Seek and ye shall find a vegan menu in Austin Texas, Guero's Taco Bar

First of all two of my favorite words are taco and bar.  Not really but it wasn't called chimichanga bar.

There is a rule somewhere that says, basically,  all good things shall start with, a pet peeve.  Why did I have to ask for the vegan menu?  Why was there nothing in the menu even saying "Hey, look what we did!!!!"  I came because I knew there was one but this just isn't right.  I think both menus should be given to every single customer.  Let them know about it.  Let them have the choice.  Let them think, "Hey, I know a vegan," or even, "Didn't Oprah do a vegan thing?  So this is vegan?"  Whatever.  Don't keep it a secret.

Now for the meal.  Yesssss!!  Was it the greatest mexican food I ever ate?  No.  The whole experience was great.  Fun.  Delicious.  Cool.  Part of a happenin'.

There was a special on the Food Channel.  Is this where the Vegan food truck was?  No, just a bunch of food trucks but still a happenin'.

A little bit of the neighborhood we were in.  If you look at the building on the left, on the Cooking Channel's "Eat St." during the Austin episode they featured the facade in about a 1/2 second shot.

This building was over 100 years old and used to be a feed store.  Apparently it still is a feed store.

I had a hard time reading the name too.

It looks like the place is mobbed but there are outside tables and just a few people milling about.

The bar at the front.

I wished for a good meal.

Huge dining area but most is taken up by the kitchen.  Just to the right is the salsa bar.

Fresh hot chips with Pico de Gallo, Verde Tomatillo, and Rojas Chipotle.

With a menu like this why not just offer it to every guest who sits down.  This is expansive.

Salsa Bar

Vegan Black Bean Soup

The Black Bean Soup was an ok rendition of the soup.  Although it had a decent flavor I didn't think it had any high points of flavor.

Chalupas ala Celeste | $7.29
Two crisp shells with refried beans, soy chorizo, grilled onion, bell pepper and mushrooms. Topped with warm chipotle sauce, lettuce, tomato, and avocado.

and on the same plate ...

Soy Tacos al Pastor 1.59.

I thought at first I had a plate of a Soy Taco with a salad. It was funny in a way.  I wasn't even sure what I had because to me a taco is a hard crispy shell.  This was wrapped in a soft whole wheat, (my choice), tortilla and filled with cilantro, onions and pineapple.  It was pretty good.  I like soy chorizo but I know people who don't and that's the primary flavor of this dish.

This was a solid but standard dish.  I thought it was salad so of course was surprised when I found my dinner under there.  Had I really read the description I wouldn't have been so surprised.  But I chowed down waiting for my entree.  A red chipotle sauce was an interesting salad dressing and I wasn't sure how well it went with the richness of the avocado.  Then the crisp fresh greens and finally down into the meat of the dish.  The refried beans, soy chorizo and grilled veggies made for a nicely combined meaty filling.

Another shot of the food truck camp.  It takes up the whole block.

This is a coffee shop.  That one word in the window caught my eye!

I'm not sure what that place was called but it's right next to this place on Congress.

Overall my vegan diner at a non vegan restaurant in Austin was a really fun and nice experience.  There are many vegan places in Austin, including the Vegan Yacht, that I'd like to give a go to should I have the pleasure of another overnight there with a less, "animal insistent" pilot.