Dear Dale...

Vegetarian Cosmic Cafe takes over former West Lynn spot

August 10, 2005

Dear Dale,

West Lynn Cafe is no longer West Lynn Cafe. It has become Cosmic Cafe, a vegetarian restaurant with an Indian influence. I had dinner there the other night (although I thought I was going to West Lynn Cafe).

What happened to West Lynn? I thought that place had a pretty strong following.

Courtney Clapper
Hays County

Courtney,

West Lynn Cafe certainly had a strong following, based on my observation. It also had a national reputation for gourmet vegetarian fare.

Sadly, the restaurant closed last month, and the building re-opened July 19 as the Cosmic Cafe, a branch of the well-known Dallas vegetarian restaurant of the same name.

Kamal Ladha, a retired businessman, and restaurateur Praveen Sachdev, owner of Cosmic-Dallas, are the proprietors of Cosmic-Austin.

The restaurant serves Indian-inspired vegetarian fare, with all dishes less than $10.

Ladha said the owners of West Lynn Cafe, who also have Mother's Cafe in the Hyde Park neighborhood, approached him about buying the restaurant.

"They just wanted to keep one restaurant. They wanted to spend more time with their families," Ladha said. "I'm the only one they asked if I was interested in buying; they knew that I'd carry on with the vegetarian tradition."

So, Courtney, that explains the shift from West Lynn to Cosmic Cafe. It was a question that more than a dozen other readers had, too.

Dale

Dale,

I'm an omnivore, but one of my two wonderful daughters is a vegetarian, and she's leaving for college in Washington, D.C., later this month.

Just for the heck of it, could you either compose a list or ask your readers for lists of favorite vegetarian dishes at restaurants if they had a month left in Austin?

Frankly, it's been hard to find many restaurants that have interesting vegetarian dishes if they tend to be places for the carnivore in most of us.

Thanks!!
Bob Binder

Bob,

Coincidentally, when I recently asked readers for the 10 places they would eat if they had only 30 days left in Austin, I heard from several vegetarians. Here are a few of the recommendations from one of them, S. Garcia:

• Eastside Cafe for the field greens salad with breaded goat cheese and the artichoke manicotti.

• Cuba Libre for the mozzarella and tomato salad.

• Hut's for the veggie chili, Ed's Veggie Sandwich and a mixed basket of onion rings and French fries.

• Ararat for the veggie platter and the Egyptian salad.

And from Emily Meador, these suggestions:

• Manuel's for cheese enchiladas with salsa verde.

• Mangia for the stuffed crust spinach pizza on whole wheat.

• Taco X-Press for a veggie taco and a taco with beans on corn tortillas.

Perhaps those dishes will give you some options for a dinner with your daughter.

I have another suggestion: Take her to La Traviata, the downtown Italian spot, for an arugula salad with blue cheese and buttermilk dressing, followed by the pasta with wild mushroom sauce. Everyone who has dined on that in my presence has loved it.

Dale

Dear Dale,

I just read your updated review of Little Texas Bistro. I've been telling friends about it for months. I agree with you that it's one of the top restaurants in Central Texas -- and it's right here in little ol' Buda.

I even wrote to Bon Appetit asking for one of Little Texas Bistro's recipes (Smoky Tomato Soup) and it was recently published in the August issue.

Thanks for showing Central Texans that Buda has a few things to offer besides cows and Cabela's.

Best wishes,
Julie

Julie,

Little Texas Bistro is one of several places in Central Texas proving that gourmet fare is not restricted to downtown Austin.

It's a trend that I'm delighted to see.

Dale

You may contact Dale Rice at drice@statesman.com, 445-3859 or 305 S. Congress Ave., Austin 78745. Due to the volume of inquiries, not all questions can be answered.