Conscious Cravings

- Location:  Longhorn Food Court - 1901 Rio Grande St. - @Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd
- Hours: Monday -Saturday: 11 AM - 8 PM
- Telephone: 512-782-0546
- Website: www.consciouscravingsaustin.com / Facebook: Conscious Cravings / Twitter: ConsciousCrvngs

- Cuisine: Vegetarian

Rishi Dhir spent four years as an auctions trader on the Philly stock exchange before looking for something more laid back to do.  As a vegetarian, he had created unique recipes based on his own dietary needs and thought he had something that might hold up with the general public.  As such, he heard about Austin and the trailer food scene and opened Conscious Cravings in August of 2010.  His menu is mostly hot wraps and cold sandwiches.  Rishi loves to eat the Black Bean Slider Wrap, and his customers report the Chimmichurri Seitan Wrap is sure to please.

The name Conscious Cravings was developed to inform people the food is healthy while also being short and catchy.  What does Rishi say the best part about Conscious Cravings is? “The fact that I’m allowing people to have affordable healthy tasty food that is not offered widely.  It’s cheap, healthy, organic, and environmentally food.”

Iggi's Texatarian

- Location: Waller Trailer Park Eatery - 1112 E. 6th Street - @Waller
- Hours: Wednesday & Thursday: 5 PM - 12 AM
              Friday: 5 PM - 2:30 AM
              Saturday: 12 PM - 2:30 AM
              Sunday: 12 PM - 10 PM
- Website: www.iggistexatarian.com / Facebook: Iggi Pup / Twitter: iggistexatarian
- Cuisine: Vegan - Texas style

Zoja Ulesoo and Rebecca (Becca) Strong met when they were both living in a vegan cooperative in west campus with 26 other room-mates.  Becca was raised vegan and having cooked her whole life was starting to kick around the idea of operating a vegan trailer.  Her friend Zoja stepped in with the funding and marketing to help get Iggi’s Texatarian off the ground and they opened in August of 2010.


They were playing with different themes, but their trailer was already painted like a big Texas flag, so they decided the Texan theme was going to work.  “It is kind of ironic since most Texan-types aren’t normally vegan, but we wanted to have a more welcoming attitude towards omnivores,” explains Zoja; and for inquiring minds, “Iggi” is Becca’s pit bull mix.


Since their menu concept is southern comfort vegan food, they have a variety of healthy options that are sure to please your palette.  The mac n cheese tastes close to the real thing, but the sauce is made of potatoes, carrots, and mustard.  The Quintessential Chili recipe is Becca’s mother’s and step-father’s recipe which they have entered in the Texas Chili Cook-off the last 20-odd years and has won the people’s choice on multiple occasions.

Counter Culture

- Location: UT Campus area -120 E. North Loop- @Avenue F
- Hours: Wednesday - Saturday: 12 - 8 PM
                Sunday: 12 - 6 PM
- Telephone: 512-897-2602
- Website: www.countercultureaustin.com / Facebook: Counter Culture / Twitter: CCVegan
- Cuisine: Vegan & Raw foods


Sue Davis traded one art form for another when she moved from a black and white fine art printer in the photography world to a chef in vegan restaurants.  She has been a vegetarian since the early 90’s and has been eating a vegan diet since 2002.  Originally from Massachusetts, she moved to San Francisco in the late 80s, to Austin in 95, and spent some time in LA before returning to Austin to develop her vegan trailer food business.

Sue opened Counter Culture in July of 2009 with a small basic menu that includes mainly sandwiches, salads, raw food and desserts.  The Philly Seitan is probably her best seller and it’s not hard to see why since she makes the seitan herself without the help of preservatives.  You won’t find any tofu on Sue’s menu, she feels like it’s everywhere and is used as a substitute for meat too often.  Rather, she makes everything from scratch.  Since she doesn’t over advertise about her vegan menu, it’s one of her favorite things to serve an unknowing citizen and have them be pleasantly surprised.

In addition to her background with photography and culinary art, Sue is a vinyl record collector and former DJ.  She has singer/songwriter-style acoustic music at her trailer during Sunday brunches.  Sue rationalizes, “A brunch tab can get pretty high if you order mimosas, but here it’s different.  Every Sunday I do a different themed brunch from Southern home cooking to breakfast burritos, and you can bring whatever you want to drink.”

G'Raj Mahal

- Location:  Downtown - 91 Red River - Rainey Street District

- Hours: Tuesday - Thursday & Sunday: 5 PM - 12 AM

              Friday & Saturday: 5 PM - 3 AM
- Number: 512-480-2255
- Facebook: G'raj Mahal Cafe 

- Cuisine: Indian

Anthony and Sidney Roberts met at Sidney’s favorite Indian restaurant in Minnesota where she was temporarily located.  She started flirting with Anthony, who she thought was a new waiter but as it turned out he was the owner.  After dating, the pair started talking about mutual projects and formulated the G’Raj Mahal concept from their mutual work experience along with her imagination and his good work ethics.  Owning and operating a food trailer in Austin, Texas may seem like an unlikely journey for Sidney, who has an International Studies degree in Biochemistries for Medicine.  But the once a foodie, always a foodie theory applies to her.  She says, “I’ve always cooked.  I knew I wanted to be a chef ever since I was a kid – it’s addictive work.” 

Her personal favorite item on the menu is the Goan Fish Curry.  Anthony is from Goa, India so the couple brought in some Goan items to honor his history and genetics.  The vegetable korma or possibly the chicken saag made with fresh spinach (never frozen) are two of the crowd favorites under the palace-like draped outdoor seating area that is also home to the Austin Bike Zoo.   

When asked about her favorite part of the business, Sidney offers: “The most intriguing thing is as a chef, you don’t get to meet a lot of the customers.  But in this case, we are face to face with our people and a lot of them want to have a conversation with you. We’ve become good friends with many of the customers there and it’s also become a good hang out for the chefs when they get off their shifts.  It’s a good thing when we know chefs are looking forward to eating our food.”

Veracruz All Natural

- Location:  Eastside - 1704 E. Cesar Chavez St. - @Chicon

- Hours: Monday - Friday: 7 AM - 7 PM

              Saturday: 7 AM - 6 PM
- Telephone: 512-963-1428 / 512-964-8414
- Website: www.veracruzallnatural.com 

- Cuisine: Breakfast & Lunch ...fruit cups, sandwiches, smoothies, tacos...

As you might suspect, Reyna Vasquez, owner of Veracruz All Natural is from the sunny shores of Veracruz, Mexico.  She moved to Austin 11 years prior to opening her trailer.  She had experience working as a waitress but ultimately wanted to be in business for herself so she and her mother and sister started making smoothies and other fresh treats in 2008.  Her personal favorite items on the menu are the smoothies and the fruit cups.  She sells the most smoothies that have a blend of berries and orange juice.  When asked what her favorite part about owning her own business is, Reyna says, “I like to talk to different people from different countries or cultures.  I like to meet new people all the time.  The weather is similar as Veracruz, where I came from and the people are really friendly.  This is a really nice way to live.”

Flip Happy Crepes

- Location: Southside - 400 Josephine St -@Barton Springs Rd. 
- Hours: Wednesday & Thursday: 10 AM – 2:30 PM

               Friday: 10 AM - 2:30 PM / 6 PM - 9 PM

               Saturday: 9 AM - 3 PM

               Sunday: 10 AM  - 2 PM
- Telephone: 512-552-9034
- Website: www.fliphappycrepes.com / Facebook: Flip Happy Crepes / Twitter: fliphappycrepes

- Cuisine: Sweet & Savory Crepes

Nessa Higgins and Andrea Dayboykin were good friends with children in the same elementary school obsessing about vintage trailers before they developed the Flip Happy Crepes concept.  Nessa grew up in the Caribbean and moved to Austin in the 09’s by way of the Midwest and New Orleans.  Andrea also spent some time living in New Orleans but originally comes from Houston.  She met her husband Patrick Gannon in New York and when he took her to his homeland of Ireland, she fell in love with him and the crepes she tried there.  Since no one was doing crepes out of an Airstream in Austin in 2006, the dynamic duo decided to put their plan into action and manifest their food trailer business crepe-style. 
 
Andrea would say the food is what she likes best about their business while Nessa would say the people.  Nessa shares, “I like the production of it, I like it that we just mad something out of nothing.  Our concept is gourmet street food. We are not your average hot dog or burger.  It’s about quality ingredients that are affordable and served in a casual setting. We put a lot of time and care into our food.”

Both ladies had exposure to the food industry although neither worked directly within.  Nessa’s grandfather owned several bars and grills while she was growing up and Andrea’s husband Patrick has been a chef for over 20 years.  He is the brains and creativity behind the Flip Happy menu development.  While Nessa favors the fried egg and ham with gruyere and mornay sauce and Andrea prefers the spinach feta with garlic aioli, their fan favorite is the Cuban and pork crepes, which happened to beat Bobby Flay in a Food Network Throw Down.  Another crowd pleaser is the chicken and mushrooms.

Lulu b's

- Location: Southside - 2101 South Lamar
- Hours: Tuesday – Friday: 11 AM – 4 PM

              Saturday: 11 AM - 5 PM
- Telephone: 512-921-4828
- Website: www.lulubssandwiches.com / Facebook: Lulu B's Sandwiches / Twitter: lulub0107

- Cuisine: Vietnamese Sandwiches

Laura Bayer was teaching elementary school before opening her Vietnamese trailer food business in January of 2008.  In comparison to teaching, Laura says about the trailer food industry,  “When it was new, it was completely different.  I got out of teaching because it was emotionally and physically draining.  But now that we are busy, it’s just as demanding just in a different way.”  Her mother is the beacon of Vietnamese cooking in Laura’s eyes.  In fact, when Laura was in elementary school it was well known among the teachers that her mother’s egg rolls were highly sought after.  Laura says, “Every teacher in every school we went to would ask if mom was making egg rolls.”   

A lot of her lemon grass recipes were learned from her mother including her fish sauce and summer rolls.  The grilled pork sandwich and the summer rolls are her favorite items on the Lulu b’s menu, but the Chinese BBQ pork sandwich takes the win for the crowd favorite.  One of Laura’s favorite things about the business is serving repeat customers and having the satisfaction of people who really love and appreciate our food.  Having done no advertising, all of her customers have come from word of mouth, including Jake Gillinhall and a lot of famous local musicians.  One of her customers is a dog trainer who brings dog treats for lulu b’s to give away. 

In addition to Vietnamese fare, Laura used to sell Vietnamese smoothies.  She remembers, “I went to Vietnam when I was 31.  My aunt actually had a little coffee stand outside her house where she sold smoothies, coconuts, coffee – that’s where I learned to do those items but the trailer is too small to accompany that now.”  What makes a Vietnamese smoothie different?  It is a refreshing combination fresh fruit, condensed milk, sugar, lime and ice. 

Originally from California, Laura moved to Austin in July of 1999 with her best friend at the time, whose father had recently passed away and her mother was moving back to Texas.  Initially, Laura said no, but she found herself falling in love with Austin and agreed to go only if Austin was the city her friend would choose.  When asked what inspires her, Laura says, “My love of food – I get excited when I have good food.”