VEGAN GUIDE TO EATING AT SXSW

SXSW starts tomorrow and we wanted to provide those of you attending with a handy guide of where to grab vegan snacks between movies and panels. Austin is a big town with Vegan food in many corners, we will try to keep it simple and give you a list of places that are close to Downtown. We’ve also created a handy google map that will show you were these places are in relation to festival venues.

KORIENTE

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Located on 7th at Sabine, this Asian inspired counter service restaurant is located close to a number of venues including the Paramount, Stateside, Alamo Ritz and Austin Convention Center. Featuring a fairly customizable menu, the staff here is very friendly and will help you out with veganizing (nearly all the items are customizable). Suggested Items: Mixmix Bibimibap, Bubble Teas, and Miso Soup.

ARLO’S FOOD TRUCK

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Located at 1134 E 6th Street (on the east side of I-35), this all vegan food truck has delicious food including Bac’n Cheeze Burgers and Chik’n Tacos. It’s a quick 10-15 minute walk from the Alamo Ritz. 

FRANK

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Located on 4th at Colorado, this place will get quite crowded during the fest due to it’s close proximity to the Paramount, Stateside, and Violet Crown Theaters. Serving primarily hot dogs they have a pretty nice vegan menu, serving Field Roast. They also have pretty good drinks. Sugested items: Vegan Dog Switcheroo and Beanie Weenie Cup.

WHOLE FOODS MARKET

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You might think this is a little silly but the Austin whole foods is AMAZING. This is their flagship location and they have vegan prepared food options galore (including vegan donuts!). It’s walking distance from the Violet Crown, Paramount and Stateside theaters.

BOULDIN CREEK CAFE

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Located at 1900 S 1st St, this is a little further out but definitely worth the trip. They have great vegan options and breakfast items served all the time! We love the Renedict with tofu and the Predictable Breakfast with Tofu Scramble (photo above).

THE VEGAN YACHT

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Located at 1110 E 12th St (on the east side of I-35), is another all vegan food truck featuring some of our favorites including frito burritos and frito pies! They have a limited menu during SX and are only open 12-6pm daily. A great place to jaunt to during the day when you have a little time to kill.

VEGGIE HEAVEN

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Located at 1914 A Guadalupe, Austin, TX 78705, this is a mainstay of vegan food in Austin (and one of Lentil von Trier’s favorites). Nearly the entire menu at this Asian restaurant is vegan including bubble teas. Fast, cheap and delicious, you can be in and out of here in under 30 minutes. Favorites include: #48 Protein Garden, #16 Tangerine Mushrooms (photo above), and #23 Protein 2000.

WHEATSVILLE FOOD CO-OP

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Located at 3101 Guadalupe St, a little further up the road from Veggie Heaven. Wheatsville features delicious vegan items in their deli. You have to try the popcorn tofu poboy and the donuts. Seriously, go right now!

SWEET RITUAL

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Located at 4500 Duval St. Ok, ok so technically this isn’t in downtown Austin but it’s an all vegan ice cream parlor so it is worth the trip. They have soft serve, shakes, sundaes and a huge array of toppings! 

At this point we could go on and on with more places, instead we will leave you with a brief list of other places to check out for some delicious vegan friendly food:

Did we miss your favorite vegan place in Austin? Tell us about it in the comments!

 


View SXSW Venues and Vegan Food in a larger map

Check out the Sundance short BLACK METAL. It was produced by our vegan pal Kelly Williams who also a producer on the feature film PIT STOP which is a part of the Next section at Sundance.

Vegan Filmmaker Series: Interview with Producer James M. Johnston

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James M. Johnston is a filmmaker from Fort Worth, TX.  He was a 2011 Creative Producing Fellow at the Sundance Institute and was recently named to Variety’s 10 Producer’s To Watch list.  His work as a producer includes the award winning films St. Nick (2009), Pioneer (2011) which won the Grand Jury Prize at six film festivals including South by Southwest (USA), and co-produced Yen Tan’s award-winning film Ciao (2008) which was distributed theatrically by Regent Entertainment. Johnston also produced Ain’t Them Bodies Saints by writer/director David Lowery, starring Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, and Ben Foster which is premiering in competition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and the film PIT STOP by Yen Tan premiering at Sundance in the NEXT section. Johnston is a director in his own right and his short films have played at festivals around the world.  His most recent film KNIFE was the recipient of a production grant from Rooftop Filmmakers Fund. Johnston also co-owns two successful vegan restaurants with his wife Amy McNutt called Spiral Diner & Bakery and they are in the process of opening Fort Worth’s first art house cinema called The Citizen Theater.

How long have you been vegan? What made you choose the lifestyle?

At this point I’ve been vegan almost 20 years.  One of my friends back then that I just started hanging out with was vegan and the concept automatically seemed interesting to me.  It started with the simple idea: If I can’t kill it myself then I shouldn’t be eating it.  And that grew into all the other aspects of ethics, environmental and health reasons.  So I made the switch fairly easy.  It just made sense to me inherently somehow.  That friend is now one of my best friends Curtis Heath who did some of the songs you’ll hear in ATBS.

You produced two films at Sundance this year, AIN’T THE BODIES SAINTS and PIT STOP, can you tell us a little about how you got involved in these projects?

ATBS - I’ve been making films with David for over 12 years.  He put out a crew call for his very first film all those years ago and we made that movie together.  We didn’t know anything about filmmaking at the time so that film will never be seen by the public.  But we hit it off famously and quickly became close friends so we’ve just been making films together ever since then.  Now we have an official production company with our good friend Toby Halbrooks called Sailor Bear and we all work together to develop original ideas like ATBS which Toby and I have been involved with since it was just an idea.

PIT STOP - Yen and I were on the crew together of a film about 10 years ago.  We bonded over our love of perverse jokes and the Destiny’s Child hit single “Survivor”.  So we just kept hanging out and working on each other’s movies and here we are today! 

AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS was also part of the Sundance Screenwriting Labs and you were a Creative Producing Fellow, can you talk about how that helped this project? Would you recommend other filmmakers taking advantage of the Sundance labs or other similar programs?

Being a part of the Sundance Feature Film program was a giant boost to the project.  It helped us in a practical way as filmmakers by learning so much about the process and how to be better filmmakers in general.  Then there were the contacts and exposure that it provided.  It really helped put us on the map and lead to getting the project off the ground.  So yes, I highly recommend it to other filmmakers!

Where did you shoot these films? Was it challenging to find vegan options in these areas? 

We shot ATBS in Louisiana and Texas.  In Louisiana we shot in the Shreveport area where it was challenging to find places to eat out.  The best bet was a pan-Asian place called Chengs.  For the most part we did a lot of hanging out and cooking.  Usually me, Amy, and/or Augustine (David’s wife) would get in the kitchen and cook up a storm and just have anybody who wanted to eat some down home vegan cooking to come on over.  It was great because it leant a feeling of family to the proceedings.  It was especially good to spend some down time with actors and crew.

Our catering on the film was by Hollywood Caterers.  Chef Pascal Besse really took care of all the vegans and over half of the buffet he put out everyday was vegan.

In addition to producing, you and your wife own Spiral Diner in Fort Worth, TX and Dallas, TX. How do you find the time to run your own vegan business in addition to being a producer?

My wife, Amy McNutt, is a super smart business woman and at this point I’m so busy with film that she keeps on top of all the Spiral stuff.  The two locations now function as franchises so we own the company and keep up with the big picture and QC the menu.  I also still get into the kitchen as often as possible to work on recipes and create new monthly specials.

What are some of your favorite items at Spiral Diner?

My personal favorites are the Nacho Supremo, Chef Salad, The El Paso Burger, Spaghetti Tropica, and I love our pancakes which we do every Sunday (all-you-can-eat!).  For dessert, The Deathstar Sundae always and forever.

You and your wife are also in the process of building and opening a movie theater, Citizen Theater, in Dallas. Can you tell us a little about your plans for the theater? Will it include awesome vegan snacks?

The theater will indeed have awesome vegan snacks. Snacks on snacks.  In addition to all the typical movie snack fair the concept of our Refreshery (an ode to the term old school cinemas used) is that of street food.  Hand held foods that are easy to eat in the dark.  There will be fresh baked desserts we’ll make right there on the premises.  Also, we’ll have a full bar.

The cinema will have two screens.  The programming will be first run art house films and a strong emphasis on repertory films.  We plan to run the cinema like a year round film festival.  People will introduce each screening and we’ll encourage lots of hanging out and discussing in the lounge area of our lobby.  We also want to get interaction between filmmakers/actors and the audiences via personal visits or Skype sessions.

We’re still in the middle of getting all the financing together for the project and as soon as that’s finalized we’ll be able to hit the ground running.  You can see some of the plans for the building here.

What movies have you been excited about lately?

I really love movies.  I’m excited to see big and small films.  At this very moment I’ve been so busy I haven’t had the chance to watch a wide variety of movies lately.  I’ve seen a lot of the big stuff that’s out right now and I loved Django Unchained, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty.  I recently watched The Grey and thought it was pretty amazing.  I was pretty into Jack Reacher, Looper, and Skyfall too.  I like genre stuff quite a bit.

Of course, I really loved The Master.  I got to see it twice on 70mm which was exciting.

I wish I had some smaller films to talk about but I’m behind on those!  I’m glad the festival season is starting again so I can check out a bunch of new indies.

AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS will have it’s World Premiere this Sunday, January 20th and PIT STOP will premiere on Monday, January 21st at the Sundance Film Festival.

VEGAN GUIDE TO EATING AT SUNDANCE

It can be difficult to find a good meal during film festivals, and even harder when you’re vegan and trying to find options in a new locale. Luckily the Vegan Movie Mafia is here to help with a series of guides of where to eat at festivals. To kick off the series, and the festival season, here is our guide to where to eat at Sundance Film Festival. 

Starting closest to the Sundance Headquarters and working out:

GOOD KARMA

Also very close to festival HQ at the Park City Marriott and near the Prospector Square Theatre is Good Karma, which features indian fare that is vegan friendly (menu here). It’s a little pricey but really hits the spot when it’s snowing outside and you want something warm and delicious. Personal favorites include: Samosas and the Vegetarian Combo which includes the Vegetarian Curry of the Day (usually vegan) and Vegetarian Daal.

BOOSTER JUICE

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A juice bar with several awesome vegan items such as Vegan Mac & Cheese, Soups, Smoothies, Cinnamon Rolls, Scones and other pastries from City Cakes Vegan Bakery.

SQUATTERS

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Squatters is across the street from the Yarrow. They have a very vegan friendly menu which includes some really great vegan breakfast items served daily until 2PM! Personal favorites include: Beers on Tap, Vegan Breakfast, and Vegan Burger!

SILVER KING COFFEE

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A cute little drive through and walk up coffee shop.  Fully stocked with City Cakes Vegan Donuts, Scones, Muffins and of course delicious lattes and coffee.  This is the place to stop every morning when you’re in a hurry or for that quick afternoon snack.

SHABU

If you are a vegan filmmaker who just closed a distribution deal on your film, we might suggest you hit Shabu on Main Street (which is close to the Egyptian and Library Theatres) to celebrate. It’s Japanese cuisine and it’s pricey (it’s out of our price range) but the description of that Coconut Crusted Tofu makes us drool!

501 ON MAIN

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Stick with the main courses and try to get someone else to pick up the tab.  Prices are steep for dinner ($20 and up) but the entrees are delicious.  They have options such as baked Ratatouille, Vegan Curry, and Risotto.  Pictured is the Vegan Curry with Oven-roasted carrots and russets, vegan soy chicken, caramelized onions and mushrooms nestled in a creamy braise of mild yellow curry, blended cashew slivers and coconut milk, served on a bed of house-made vegan vegetable risotto, served in a potato crisp basket.  Steer clear of the appetizers, we were not impressed. NOTE they’re closing for a few days during the festival for a private event so check to make sure they’re open.

PARK CITY PIZZA COMPANY

While this is a little further out of town, in Kimball-Junction close to the Redstone Cinemas, we just had to include the only vegan friendly pizza place in PC where you can sub Daiya cheeze on any pie. We didn’t make it there in 2012 but we plan to rectify that this year!

Maybe you are catching some movies in SLC or you are a filmmaker with a screening there, here are some killer places you should make the trek to:

VERTICAL DINER

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It’s all vegan! Buffalo Wings, Philly Cheese Steaks, Extreme Burgers, Breakfast, Burritos, and more. Just typing all of that made us really hungry! Check out the menu here. It’s a short drive from all of the SLC venues so make sure to check it out! Personal favorites include: Sundaes, Tender Tigers, EVERYTHING!!!

SAGE’S CAFE

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Sister restaurant to Vertical Diner, Sage’s Cafe features brunch on Saturdays and Sundays while also offering delicious pastas, sandwiches and raw dishes. Menu here. A quick walk from the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center and Broadway Center Cinemas! Personal favorites include: Potato Crepe, French Toast and the Breakfast Sandwich.

Did we miss your favorite place to eat in Park City or Salt Lake City? Tell us about it in the comments!

Vegan Filmmaker Series: Interview with Director David Lowery

David Lowery is an award winning filmmaker from Texas. His work has been shown at festivals around the world, including Sundance, SXSW, AFI FEST, Slamdance and Thessaloniki, among others. He is an alumni of the Berlinale Talent Campus, and in 2010 was named an Independent Icon by IFC Films. His latest film, AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS stars Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, Ben Foster, Nate Parker, Keith Carradine.

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Tell us a little about AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS. How exciting was it to get the Sundance call?

I actually didn’t get a call. I found out rather anti-climatically, via text message from one of my producers, who was the lucky guy who did get the call. But I’ll take what I can get, and I’m sure it was thrilling for him. As for the film itself, it’s a simple story set in Texas in the 1970s. It concerns an outlaw who breaks out of prison and sets out to find his wife and former partner-in-crime. I wanted to make a movie that felt like an old folk song, which might go some ways towards explaining the title.

How long have you been vegan? What made you choose the lifestyle?

I’ve been vegan for almost 11 years, and vegetarian for a few more than that. I didn’t consciously decide I wanted to be vegan, per se -  I just wanted to be more vegetarian, and one day I realized I was vegan. I did it initially for health reasons, but by and by became aware of all the other ecological and ethical reasons.

What challenges did you face on this film being vegan?

Surprisingly few - we made sure going in that this would be a vegan friendly film. We shot a lot of the movie in Louisiana, and there wasn’t much in the way of vegan-friendly restaurants where we were, but that just meant that we’d all hang out and cook together on the weekends, which was fantastic.

Your producer James Johnston owns The Spiral Diner a vegan restaurant in Dallas, how did you two start working together?

When I was 19, I decided to make a feature before going to college. I put out a crew call, and James answered it. Neither of us had any idea what we were doing, and the resulting film will never be seen, but we’ve been working together ever since.

Was it challenging to find vegan options where you were shooting? What were some of your favorite meals on set?

One of the benefits of having a producer who is also a vegan chef is that the catering people were told in no uncertain terms what acceptable vegan fare would be. So we had a lot of options - kale salad, stir fries, sandwiches. It wasn’t advanced vegan cuisine, but it did the trick. My favorite thing was the avocado on toast that I’d eat for breakfast every morning (on the mornings when I remembered to eat breakfast).  

I know Casey Affleck is vegan, was working with vegan actors and crew important to you? How many vegan people overall worked on your movie?

It wasn’t important to us, per se, but it was definitely a bonus to have vegan friends on set. Almost by accident, we wound up with a large vegan constituency in our cast and crew. Casey and Rooney were both vegan, along with me and James. Our cinematographer, Bradford Young, is vegan. One of our grips was, too. Toby Halbrooks, my other producer, is vegetarian, as was our sound guy. I think there were a few more.

Did anyone go vegan after working on your movie?

I doubt it. 

Your short PIONEER toured the fest circuit last year, what festival did you find most vegan friendly?

They’re all friendly in their own way! Certain cities are a given, and SXSW usually takes the cake for me - between Bouldin Creek and that giant Whole Foods, I eat well in Austin - it also has the best late night options, what with Kerbey Lane and their vegan breakfast options. Both the LA Film Festival and AFI afford me the opportunity to eat at Sage Bistro and all the other awesome places in LA. The Maryland Film Festival in Baltimore is one of my favorite destinations - it’s an amazing film festival, and there are some great vegan options at the Club Charles across the street from the main venue, and also a truly outstanding soul food place called Land of Kush. And my hometown festivals in Dallas and Fort Worth are great, because lots of filmmakers travel into town and we get to take them to Spiral Diner.

What movies are excited about lately?

In the immediate future, I’m most excited for Les Miserables. I was obsessed with that musical (and the novel) when I was younger, and had always hoped to have the chance to adapt it to film myself - but I guess I’ll settle for what looks to be a pretty stellar cinematic rendition. Beyond that, I can’t wait for Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers, and a lot of the films at Sundance - Andrew Bujalski’s Computer Chess, Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale, and Calvin Lee Reeder’s The Rambler among them. And Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color, which I’ve already seen but am very much looking forward to experience on the big screen with an audience.

AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS will have it’s World Premiere as part of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. 

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Day 30 / Your Favorite Film This Time Last Year / Lentil von Trier OUR DAY WILL COME I love this movie. Sadly, never released in the U.S. but you can get a UK Blu-ray import of it and I strongly suggest you do. Director Romain Gavras is such a talented director who has directed some AMAZING music videos for M.I.A. and Kanye West/Jay-Z, this is his first narrative feature starring Vincent Cassel.
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Day 30 / Your Favorite Film This Time Last Year / Lentil von Trier

OUR DAY WILL COME

I love this movie. Sadly, never released in the U.S. but you can get a UK Blu-ray import of it and I strongly suggest you do. Director Romain Gavras is such a talented director who has directed some AMAZING music videos for M.I.A. and Kanye West/Jay-Z, this is his first narrative feature starring Vincent Cassel.

Day 29 / Your favorite film as a kid / Donut Lynch THE PEANUT BUTTER SOLUTION I used to watch this movie every other day as a kid (in rotation with The Neverending Story). It’s a strange tale of a dare gone wrong, magical peanut butter potions, kidnapping and enchanted paint brushes. If you can track it down, this film is definitely worth watching.
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Day 29 / Your favorite film as a kid / Donut Lynch

THE PEANUT BUTTER SOLUTION

I used to watch this movie every other day as a kid (in rotation with The Neverending Story). It’s a strange tale of a dare gone wrong, magical peanut butter potions, kidnapping and enchanted paint brushes. If you can track it down, this film is definitely worth watching.

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