Get a load of those bananas!
Welcome to the first Vegan/Food Post of the blog! These entries will involve anything food or lifestyle related. From cooking, to restaurants, to product and book reviews, and finally, the occasional philosophical question, these Vegan posts will be all about things vegan. And they will mostly be about the best part of being vegan: Food!
For a little bit of background on my own Vegan-ness, I have been vegetarian for several years. I went vegetarian in high school after I learned about industrial food production. Considering I am 23.75 now, that would make it almost 8 years of being vegetarian (I cannot believe it’s been so long already!) , and I have enjoyed a great deal of it! Last year I made the switch to vegan as a new year’s resolution. Looking back, I regret considering it a “Resolution” because so often that mentality sets you up to fail. I am happy to say I haven’t quite failed yet. While I occasionally yearn for something cheese like and groan when I encounter restaurants or grocery stores with zero vegan friendly options, I am very happy with my decision to be vegan. It has promoted better health for me and has made me even more wary of industrial food production practices. True, though vegetable production can also be brutal and environmentally unfriendly, I still consider it significantly better than eating animals, which is far more ethnically troubling to me.
Enough history: let’s talk food!
Last weekend I shared a delicious Sunday brunch at one of the best vegan and raw-friendly places in Austin, Counter Culture, with one of the coolest artists I know, Katie Cowden. All of the photos in this post are courtesy of her, and you should definitely check out her textile art and photography on her website when you’re done reading this!
Once a food cart situated in the hippest area of North Loop, clamorous Kickstarter support last fall moved Counter Culture to a physical location in yet another hip area of Austin: East Cesar Chavez. The interior atmosphere of this repurposed brick building would be at home in a Tarantino film, as it manages to exude a 1970′s vibe, in spite of the modern turquoise color scheme and post-modern art on the walls and lamps. I have only ever been during the day time, but they also tend to rely on natural light as much as possible, giving the restaurant a calmer ambience than I’ve experienced at most places.
Katie and I were there that day because we were in the middle of a photo shoot I had set up with her, and I hoped to fix my hair and make up in the bathroom. While the lack of power outlet for my curling iron in the bathroom discouraged me, I was happy enough to sit and enjoy a meal with my friend while we were in the area. Our server, who was a lovely lady I have been waited on by in the past, was kind and attentive during our whole visit, and very cool about us taking a few possible headshot pictures inside of the restaurant. Yay nice people!
Neither of us were hungry enough for individual meals, so we shared the French toast special of the day: An Elvis inspired dish featuring toast, cashew cream, date butter, peanut butter, bananas and bac’n bits. Yes, this is a vegan restaurant. Yes it was entirely vegetarian, too. No eggs, no milk, and all amazing! Counter Culture seems to employ some kind of alchemy to make these traditionally non-vegetarian and non-vegan friendly recipes work seamlessly. And it also looks amazing.
Bac’n bits, bananas, and peanut butter drizzle. Try not to salivate.
I have had some of their other brunch dishes, some of which are raw if you care about your health even more than usual. They typically offer a scramble bowl with tofu scramble, biscuits and gravy, which I think is the best bang for your buck. They also have a different eggless “omelette” every weekend, and what I have had of those is great, too. For you raw-foodies, try the raw oatmeal banana split. Their online menu is a pretty helpful resource, but based on my experiences the specials of the day will dictate what flavors you’ll see on the menu’s template of options.
Me and My Mimosa!
Also offered during brunch are both orange and Texas grapefruit juice mimosas. Katie and I each enjoyed a glass of the orange juice mimosas, but I will make a point to try the Texas grapefruit next time. While I am typically reluctant about ordering drinks, it was such a beautiful, sunny day outside; I was having a great time playing dress up for my photo shoot, so I felt inclined to treat myself and Katie. It was well deserved!
So, I haven’t quite established a ratings system yet, but let’s just say on a scale of “Never going back.” to “NEVER LEAVING,” I’d say Counter Culture’s Elvis French Toast special falls along the lines of “Would eat many times over!” …This ratings scale thing is a work in progress. JUST ENJOY THE PRETTY PICTURES AND GO EAT AT COUNTER CULTURE SOMEDAY! And if you’re there on a Sunday between 10 and 2, you might pick up some yummy vegan groceries from the Rabbit Food Grocery Pop-up shop, too!
