Friday morning started off a little rough though. We had our hearts set on grabbing some vegan biscuits and gravy from the Biscuits & Groovy food truck. And we got there right as it was opening, but they hadn't yet made their vegan biscuits. And there was "an hour or two" wait for the biscuits to be cooked (seriously, how can biscuits take an hour or two?). So we headed to Vegan Nom, a vegan taco truck, for breakfast tacos. But they were closed because they were packing up to head to the VVC Vegan Bazaar, which started at noon. So we went with our third breakfast option — Bouldin Creek Cafe.
What luck! This place was amazing! We all ordered the Renedict, a vegan eggs benedict with Bouldin's best-ever nooch-coated tofu scramble and homemade tofu bacon served over ciabatta bread and topped with vegan hollandaise. DUUUUUUDE! Also, we got hash browns on the side. Best breakfast I had in Austin!
While at Bouldin, we discovered the most amazing hot sauce that will surely be something I cannot live without out. It's called Yellowbird Habanero Sauce, and it's made in Austin. I bought some later at Rabbit Food Grocery (more on them in a later post!), but I'll be needing to order more as soon as this runs out. Here's Sheridan and Drew checking it out.
And here's Paul and I just chillin' with our iced coffee.
After breakfast (or was it really brunch?), we headed over to the Marchesa Theatre for the VVC Vegan Bazaar! The first hour of the bazaar was reserved for conference attendees (and our plus-ones), and during that time, we were treated to a buffet of Miyoko's Creamery Cheeses!
The bazaar opened to the public at 1 p.m., and I was scheduled to give a demo on DIY Homebrewing right away. I talked about making kombucha and ginger beer, and we went through the basics of SCOBYs, ginger bugs, and fermentation!
After I was done with my talk, it was doughnut time! Red Rabbit Co-op was there peddling the softest, awesomest vegan doughnuts. I went with Chocolate Maple because maple.
The rest of our time at the bazaar was all about free samples! I tried the new Jackfruit Carnitas from Upton's Naturals in this tiny taco!
And tiny nachos made with Spicy Chia Cheeze from Heidi Ho Organics.
Earth Balance was sampling avocado toast made with their avo margarine spread and mac & cheese shooters (yes, I did a shot of mac & cheese ... skillz). And they had this cute photo booth!
We ate lots more stuff (jackfruit tamales! cookies! mini cupcakes!) and bought some stuff (animal rights tees! buttons! jewelry! treats!). And then we took a break at the bar for vegan Bloody Marys!
We were stuffed after the bazaar, so rather than head straight to dinner, we hit up Cornucopia, a build-your-own popcorn tin shop! They have a number of vegan flavors, so we sampled them all!
And then we built custom popcorn tins. I can't remember what Sheridan and Drew got, but I picked Garlic & Herb, Texas BBQ, and Chili Lime.
Friday night was lovely, but there was rain forecast for the next couple days (even though it didn't end up raining much at all!). So we figured Friday night would be a good night for checking out some food trucks!
Out of my list of all the places I wanted to eat in Austin, Baton Creole was NUMBER ONE! Cajun food truck!
They serve a legendary Vegan Jambalaya on a Stick and Vegan Beignets. I had one of each, thank you very much.
In case you're wondering what jambalaya on a stick involves, here's an inside shot. There were cubes of spicy tofu speared through the middle of the stick, and that was covered in a generous amount of jambalaya rice. It's battered, deep-fried, and served with spicy mayo. This was, hands down, the best thing I ate in Austin.
Whew. That's enough deliciousness for one day! I'll be back tomorrow with eats from day one of the official conference!
Ahhh! I love reliving every moment of it through your posts! Such a spectacular experience and the BEST food!!! Yay!!!
ReplyDeleteWOW! Great food day! Looks like the best one yet! I am drooling over the beignet and donut especially!
ReplyDeleteall your breakfast ideas are great places, but imo bouldin creek is the best of the three, even if it had you running all over town at the time!
ReplyDeleteWe had so many similar experiences, up to and including missing out on The Vegan Nom because they were at VVC! I also had the Bouldin Creek renedict, which was AMAZING, and am also now in love with Yellow Bird sauce (so glad it didn't explode inside my suitcase!). And that maple-chocolate donut was anything but a 'mistake' flavor, Red Rabbit!
ReplyDeleteMore than anything, though, I was so thrilled to finally try authentic jambalaya and beignets! Baton Creole is a magical wonderland. I didn't think I'd have much of an appetite because that heat works a number on my stomach, but I nommed the whole thing down easily. Thanks for reminding me how much delicious food there was!
Sounds like fun and delicious!
ReplyDeleteI have my answer now regarding the EB avo spread =)
Oh and the popcorn flavors we chose were Cinnamon Toast, Chili Lime, Garlic and Herb, and Veggie Green. They are all so awesome!
ReplyDeleteThanks for mentioning the Yellowbird sauce. I got the three-pack quickly from them through the mail at a decent price. All three are really good, particularly the Habanero. Just excellent sauces and the best new sauces I've had in some time.
ReplyDeleteThat Renedict was out of this world, it was so good! I didn't try the hot sauce because I don't do spicy things, but those who tried it said it was excellent.
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