East 12th Street Soular Food Garden

This review was for Hoover’s Veggie Heaven. How it migrated to East 12^th Street Soular Food Garden I’m not sure and I’m not happy about it. I tried to go back, and alas, Hoover’s trailer is closed. This veggie trailer might be ok, but none of the options appealed to me. All of the menu options included some pseudo-​meat alternative, instead of just offering good olé veggie dishes. Why the need to try to be a meat-​replacement? I loved the black-​eye pea salad wrapped in kale! It didn’t need to be tofu patties or chikin-​like stuff.

This place is fantastic. They’ve got gigantic, delicious breakfast tacos at a great price. Their bbq is wonderful too. Really tasty and moist brisket at a steal! The ambiance of the wooded lot they’re in is great too. Definitely check this place out!

Awesome breakfast tacos. Texture! Heat!

So, generally, anything with the words «soul» and «food» imbedded in them, in any combination, should denote pork, bacon, and the like. The fare here is far from that. In fact, you throw in the word «garden» into your phrase, and the whole thing gets thrown off.
The offerings here are really something different. No need for the «kale enchiladas with nut sauce» so familiar to the raw world. No need for «jalapeño and carrot zucchini bread.» E12thSSFG is purely set in its no-​frills approach to garden-​based grub. In fact, they even tease you with a tiny garden behind the trailer.
The black-​eyed pea and collard wraps are awesome and a perfect example of what I mean by simple vegetarian eatin’. At $ 4 for 4, they are a steal. Or, you can order them up with a full veggie platter for $ 7.
The wraps have this creamy, moist black bean salad with fresh collard leaves; these are really great for a snack. The marinated beets are tangy, a bit moist, and they also boast a touch of sweetness. The sampler also offers a few bell pepper chunks, some broccoli florets, and a smoked red pepper pesto as wells a spinach pesto. The smoked red pepper has a touch of heat, and the spinach possesses the slightest, yet appealing, bite of bitterness.
Give this trailer a shot. Not much in the way of being unique, in terms of ingredients. but then again, how fancy can you get with pure veggies? You get veggies in their finest form, for the most part. But still, I would have never imagined to tuck a mass of hoppin’ Johns into collards.

We’ve eaten here a few times this month, and when it comes to fresh, local and organic, it doesn’t get much better than enjoying food grown literally twenty feet from your table.
We love the wrap plate best; it has some of the most perfectly seasoned beans you’re likely to eat, and while it looks small for seven bucks at first glance, once you’ve finished it and the accoutrements you’re nice and full. Full of living food that will make you feel great! The beets actually make you want to chow down, not always an easy thing with beets (jitterbug apologies to Tom Robbins).
But the best part of that meal is the red pepper pesto, which has some real bite and many layers of flavor. You wouldn’t expect this much depth of taste from some red paste in a little cup but wham, it’s there, and is one of the best tastes I had in 2011 in Austin. The green pesto is okay but a little bland compared to the red perfection… spice it up, please!
The extreme freshness and quality of the ingredients is enhanced by Hoover’s attitude and vibe. Mr. Alexander is a truly fine fellow with a crisp sense of humor and an equally sharp sense of how simple and tasty healthy eating can be. For a guy who owns a bbq joint down the street he’s more aware of what vegetarians and vegans want and need than most anybody in our ‘hood. And there’s meat as well, for all you meatheads… but it wasn’t raised just behind the kitchen, so go for the fresh stuff!
We also appreciate how perfectly made the iced tea is. Not a big thing, but a Texas thang, and it matters.
We love this double trailer and hope it catches on in this new little t-​park. When trailers mean you can get a fast, fresh, super tasty veggie meal in a couple minutes, eaten under a huge tree right beside the garden the food came out of… well, who needs brick and mortar?
Let’s hope Soular is around for years to come. To make that happen, they need some support, so go show them some love. Your taste buds and your health will thank you.

This healthy trailer retreat is a much needed addition to East 12^th– one of the few streets on the Eastside to miss the new quirky development. The raised bed garden and veggie focus are close to my heart. The black eyed pea rolls were messy, but delicious.
One big complaint, the coffee was so weak, I thought that it might have been tea at first. Undrinkable even on a cold day. Even when I was exhausted and needed the caffeine.