RESTAURANT REVIEWS - Red Rabbit Cooperative Bakery & Aster's Ethiopian - Austin, TX

After a night in her very own bed, April (thrilled to be back in Austin) wanted to make her first ever visit to the Red Rabbit trailer. She'd had their donuts from Wheatsville before, but was super excited to try out some of the different things served at the trailer.

Red Rabbit Cooperative Bakery
701 East 53rd Street, Austin, TX 78751 (Also, donuts can be found at many other Austin restaurants and stores)
Facebook page & Twitter page

The trailer is open Mon-Fri 7am-1pm & Sat 8am-2pm (or until sold out). Quite often, they sell out by 10 or 11 am, so get there early! All their food is vegan and never contains hydrogenated fats or high fructose corn syrup. They use organic and local ingredients.

Wheatsville carries Sugar Glazed, Chocolate Glazed, Maple Glazed with Walnuts, Coffee Glazed, Mexican Chocolate Glazed, and Vanilla Lavender donuts, as well as Raspberry Filled donuts and Apple Fritters (Tim's favorite). April has a difficult time picking a favorite, but tends to get the raspberry filled or maple glazed with walnuts. Since the trailer had lots of new donuts, April and Tim decided to get an Austin Cream Pie donut (vanilla glaze with chocolate pudding filling) and a Horchata Glazed donut.


The hedgehogs are ever hopeful for a taste.

They were both delectable! April is going to have an even harder time picking a favorite now.

For lunch, April and Tim met up with his mother (for her birthday!), aunt, and uncle, and introduced them to Ethiopian food.

Aster's Ethiopian
2804 S I-H 35, Austin, TX 78705
Facebook page

April has been to many Ethiopian restaurants all over the country, and Aster's is still her favorite. 50% of the menu is vegan, and each entrée comes with 2 side dishes (for lunch) or 3 side dishes (for dinner), so it's almost like getting a sampler platter. The actual veggie sampler platter comes with all 8 vegetarian dishes. April and Tim decided to split that, since everything is delicious.



One food note - the Azifa (cold lentil salad) says it will "have your taste buds leaping for joy" - that's code for "really freaking spicy". Also, Aster's is closed Mondays, so take that into account when planning your visit.

The Hedgehogs Take Pittsburgh (RESTAURANT REVIEWS - New Dumpling House, Té Café, and Tana Ethiopian)

After two weeks of roughing it at Pennsic, Hedgie and Buttercup convinced April to do a bit of sight-seeing in the big city of Pittsburgh. April was thrilled with the architecture, and spent a couple of hours just wandering around neighborhoods taking pictures of the houses.

While out walking, Hedgie spotted a dumpling house and wanted to investigate.

New Dumpling House
2138 Murray Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Facebook Page





Buttercup giggled at a sign outside -



Once inside, April discovered that one gets free tea, wontons, and pickled cucumber -



Hedgie insisted on dumplings (though it didn't take much at all to convince April). They were almost as big as the hedgehogs, and the most amazing dumplings April has ever eaten.



The Vegetarian Yellow Bird was the most exciting-looking thing on the menu, so that's what April got next -


Apparently, they sometimes make this with chicken stock, so be sure to specify that you don't want it.

After all that food, Buttercup suggested a nice pot of tea. April had seen a tea shop just up the street, so they all decided to go.

Té Café
2000 Murray Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Facebook Page & Twitter Page

Walking into the shop, they were greeted by the sight of vegan banana walnut bread. This was a very good omen!



Hedgie suggested that April get something with mint or possibly ginger to aid in digestion. The guy behind the counter offered up a peppermint rose green tea with fresh ginger added. It was only $4.45 for a whole pot, and the free hot water refills made a second pot possible!



In fact, it was while drinking the second pot of tea that Hedgie talked April into getting the banana walnut bread (again, not terribly difficult), which was a lovely compliment to the tea.



The next day, everyone decided to check out the Ethiopian restaurant around the corner from the Awesomely Big Church.

Tana Ethiopian
5929 Baum Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Facebook page

Outside the restaurant, the hedgehogs made a new friend.


Buttercup wants to buy him some pants.

The food at Tana was good, but the portion sizes were much smaller than Aster's, which made April a bit sad.



After dinner (and a bit more sight-seeing!), it was time for bed. The hedgehogs needed their beauty sleep before the drive to Canada!