Burlington's vegan scene got a bit bigger — and more mobile — this month.

Conscious Eatz rolled into town on September 3, spending a week down near the waterfront before parking in its current location near the top of the Church Street Marketplace at 6 Clarke Street.

Partners Jane Morgan and Tyler Weith have followed a plant-based diet for a few years. After moving back to Burlington last summer, they noticed a "major gap in vegan and vegetarian foods," Morgan said.

"For such a progressive city, it really surprised us that there weren't more options," she continued. "We love to cook, and love to make plant-based things, so we figured we could bring plant-based options to Burlington in a really approachable way."

Approachability is key to the food truck's menu. Items like buffalo-cauliflower tacos ($12) — a play on a buffalo chicken wing adapted into taco form to make it street-food friendly — and the maple-glazed tempeh burrito ($11) have been popular from the get-go.

"I've found that friends of mine who aren't plant-based can get intimidated by some of the vegan ingredients and foods," Morgan said. "We really tried to make all of our ingredients and menu items things that would appeal to anybody."

Morgan and Weith had started conceptualizing Conscious Eatz prior to the pandemic, and their planned business model has adapted well. "It's mostly takeout, and now we're set up with some of the delivery services," Morgan said. "Everything's pretty contactless, and it's working out well for us." 

The mission of Conscious Eatz is to serve food that has a positive impact on the environment, animals and personal health, Morgan explained.

"If one person who typically eats meat decides for one of their meals, one day a week, to not eat meat, that in itself has a positive impact," she said.

With that in mind, my dining companion and I skipped our usual omnivorous lunch plans over the weekend and placed an order for two sandwiches from Conscious Eatz: the chickpea tuna sandwich ($9) and the Lucerne club ($9), both of which came with an ample side of potato chips.

The "tuna" successfully mimics the classic sandwich. The combination of chickpeas and smooth hummus — spiked with celery, of course — has everything except the fishiness.

It would be a perfect polite solution to a tuna craving at the office, if sitting near coworkers for lunch al desko were something we could actually do.

The Lucerne club strays further from the original (no frilly toothpicks), but it's a twist worth trying. The sandwich is piled high with shredded carrots, sprouts and crispy "carrot bacon," and slathered with a Thai-inspired peanut sauce.

In a world of increasingly expensive sandwiches, these felt like a good deal at $9. We'd been tempted by the desserts — particularly the blueberry cheezecake ($5) — but skipped it to stay under our $12 per person limit. That ended up being for the best, as we were stuffed.

Conscious Eatz can typically be found on Clarke Street Wednesday through Sunday, barring special events that take the truck elsewhere. Check out the weekly schedule online and on social media.

Dining on a Dime is a weekly series featuring well-made, filling bites (something substantial enough to qualify as a small meal or better) for $12 or less. Know of a tasty dish we should feature? Drop us a line: [email protected].

Kismet, the sign on the building announced — and my date with destiny came none too soon.

I'd been driving  and walking around one of  Vermont's least appealing landscapes: Taft Corners and environs. I was looking for Pingala Café, the Williston branch that opened in June.

By the time I found it — housed in a building called Kismet in one of a series of shopping development off-shoots — I was starting to think my fate would preclude an ELT.  That's Pingala's "world-famous" eggplant BLT, minus the B ($8.95).

Once I found the building, it was easy to locate Pingala. The eatery is in a stationary replica of a food truck parked in the lobby. Customers order and pick up food at a window-like cutout on the side of the faux truck and, when finished, bus their things to a dish tub set between headlights, where the grill would be.

The ELT is made with eggplant in place of bacon, plus tomato, scallion, lettuce and dill tahini on multigrain toast.

Yum.

It was a sunny day in the suburbs, and I ate my sandwich at a picnic table by the parking lot. Mounds of dirt and the whine of a power saw suggested that sprawl was still creepin'.

But the sandwich was interesting and tasty enough to hold my attention:  It had crunch, it had glop (plenty of dill tahini sauce), it had flavor and raw veggies. The ELT also had an element of mystery: What process transforms eggplant into bacon?

After my meal, I asked the women staffing the truck how the eggplant became a pork-product substitute. They told me the vegetable was sliced thin, marinated, dehydrated and kept in a sealed container until needed.

On any given day, bacon and eggplant might vie for being my favorite food. They come together at a pretend food truck in the vestibule of Kismet.

Dining on a Dime is a weekly series featuring well-made, filling bites (something substantial enough to qualify as a small meal or better) for $12 or less. Know of a tasty dish we should feature? Drop us a line: [email protected].