900 Springdale Food Park is many things: a food park, an event center, a BikeTexas office, a rest stop, and a source of spiritual healing. It’s a triangular, grassy area nestled between train tracks, Springdale Road and Lyons Road, less than a mile from LASA. There are three food trucks currently serving food there: Hippy Eats, Creole Taste, and Conscious Cravings, and more may be coming soon.
Jason Stutz is the owner and operator of Hippy Eats and Spiritual Healing, a food truck specializing in vegan and Mediterranean cuisine, with spiritual healing as an option for people looking for guidance. He has been preparing food at 900 Springdale for over a year.
“It’s vegan, 100 percent vegan,” Stutz said. “I strive for healthy, nourishing and delicious. If I got all three of those, then I’m doing the right thing.”
His falafel platter is the cornerstone of Stutz’s food business, but that’s not all he offers. Stutz offers spiritual healing services, working with clients who aren’t sure how to go about overcoming past trauma or lack of clarity, but know they want to move forward.
“I’ve got this introductory healing, psychic reading, and healing,” Stutz said. “That’s where I’ll ask them a few questions about their life and I will arrive very quickly at what needs to be looked at and what needs some healing and clarification. They have the advantage that I can see them energetically and emotionally and I can help speed the process that might ordinarily take several years.”
Robin Stallings has been the Executive Director of BikeTexas for over 20 years, a statewide non-profit organization focused on advocacy and education to improve the experience of Texans on bikes. He is also the landlord of 900 Springdale Road, where BikeTexas’ office is located.
“Instead of looking like a food park is at BikeTexas, we wanted it to look like BikeTexas is also at the food park,” Stallings said. “The idea is to really make it connected with the trails so cyclists can stop and freshen up or buy a meal.”
Islande Paulin is the owner and operator of Creole Taste, a Haitian food truck on the other side of the park, a few seconds’ walk away from the other businesses. She serves vegan food “from the heart of Haiti”, as her menu describes, which consists heavily of legumes, vegetables, and tofu.
“I have this pâté,” Paulin said. “It’s like an apple turnover pastry, but it’s mixed with vegetables inside it. I made fried plantains, fried yucca. I made rice, I made vegetables. Salads, of course. And I made juice. Mostly these are Haitian traditions.”
Most of the customers at Creole Taste are from Haiti, but some are from the U.S.. A third vegan food truck, Conscious Cravings, is also located on the premises. It got its permit this April and will be serving health-focused wraps and salads. Another food truck may also show up in the coming months.
“It’s a hot dog vendor,” Stallings said. “I think it’s going to be pretty healthy hot dogs, plant-based hot dogs, and maybe sausages. It’s a couple that immigrated from Israel. One of them operated a restaurant in Israel. So now they’re getting on their feet, just moved to Austin. This hot dog business was their first venture, just like it is for a lot of people that have a food truck.”
