MoFo '14 Day 22 - Mac and Cheesin' in Austin, Tx

Hello and welcome to the penultimate Mac and Cheese Monday of VeganMoFo 2014. To keep the Austin weekend going (Monday still counts as the weekend right?) today we'll be focussing our attention on all of the mac and cheese I ate during my recent trip to Austin. 

BBQ Revolution was high up my list of places to try because I loved Homegrown Smoker in Portland so much and actually up until this trip that was my only experience of BBQ food ever! 

The menu was pretty simple and Nick and I both got the BBQ plate. I was a little disappointed that they were out of soy curls because that's what I'd decided I wanted to order after looking at the menu online but I got the No Bull Brisket instead. 

My plate's the one at the front and as you can see I went with mac and cheese (obviously!) and coleslaw for my sides. Nick went with mac and cheese (obviously!) and potato salad. Both plates came with slices of that cheapo white bread that everyone secretly, or in my case not so secretly, loves.

I'm going to focus on the mac and cheese first because it's mac and cheese Monday and OMG it was delicious. Super creamy and cheesy and perfect, I ate all of mine and stole loads of Nick's whilst he wasn't looking because I'm the worst. I was not a fan of the brisket but anyone with a normal tolerance for heat / pepper would love it. Texturally it was some of the best seitan I've ever eaten and I've eaten a lot of great seitan. The coleslaw was super perfect too and I was very happy with the size of the sides. I will definitely be revisiting BBQ Revolution in May and I have my fingers crossed for soy curls or even the tempeh ribs!

Next up on our mac and cheese tour is Pulse Vegan, somewhere that was recommended to me because of their french dip sandwich but somewhere that I decided was a must visit because they have mac and cheese on the menu.

It's situated in a fun food truck lot which looks like it would have live music in the evenings. Bananarchy are located here too and there was also somewhere to get shaved ice sno cone thingies which are often much needed in Austin. I ordered The Frenchy, the sandwich that was recommend to me, with a side of The Mac.

As you can see The Frenchy comes au jus with gravy for dipping which means that I loved it. Any seitan filled sandwich that you dip in gravy is a win in my book and my only complaint was that the onion on my sandwich was a little thickly sliced making it kinda hard to keep together. The mac was a total win, it wasn't particularly saucy but it was thick and creamy and just a little sweet. I think there may have been some butternut squash in there somewhere. I was also super surprised when I found out the pasta used here is gluten free, it was really good! This was a much more gourmet tasting mac than I was expecting to find at a food truck, it's described on the menu as awesometacular and I would not disagree. I'm also pleased to have found another way to use the word awesome that I had not previously considered!

The third Mac & Cheese option available to you in Austin comes from Wheatsville Co-op home of Red Rabbit doughnuts, huge amounts of vegan meats and cheeses and one of my favourite sandwiches in the world ever the Popcorn Tofu Po'Boy.

I'm pretty sure this mac is, or is at least very close to, the New Farm Mac & Cheese recipe that has been flying around the internet for years. It's one of my favourite ever creamy, saucy, noochy mac and cheeses and I was very into eating this in the car as we were driving!

I loved the nod towards broccoli too...those little flecks of green? Yeah, that's it! If you really want actual broccoli you can add some from the hot bar. I will definitely be eating this one again.

Mac and cheese is not the only deliciously cheesy thing Wheatsville Co-op has up it's sleeve, they also make a vegan blue cheese dip that's great with blue corn chips and popcorn tofu for dipping.

Look at that tofu! It's ridiculous!

The blue cheese dressing is also excellent in the Buffalo Popcorn Hero or Popcorn Tofu Po'Boy sandwiches they make where it sits alongside that amazing looking tofu - I get the Popcorn Tofu Po'Boy which isn't meant to come with the blue cheese but with blue cheese dressing as an add on because I can't handle buffalo tofu at all but I need that dressing! I also get all of the veggies minus the jalapeños. Yum! Nick and I ate this three times during our trip and took one with us for the flight home.

That's all the cheesin' we have for today folks but Mac and Cheese Monday will be back next week! I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to be doing for next week's instalment yet, maybe I'll actually cook some mac and cheese myself from scratch for once because sadly in Brighton there's nowhere to go to get your mac & cheese fix!