for so long i have been on the hunt for vegan soft serve. when i was 12 years old, i took a 2 week trip to the uk and lived off a glorious and ubiquitous brand of ice cream called mr. whippy. at least two cones per day maintained my mandatory 7th grade sugar high and kept me happy & full of energy. it was similar to mcdonalds soft serve, but 1000x better. creamy and sweet, white frozen matter swirled into a magical and delicate-about-to-melt dessert. totally heavenly. since becoming a vegan 4 years ago, i have found nothing that comes even close. sure, we have soy dream, tofutti and the marvelous scoops. but none have that good old-fashioned soft serve quality.

that is…until now. thanks to my trusty tipsters liz (¡yo soy!) and sunny, i found that hugo’s tacos in atwater village offers a vegan soft serve that can scratch my itch. rich, creamylicious, and double-flavored, this chocolate-caramel soft serve makes me feel like i’m eating that old familiar fast food ice cream.

caramel and chocolate vegan soft serve.

the soft serve at hugo’s tacos was nothing to be scoffed at. rich and decadent, flavorful and tasty; i couldn’t ask for much more. they shun the classic vanilla flavor for the more adventurous caramel, but other than that, this treat is just the way you remember it. the choice between 2 flavors, or a decadent swirl means i WON’T be disappointed! PLEASE NOTE, this freez-a-licious awesomeness is only available at the atwater village location. sorry valley-dwellers, you will have to make the trek to hipsterville for this treat.

next up, hugo’s tacos offers up more for vegans than just ice cream and mexican food. they also have the newly-introduced burger. while it’s nothing to get too excited about, the hugo’s tacos burger is a fucking steal for the price. juicy, flavorful and filling, it is incredible…albeit a bit on the small side.

veggie burger: griddle-cooked and finished. served with lettuce, tomato and special sauce. plus french fries...not much extra $!

now, strict-ish vegans like myself beware: the veggie burger by default comes with a chipotle honey sauce. opt for it without the sauce if that offends you, and the burger is every bit if not EVEN MORE tasty. for a crappy, under 5 bucks with fries “taco stand” burger, i was quite impressed. this dish doesn’t look like much, but it actually tasted pretty fucking nice. good sauce and a well-grilled patty on a scrummy bun—what more do i need? considering the hours and price of this joint, my fellow vegans, you couldn’t do much better.

lastly, let’s not forget the actual TACOS at hugo’s tacos! modest little corn tortillas layered and topped with incredible vegan offerings and freshly made salsa. yum! this time i got the soyrizo filling with the salsa negra. super hot, smokey seasoning along with delectable fake mexi-meat made this a taco to be remembered. yeah, it was small…but the crazy flavors made up for it. plus, this taco clocked in with tons of taste at under 3 bucks, and at the time, i was at the time saving myself for the more exciting and more difficult-to-come-by soft serve.

taco with soyrizo and salsa negra. $2.75

the mini taco was small, yet savory. considering you could get a portion for six bucks large enough to feed a horse, i was quite happy to settle on the little size. i left hugo’s feeling full and glad to have been there, not stuffed and remorseful. at under $12, this 3 course meal for 2 (although we shared a bit) proved to be good food for good prices, without a shred of regret.

not to mention the outdoor seating and kickass friendly service. if you haven’t been, you need to check out the hugo’s tacos in atwater village. this HT beats it’s sister stand in studio city, purely because of the vegan soft serve option. they seem to have a bigger menu as well, although i could be wrong because maybe the valley branch has expanded and i just don’t know about it.

hugo's tacos in atwater village.

some ungrateful hipsters have torn this place to shreds on yelp, but seriously, pay them no heed. they are only bitching because hugo’s costs maybe a buck more per dish than the scary roach coaches filled with lard that they are used to. imho, hugo’s tacos is WELL WORTH IT.

long story short: haul your ass east and get some fucking great vegan mexican food, burgers, fries, and soft serve. your inner-junk-food fiend will LOVE you for it!

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well, i didn’t actually order a taco, but hugo’s tacos in the valley definitely scratched my mexican food itch. god, so good and so vegan…what a great place to intersect. this creative yet wonderfully traditional mex left me wanting more. string beans, white beans and zucchini all seemed a little out of my comfort zone, but when they came rolled up with some guacamole goop on seasoned rice or in a huge, thin white tortilla, i definitely remembered i was at a taco stand. superb.

the food withstood the car ride home and was so much tastier than it looks.

burrito: flour tortilla with spanish rice, white beans, choice of filling, choice of salsa, onion & cilantro. $5.95

it’s so hard to take a picture of a taco stand burrito. you don’t want to cut it in half because it should be eaten whole, but then it just looks so boring. take my word for it, the thing was huge and there was a lot of exciting stuff on the inside. at hugo’s you pick and choose your salsa & filling for every dish, and lucky for us, they have two different vegan filling options. we got this burrito stuffed with zucchini, corn and string beans along with salsa habenero.

not bad! the vegetables were well cooked, and even though the salsa habenero wasn’t quite spicy enough, some extra hot sauce solved that. at under $6, the best thing about this burrito wasn’t the taste, but that it was such a great deal. seriously, i’m used to paying like 9 bucks for a burrito of this enormousness. the bowl was pretty good as well…

choice of filling, choice of salsa, lettuce, spanish rice, white beans and onion & cilantro topped with a dollop of guacamole. $5.95

this dish originally comes with cheese, so vegans beware! the bowl pictured came covered in salsa negra with a soyrizo, potato & zucchini filling. i was stoked to try the soyrizo, because i love the stuff at home and have never heard of it being used at a taco stand. hugo’s definitely delivered—it was well seasoned, perfectly browned and juicy. one of the bestest fake meaty things i’ve ever had.

while i can’t really ask for much more than a soyrizo option, there are definitely some things on hugo’s menu i would change. i’m really not sold on the white beans. while it mostly tasted like traditional taco stand food, the beans kept throwing me off. some lard-free refried beans, or even black beans would be appreciated. also, the zucchini, corn & string beans filling was kind of meh. i wish they had a mushroom option or something instead. string beans really don’t belong in a burrito, they belong with gravy and mashed potatoes and other shit like sprouts. but these are pretty minor annoyances…i like to nitpick.

overall, hugo’s was a great find. i am gonna go back and try out some of their taquitos and tacos as soon as i get a chance. they are cheap, fast, serve large portions, and offer food that you can be sure is vegan. for a mexican place especially, this is very rare. no lard, no chicken stock, and they even have bloody soyrizo on the menu!

come on, vegans! let’s give hugo’s tacos our support!

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