While the hipster influx of East Sixth brings with it some welcome new attention to the old avenue, the overarching affect teeters on the precious, not to mention the precariously gentrificarious. Cheer Up Charlie's, however, a fabulous vegan food cart situated on a lot that you'd swear was someone's backyard, is just so homespun, so funkalicious, so darned Austin, and so defiantly nonformulaic that it transcends the convention of neighborhood and race politics. Discovering affordable treasures like the hummus chalupa, nonchicken chicken, and chocolatey good Go-Oohs (dark-chocolate cups filled with goji) is as populist as finding the golden ticket.

Cheer Up Charlies
900 Red River
cheerupcharlies.com

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As if the flauta itself isn't already the perfect blend of crispy, crunchy, gooey, and yummy, the fine folks at the Screaming Goat drench the darned things in a piping hot, screamingly good, brothy red sauce. The style is called "ahogada" (drowned), and its version is fit for goatherds and kings alike. What could be better? How about 75-cent (?!) flautas on Thursdays and Sundays, daily beer specials, and an adorable, old house atmosphere? And fret not, your meal will never be interrupted by horrific bleating: Goat is not even on the menu.

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Housed in the former Starlite cafe building (next door to what was the original Alamo Drafthouse), Frank's lip-smacking-good menu of artisan sausage and neo-funktastic hot doggery is the closest most of us will ever get to hog heaven. Libation tip of your lifetime: the Red Headed Stranger, Frank's version of a Bloody Mary. It's the real swine king!

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The new owners of this iconic coffeehouse added three new decks last year that stair-step up the side of the cliff overlooking Barton Springs Road. The tree-shaded space adds to the back-porch feel, whether you're having coffee with a friend, drinking a beer while listening to live music in the evenings, or just reading your friendly neighborhood alternative newsweekly with your morning bagel.

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Never mind the yerba maté, the bigass weekend waffles, and Italian sodas. Never mind the comfy couch, the wi-fi, and low lights. That's all inside, within the embrace of one of Austin's most beloved and intimate coffeehouses. Outside is the cafe's life-mate, the compatible counterpart: Under a canopy of crape myrtles, various flora, and thatch, the dawn disappears into day and day disappears into dusk as poets chisel into notebooks, lovers process, and the mantis resides, humble in prayer. This Eastside adobe is our temple of the temporal, an earthly overstuffed chair, a respite from all that distracts. It's impossible to not breathe easy here.

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Eastside Cafe co-owner Dorsey Barger describes herself as a fanatic when it comes to recycling. She sees to it that her staff recycles or composts everything possible: food trimmings, used cooking oil, plastic containers, boxes, cans, bottles, even used office paper. She knows that convincing her fellow restaurateurs to invest more money in recycling programs is likely to be a tough sell during this recession, but she’s leading by example and willing to share her know-how and contacts with anyone who asks. For example, when Art Alliance Austin realized the incredible popularity of its Art City Austin annual spring weekend art show and sale was causing an increase in the amount of garbage the event generated every year, its solution was to put Barger in charge of the event’s new Green Team. The team came up with the Eastside Cafe Recycling Challenge: Throughout the three-day event, six teams of volunteers from local nonprofits manned water refill and recycling stations for the opportunity to lessen the event’s environmental impact on the city while competing for cash prizes. The volunteer teams collected and sorted all the garbage and kept well over two tons of refuse from being sent to the landfill by the time the three-day party was over. Now that's a role model for fanaticism we can really get behind!

Art Alliance Austin
816 Congress #1140
512/609-8587
www.artallianceaustin.org

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The slow-roasted rotisserie chickens sold from the familiar Country Grill trucks at our area farmers' markets are not only tender and juicy, but are also natural, free-range birds raised on a local farm in Nixon, Texas. Country Grill's chickens are fresh, never frozen, and rubbed with a special Bavarian spice mix, making them as delicious and wholesome as all the other local produce in your marketing basket.

Barton Creek Farmers Market
2901 Capital of TX Hwy. S.
512/280-1976
www.bartoncreekfarmersmarket.org

SFC Farmers' Market at the Triangle
4600 Guadalupe
512/236-0074
www.austinfarmersmarket.org

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You couldn't ask for a mouthful of pure Texas Hill Country more evocative than Jam Sanischat's Fredericksburg Peach and Mint Ice Cream. Made with cream, sour cream, Texas peaches, mint, sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice, and frozen in a home ice-cream maker, every refreshing bite is a needed reminder of what we do love about the Texas summer. Because Thai Fresh is passionate about using locally sourced ingredients, autumn and winter will bring their own seasonal Texas flavors as well.

Thai Fresh
909 W. Mary
512/494-6436
www.thai-fresh.com

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The home of the legendary big-as-your-face eclair also boasts this town's finest key lime and Toll House pies (in our humble opinions), was on the cupcake tip way before cupcakes were cool, and has the confidence in the majesty of its vegan goodies to put them right there, smack-dab next to the dairy-laden succulence of the rest of the case. We confidently assert that humble Quack's will be on the cutting edge of future baked-good trends for years to come (it's been all over royal icing cookies for ages).

Quack's 43rd Street Bakery
411 E. 43rd
512/453-3399
www.quacksbakery.com

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Antoinette could be your mother, your grandmother, your auntie, or your sister, and like all great ladies, she's known by first name only. The Twin Liquors hostess has been helping customers get the very best out of their liquor for decades. Her commitment to social justice is inspiring: When no one would sell to the gay clubs in Austin in the 1970s, Antoinette and the gang at Twin Liquors did. Arrive at the tasting stand at Twin Liquors, and you'll be greeted with her radiant smile and a laugh, and she'll tell you what's good. She knows good. Everything she's served to us has been perfect, and the conversation is delightful without fail. After five minutes you'll wish she was related to you so you'd have more reason (than being a borderline alcoholic) to see her.

Twin Liquors
1000 E. 41st, 512/451-7400
519 E. Seventh, 512/476-9982
8030 Mesa, 512/346-1861
3652 Bee Caves Rd., 512/327-0315
5505 Balcones, 512/323-2775
850 N. Bell Blvd., Cedar Park, 512/335-4244
12400 Hwy. 71 W., 512/402-0333
701 Capital of Tx. Hwy. S., 512/347-1299
Main office: 107 W. Stassney, 512/442-8550
www.twinliquors.com

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AustiNuts' dry-roasted goodies can be found in many Austin-area groceries, but there's nothing like visiting its original store on West Anderson to take in the glorious aroma and peruse the impressive array of bulk legumes, seeds, achenes, kernels, and just plain nuts, not to mention handy gift packs and shippable, themed gift baskets of every nutty combination imaginable. All the in-house roasted products are kosher (Chanukah gifts anyone?), and the Hungarian/Israeli owners wouldn't have it any other way. That makes us all the more cuckoo for AustiNuts.

AustiNuts
2900 W. Anderson
512/323-6887
www.austinuts.com

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Actual resemblance to an authentic New Orleans po'boy is minimal – for one, prolonged exposure to Wheatsville's vegan version isn't likely to induce a heart attack – but we love WV's popcorn tofu po'boy precisely for its antitraditionalist whimsy. The deli starts with the classic chewy French roll, then gets creative with perfectly seasoned and textured fried tofu, fresh veggies like cucumbers and carrots and sprouts, and, finally, WV's divine homemade cashew-tamari dressing. Bon temps, indeed.

Wheatsville Food Co-op
3101 Guadalupe, 512/478-2667
4001 S. Lamar, 512/814-2888
wheatsville.coop

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