Austin’s New All-Day Vegan Restaurant Is a Destination, No Matter the Diet

Austin vegan burger joint Mission Burger Co. has partnered with coffee shop Barley Bean Cafe to open an all-day vegan destination in South Austin. The new standalone restaurant, which quietly opened on South Lamar Boulevard in early March, features more than 40 vegan options that span breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, coffee, and alcoholic drinks.

The new venture is a longtime dream for Mission Burger Co. founders and best friends Michael Limongelli and Isaac Mogannam, who founded the company in 2023. The two first crossed paths while catering for a grocery store in Austin. Mogannam was making burgers, and Limongelli, vegan ice cream. The two decided to fuse their penchant for vegan food and launched their own vegan pop-up and catering businesses. Limongelli says they started with a vegan burrito company and a vegan Italian food company before dedicating their time to burgers, a dish that Austin diners seemed most interested in, full-time. The company took off after it incorporated some of the most beloved elements of the burrito company, including the breakfast burrito and diner-favorite Crunchwrap. They hosted pop-ups before launching the first rendition of Mission Burger Co. in a 200-square-foot space in Rivercity Market.

Now, Mission Burger Co., which has expanded to its current 1,500-square-foot facility, slings more than 40 dishes, many of which are cooked on a 48-inch griddle, Limongelli says. The new restaurant features indoor seating with multiple tables and banquettes, single seats for co-working, a couch, and a six-seat bar, plus an outdoor patio with six giant picnic tables.

Breakfast offers staple morning dishes like pancakes and grab-and-go items, such as sausage, egg, and cheese bagel sandwiches and breakfast tacos. Lunch and dinner offer an array of sandwiches, burritos, and a french fry bar where diners can build their own loaded fries. Among the menu highlights are a Reuben sandwich on marbled rye, a New York-style chopped cheese, and barbecue brisket plates made with an assortment of dehydrated mushrooms that are smoked for five hours out back and served with homemade macaroni and cheese and coleslaw. Its Mission Burger, the restaurant’s claim to fame, also returns, featuring Impossible Burger meat doctored up with special seasonings, a vegan sauce reminiscent of Thousand Island, and pickles.

South Lamar coffee shop Barley Bean Cafe, which originally opened on South Lamar in 2015, operates a separate kiosk inside with an entirely vegan menu of coffee drinks and teas and a full bar of wine, beer, cocktails, and mocktails that are all made with vegan ingredients and alternative milks. For dessert, Limongelli makes his signature vegan ice cream with an oat milk base. Flavors include cereal milk, banana, and peanut butter swirled with vanilla, plus colorful sprinkles naturally dyed with turmeric and beet.

Notably, Mission Burger Co. is transparent with its ingredients, which are listed in great detail on its website. The chicken is made from mushrooms; the brisket from a combination of dehydrated shiitake and Lion’s Mane mushrooms; the queso from oat milk; and the Ranch dressing, which the restaurant now bottles, is made with rice milk as the base. While the burger shop does use pre-made ingredients, like Impossible Foods vegan burger patties, they get “doctored up,” Limongelli says. Unlike many restaurants, Mission Burger Co. doesn’t charge extra for substitutes or modifications in relation to allergies or food intolerances. Though items like gluten-free buns cost Mission Burger Co. more to supply, Limongelli says it didn’t feel fair to charge diners extra for intolerances they can’t help.

Limongelli says Mission already has regulars who visit at least twice a day for breakfast and lunch, which has been rewarding. Saving animals is a part of the equation, Limongelli says, but so is serving people in the Austin area “good food that just happens to be vegan” with an emphasis on hospitality. This means diners can expect a complimentary warm chocolate chip cookie with every visit and a dining experience void of persuasive “vegan talk.”

“We do the activism through our food,” Limongelli says. “The tastebuds are where our brains go first.”

Mission Burger Co. is located at 3600 South Lamar Boulevard in South Austin. It’s open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.