The Hearty Vegetarian: Mr. Natural

It took a lot of kicking and pulling to persuade my boyfriend to come to Mr. Natural. I think a lot of people immediately assume that when a restaurant is purely vegetarian or vegan, then the food must be bland or at least ... not as good as if it had meat.

This has obviously been proven wrong, not only in their case but with so many other Austin restaurants: Daily Juice, Mother's, Veggie Heaven, Bouldin Creek ... it must obviously taste good if the demand is high enough to open this many unique vegetarian/vegan restaurants.



Mr. Natural is a mexican-focused vegetarian restaurant, but many of its pastries and entrees carry influence from elsewhere. They make AWESOME pastries, as you can see in the pictures below. They had stacks of fresh-made apple pies that were still warm by the entryway. Seriously, they are pros at pastries.




Their empanadas look unreal. Like someone picked the moon from the sky and stuffed it with some pumpkin and baked it. They offer tons of vegan baked goods too. I had a vegan cupcake on my birthday at work from here, and it was bomb. Vegan cake tastes like normal cake, folks!



Alas, what I came to Mr. Natural for was a good hearty meal and I found it. I tried their Tofu Migas and they truly encompassed the hearty vegetarian meal. Actually, I think this dish is vegan. It's crispy tortilla strips cooked in ranchero sauce and scrambled tofu. I've generally liked dishes that substitute egg with tofu. It's a pretty genius idea, since the texture of a scrambled egg is pretty similar to that of crushed soft tofu. Another place that uses this replacement is Jo's ... where you can get the No-Egg Tofu Salad Sandwich which is one of my favoritest sandwiches in Austin. As for possibly being the best migas in town ... these definitely are high up on my list now. They are definitely the best vegetarian/vegan migas in town. I tried Cafe Mundi's awhile ago and it was ... gross. Mr. Natural's were awesomely spicy and I forgot ever needing meat in my life for a second.

Finally, a pumpkin empanada. Not my favorite ... and it's not because it wasn't a good empanada. I think it would have been better with another filling. I'm not the biggest fan of pumpkin, but it wasn't bad. For those pumpkin lovers out there, this is probably the pastry for you. In addition, they make fresh pumpkin pies as well. Perfect for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Besides all of this good food, Mr. Natural has a section of their restaurant dedicated as a health food store. They sell supplements, herbs, etc. They also have a weekly yoga class at the E. Cesar Chavez location.

I am definetely a fan of this place. It's got great ambiance and so much to offer!!! I almost want to be vegetarian to be a legit Mr. Natural fan, but I like chicken too much.

Mr. Natural
East Location:
Monday - Saturday
Open from 8 A.M. - 8 P.M.
1901 E. Cesar Chavez
Austin, TX 78702
Phone - 512-477-5228

South Location:
Monday - Saturday
Open from 8 A.M. - 8 P.M.
2414- A South Lamar
Austin, TX 78704

x,

Franny

El Chilito: Sunshine and Frozen Sangria

Oh food stands shmood shtands (jk I ruv food stands). You know who really made walking up to a window and eating outside in Austin a trend? El Chilito, my friends. The spin-off of El Chile that lures us with its yummy treats across 35 to the land of Manor. I find myself there when I am at a loss for where to eat and it always makes me happy. I refuse to ever let go of this addiction. There would be serious withdrawal.

El Chilito with it's awesomely retro sign. Wow, it's such a trendsetter. No, but really, I do like their sign.

And the window where you order from that is fly-free, yay. Not to mention their menu consists of many tasty delights which I have yet to explore. I would really like to try some of their paletas with interesting flavors ... like ... horchata, lucas (?), and pickle (?!).


Hey, but when it comes to frozen treats on a nice sunny day in Austin, TX ... it's hard to pick a paleta over El Chilito's famous frozen sangria. Yeah, this thing will last you your whole burrito and you will feel great afterward. You can also get it to go, which I feel is illegal, but ... anyway, you can get it to go.


On to the food ... I'm not the biggest fan of their salsa. It's too mole-y for me. If I want mole, I'll eat mole. But when I want salsa, I want spicy-ass salsa for my chips. But their guacamole is great. So get that instead! Unless you really like mole and want it on your chips.


Finalmente, the Tinga de Pollo. This is my favorite burrito there. I've tried some others and this one still reigns as my fav. It's described as a "braised chicken in a chipotle tomato sauce." Definitely tasted the tomato and the chipotle together which was really great. The chicken is always nicely shredded and tender so you don't have awkward chunks falling all over the place.


Lastly, as an added bonus ... if it does get cold in Austin, El Chilito offers blankets. This was taken in January '09 ... and see, I'm still drinking my frozen sangria like it's not 40 degrees. No worries.

Highly recommended if you are new to the Austin area and in search of easy-to-like-pretty-authentic Mexican. Well, no. I take that back. Highly recommended to anyone. When was the last time you went there? You should go back.

El Chilito
2219 Manor Dr. (there is also another location on Barton Springs)
Austin, TX 78722
512 382 3797
www.elchilito.com

x,

Franny

Cisco's Restaurant and Bakery

I've been on a search for my most favorite migas in Austin ... and I have yet to say the search is still ongoing! This past weekend I went to Cisco's with a few of my friends to get out of the Juan in a Million routine... sometimes it's fun to be a LITTLE more creative!


When it comes to Cisco's migas, I have to say they were above average, but not perfection. I wish the sausage had been cut up and mixed in with the migas. Also, I always prefer black beans over refried beans. These migas do come with tortillas and this humongous biscuit which are definitely added bonuses. You could probably fit a small animal in that biscuit they give you.

I think what took away from the experience was the service. I've actually never had a bad experience any other time I have been to Cisco's but this time they were extremely short-staffed and it took forever, not to mention the wait just to get seated.

Nevertheless, I love the atmosphere much better than Juan's. They have lots of old-man quirky things around the restaurant including old pictures of "Cisco" himself, a gun holder made of hooves (comforting...), hilariously sarcastic drawings by their cash register, and of course ... the unmistakable logo with Cisco and his cigar:

flickr: viajante

I must also mention that Cisco's is celebrating their 70th (!!!) anniversary this year and they have been posting coupons in the Statesman's XL for buy-one-get-one free Migas and/or Huevos Rancheros. I, unfortunately, did not get to use it, but you should be smart and save a buck!

But really, I urge you ... if you are trying to expose yourself to more "authentic" Mexican restaurants ... a good first step would be Cisco's. Next would be the taco stand at 6th and Chicon (Yeah I'm never going to shut up about that place. It's going to be the next blog post I promise).

x,

Franny

Tamale House: Recession Migas

After reading reviews on this joint via Yelp, I had to go check it out with my friend Kathryn. Someone described them as having the best migas in town ... and I had to go see for myself. Besides that, they have super super super super cheap breakfast tacos. I mean $.85 a taco. And they get them out fast.

So alas, my migas...



I call them Recession Migas because they came with 3 tortillas, and after making 3 migas tacos out of that, my plate still looked like the above pictures. I barely made a dent and I was stuffed. At first they weren't my favorite because they were a little soupy ... and I like my migas drier. I also prefer black beans to refried beans ... but those were still good. And the potatoes were nice and peppery. But after eating them as leftovers, I decided they tasted a lot better than I remembered ... not that they ever tasted bad. Maybe I was just hungrier? Or maybe it was just too hot outside? Or maybe I was just too shocked by the gargantuous amount of migas handed to me the first time around. Anyway, they are recommended. Still not my favorite ... but a great cheap filling brunch for sure.

To make the experience sweeter, this guy came up and gave Kathryn a cupcake ... thanking her for her beauty, hahaha. This wasn't a cupcake he made himself, don't worry. Tamale House sells homemade cupcakes as well, ha.

Where should I go get migas next?!

x,

Franny