Had lots of good vegan food in Austin during SXSW.

One good meal was the basil tofu from Mekong River on Sixth. I ended up eating there a couple of times – very convienent to the Austin Convention Center, the Austin Hilton, and 6th street in general.

I had great meals at all these places:

• Mekong River on Sixth, 215 East 6th St (map). Has a New York Deli inside the restaurant too, which seemed a bit odd. Not vegetarian , but with a number of good veggie options, and very close to all the SXSW activities.
• Veggie Heaven, 1914 Guadalupe St (map). They don’t seem to have their own web site, but google turns up lots of info.
• Mr. Natural, just east of I-35 at 1901 E. Cesar Chavez (map). Probably the best food I had in Austin, in terms of actual healthy Vegan cuisine, but affordable.
• Koriente, a Korean cafe with good vegetarian and vegan options. Excellent lunch place, a short walk from the SXSW venues. (621 East 7th St. – map).
• Whole Foods at 525 N Lamar – the 80,000 square foot flagship store, just west of the convention center area (map). Has an excellent hot food bar, with vegetarian and vegan options (but not exclusively vegetarian).
• Dhaba Joy at 2900 Guadalupe, attached to Toy Joy (map). There was a good review in the austinist with photos. Got some good stuffed animals for Lucy and Georgia (our dogs) and then vegan soft-serve ice cream (oatscreme) for me.

Places I did not get to, but hope to next time I’m in town:

• Casa De Luz, which is 100% vegan and macrobiotic. 1701 Toomey Road (map).
• Mother’s Cafe and Garden, 4215 Duval Street (map). Gets pretty consistent good reviews but it is a bit further out of town for the carless tourist.
• Cosmic Cafe, 1110 West Lynn St (map).

There’s a great set of restaurant reviews, photos, and such at Vegans Rock Austin!

I think for SXSW 2008 I will organize a “Vegan / Vegetarian Cuisine” group and plan some group trips to these places further away. Seems like there is usually enough time between the end of the panels and the start of the parties.