Non-cooked pizza? Dairy-free chocolate cheesecake? Sounds gross right? Wrong. There’s nothing I like better than eating at my my favorite restaurant in town. Sure, it might be an acquired taste, and not everyone may like it, but real Austinites will.

Right down the street from Town Lake, nestled in a corner between propaganda, the hair salon, and a jewelry repair place, is a raw food café. Beets: the only place in Austin that doesn’t cook their food. Vegan uncooked food might sound unappetizing, but it’s actually delicious.  The vegan cashew cheesecakes taste just like real cheesecakes, because when they soak the cashews and grind them up, it tastes kind of like milk. All the food substitutes at Beets are spot on, and taste just like real food, if not better.

If there’s anything that I like better than the food, it’s the people. Every time I’m there, somehow me and the people next to me strike up I conversation. In the background I can hear cooks and waitresses humming, trickling of fountains, and people laughing. Health posters and paintings of nature are tacked up on the walls.  To the left, there are cooking classes, everyday. They show how to make and have vegan raw food 24/7.

All in all, the family feel makes everyone welcome, and the fact that it is so close to Town Lake is convenient for most hungry health nuts, who like to exercise. The reason why this is my favorite place in Austin is because of how perfect it is for the only hippie, up to date city in Texas.