a fan of tempeh...10/10 would opt for another vegan protein. However, this burrito may make me change my mind. The texture was melt-in-your-mouth (probably because it was prepared chili-style) and not hard and crumbly like other tempeh I've had. The burrito was packed with flavor, and the added crunch from the corn chips took it to another level. The grill on the tortilla was absolute perfection and it held the filling in without spillage (yay for post-burrito clean fingers).

Something I Tried: Bobo's Oat Bars

I've had a few flavors of Bobo's Oat Bars, but I'm particularly smitten with the peach flavor. These oat bars are baked in Colorado and it feels like you're eating real food from your mom's kitchen, instead of pre-packaged bar. These are scrumptious, moist (sorry for the use of this word y'all), chewy and sweet. Very few products out there have real peach flavor, and that makes this bar perfect when I get a peach craving when they aren't in season! A bar usually goes for $2.50-$3.00 at the grocery store, so I try not to buy these all the time, but they are a good dessert every now and then!

Tom Yum Soup

I followed the recipe for Tom Yum soup from Araya's Place, a plant-based Thai restaurant that I had visited on a trip to Seattle in 2015. I recreated the dish with some minor modification, like topping with bean sprouts. But I need to mention that as written, this recipe calls for 10 fresh red Thai chiles (crushed) for 3 C of broth. This is way way way too spicy to eat. All I could manage was to eat half of it, and only after diluting it with more water and lime. And even still I had a gnarly stomach ache throughout the night. The flavor of the soup was amazing, but I could barely get through it. If I make this again I would put 2-3 chilis max!