My fellow blogger Brooks is giving the rundown on the good barbecue spots.  If you’re new to Texas, then by all means, avail yourself of the amazing barbecue that’s around here.  But Austin is home to some other amazing places that you should also check out.  Namely, our wonderful vegetarian cuisine.

Hey, meat eaters!  Don’t leave!  I assure you, the places I’m about to mention are really, really good, and you’ll do yourself a disservice if you don’t check them out.  I know terms like “textured vegetable protein” can seem off-putting, but there’s some great stuff out there.

While I was a full vegetarian for many years, I’m currently a pescatarian, meaning the only meat I eat is seafood.  I gave up meat for health reasons, and though I’m not a healthy eater by far (I could easily write another post all about bakeries), I eat way better than I used to.  One of the unexpected benefits of this is I have tried food I never would have eaten prior to changing diets.

I’ll start by putting vegetarians at ease.  It’s reasonable to think that moving to a meaty state like Texas will limit your options, but that couldn’t be further from the truth here.  Austin is a very veg-friendly town, and I’ve yet to go to a restaurant (even BBQ joints) that don’t have some kind of vegetarian food.  So don’t fret!  You’ll eat very well.

More good news:  some of the best vegetarian restaurants are right by UT.  My favorite is Veggie Heaven, which is right on the Drag just across from Dobie Mall.  Be forewarned that the service isn’t great, but for me, that’s turned into part of its charm.  The dishes have fun names, and the star dish is definitely the Protein 2000.  Deliciously fried vegetable protein bits covered in a flavorful brown sauce, it’s a dish that anyone will love.  The steamed Curry Bun makes a great appetizer, and the honey lemonade is delicious.

A little further north in the Hyde Park area is Mother’s Cafe and Garden.  Well worth trying is the BBQ Tofu, but don’t pass on the Bueno Burger (which I think is the best veggie burger in town).  Served with an incredible super-course mustard, add the wheat roast (trust me) for a good bit of flavor.  Do the side salad, because you have to try their cashew tamari dressing, which is so good I could eat it on its own.  Even nicer is that right across the street is one of Austin’s best bakeries, Quack’s, and Austin’s best cheese shop, Antonelli’s.

If you don’t mind a bit of a drive, check out Swad up on North Lamar just past Rundberg.  The decor may be dated, but the food is great.  They call the dosa an appetizer, but it can easily feed two.  Same with the thali, which really gives a great sampling of a bunch of different tastes.  I think it’s time for me to head back up there…

Those three are great to get you started, but I’ll leave you with one more suggestion.  As a pescatarian, I feel like I should recommend something involving seafood.  There are some great high-end seafood places that you should try and some fantastic sushi places, but the hungry college student should head up to Quality Seafood on Airport just before 2222.  What’s great is that this place started as just a seafood market, bringing stuff right off the boat to sell to restaurants.  They still operate the market where you can grab some very reasonably priced seafood for home, but also have a restaurant where you can get some of the freshest seafood in Austin for a fantastic price.

For a city our size, Austin has a really awesome selection of places to eat.  It’s easy to hit up Jester or the SAC given their convenience, but don’t miss out on what the city has to offer off campus.

This week’s accounting joke:

How does the Lipton company manage their money?

Using tea charts.