The mighty duck returns! - Odd Duck Farm to Trailer

Odd Duck Farm to Trailer Photo: Austin360,  by Mike Sutter of AMERICAN-STATESMAN

When I heard that Odd Duck Farm to Trailer was closing on December 10, 2011 (back before the lot of Lamar was shut down for good), I made it a point to pay a visit to the trailer that boosted Chef Bryce Gilmore into his chef stardom.

I actually had the chance to dine at Barley Swine (Gilmore's brick and mortar spot) before I went to the trailer. I knew if the trailer menu was anything like its sister restaurant, I was in for something good.

The atmosphere of the lot was like any other trailer lot in Austin: casual, friendly and homey, with a mixture of intriguing aromas in the air. But this lot also had that sad feeling of an old friend leaving town. Austinites were crowding to visit Odd Duck one last time, or for the first and only time, like myself. Entire events were set up to pay homage to this beloved trailer.

Parmesan grits garnished with a soft boiled duck egg, zucchini & mushrooms

Since the closure, Barley Swine has grown in popularity and has been ranked nationally as one of the best restaurants in America. Recently, Gilmore revealed that he will be reopening Odd Duck! This time however as a 100-seat restaurant.

What can you expect at the new place? The food will be "similar to the trailer...with lots of grilling and wood," Gilmore said in an interview with Eater Austin.

The "farm to table" concept of both Odd Duck and Barley Swine is serving 100% locally sourced, seasonal options.

I don't know about you guys, but I can't wait for this new addition to the Austin food scene!

Love Balls Bus

There's something about the East Side Drive-In that makes me want to try new food. The last three times I visited, I went for a specific cuisine and ended up getting something completely different, like when I went in for an egg sandwich and came out with chicken souvlaki. This time it was breakfast tacos for love balls.

Takoyaki with kewpie mayo, powdered seaweed, bonito flakes & "Japanese sauce"

Love Balls, is a food truck bus that brings Japanese street food to East Austin. Their specialty and namesake are the Love Balls. The sign outside the bus describes them as a savory fried pancake balls, but I think it's a slightly more comparable to the savoriness of a hushpuppy. A cornmeal-less hushpuppy sometimes filled with octopus.

I decided to try the Love Special, an order of eight Takoyaki and one large yaki-onigiri, for only $7 or $8.  I braved the Takoyaki at 11 a.m. because I knew it was the big menu item and I felt like it was just necessary that I try these crazy looking things, and the smell coming from the trailer was delicious. 


Another small part of my hankering to try this bus out was that Bizarre Food's host, Andrew Zimmern, visited the truck back in November. 

Photo source: @AndrewZimmern

You can read more here about the places around Austin he dubbed bizarre enough for his show. Still no word on when the show will air.


Back to our regularly scheduled programming, THE FOOD. 


So, what is Takoyaki? It's the savory pancake ball/hushpuppy filled with octopus ("Look the suction things are still on them!" my pizza-eating friend said in shock), pickled ginger and green onions. The octopus was tender and not too chewy- I'm curious where they import it from as I usually avoid any bargain priced seafood in central Texas. What really made the meal were the toppings: takoyaki sauce, kewpie mayo, aonori and bonito flakes. 


I'll admit I had a very small inkling of an idea what all of these things were, but after a little digging: Takoyaki sauce is similar to the ketchup-Worcestershire sauce you may be familiar with, but with sake and other Japanese spices added. Kewpie mayo is a popular mayonnaise in Japan and the only difference between it and regular mayo it's that it's a little creamier and made with rice vinegar. Aonori and bonito flakes is dried green seaweed and thin mackerel fillet. 


All together it is one of the most unique, yet tasty dishes I've ever tried.


The special also came with garlic yaki-onigiri aka rice balls grilled with garlic soy sauce (YES) and wrapped in seaweed. It looked like a weird rice sandwich. It was good, but I just ate the rice from the outside that had all of the garlic soy sauce-y goodness. 

Yaki-Onigiri

My friend tried the Caprese Love Balls which are good for vegetarians or someone looking for a slightly more familiar dish, but the cheese in combination with the deep fried batter got pretty heavy for me. The tomatoes were SO good though.

Caprese Love Balls with preserved tomatoes and kewpie mayo-basil pesto combo

I asked the chef how well the love balls would hold up in the fridge, but he didn't really recommend bringing them home. Not that they would go bad, he said, but that they'd get soggy and lose their distinct flavor. Of course I didn't want all of that octopus to go bad, so I just at the good stuff from the middle and tossed the last two fried shells (don't yell at me).


If you try out Love Balls, let me know which dish you try and what you think! I really want someone to try the Texas Takoyaki Roulette challenge. Your choice of the Takoyaki or The Veg. Seven balls are served, but one is filled with a "ghost pepper laced habanero." The 'winner' gets a free bottle of water. It sounds like sick joke challenge for the people working the truck on a slow day, but definitely something I'd love to witness.


Love Balls is located in the East Side Drive-In off East Sixth & San Marcos. Go try some balls!

Did you say pie-ro-gee? - Hill Country Pierogi Truck

I learned about the Hill Country Pierogi trailer from my roommate last fall. She really wanted to visit the new trailer and told me I should come with, so I could tell you wonderful people all about it.

Delicious new food? I’m there, but what the heck are pierogi?

The roomz described pierogi as a traditional Polish food, similar to ravioli, but in a half-moon shape, filled with potato and cheese and pan-fried in butter.

Potatoes, cheese, butter. It sounded like a Paula Deen dish all wrapped in a noodle- let's go.

A week or so later I saw that Hill Country Pierogi was having a Twitter contest for fans to send in pictures of the Austin skyline in exchange for free pierogi. Challenge accepted.

I sent in this pic I found on an 'ode to Austin' blogpost and won. Free food's always good.

The Austin version of Aurora Borealis.

Last weekend I finally went to redeem my prize.

Hill Country Pierogi truck off East 11th & Juniper

Not only did Brit & Rob remember my and my roommates names from months ago, but they were so incredibly nice and gave me plenty of time to flip flop between The Chorizo or the Traditional. The Texan in me went for The Chorizo. The roomie ordered The Bacon. And we threw in an order of The Apple Pie for good measure.

The Chorizo

These little guys smelled AMAZING. It was one of those times where you knew the food was going to be way too hot, but it was worth burning the roof of your mouth. The filling , a combination of ground chorizo, black beans, sautéed onions, chipotle and mashed potato, genius. The diced jalapeños and chipotle sour cream were great for me because I like spice. But the regular side of sour cream will bring down the heat if you want a milder flavor. 

I tried one of the bacon pierogies and liked it as much as mine, though it had a completely different flavor.

 

The Bacon

The caramelized onion added a sweetness to the savory cracked black peppercorn bacon and mashed potatoes. The peppercorn bacon crumble on top was a nice vittle between bites. 

After three delish dumplings I knew I had to stop so I could save room for The Apple Pie. 

The Apple Pie with SWEETENED WHIPPED MASCARPONE

Brit, Hill Country Pierogi co-founder and chef extraordinaire, brought out the apple pie and our mouths fell open. She made sure we knew that the heavenly little dollop of cream was not "just" butter, but homemade sweetened mascarpone cream. 

The apple pie filling is homemade and the whole pierogi is topped with dulce de leche drizzle and powdered sugar. The combination of the buttery dumpling with the deep-fried breading was a little heavy for me, but my favorite part of the dessert was the mascarpone. By the end I was snagging bites of it with a spoon. (Brit admitted she does this too which made me feel more normal.)

An order of 5 homemade pierogi is $7 which isn't a bad deal. Considering you'll probably take a couple home (or eat them in the car on the way back), it's almost two meals. The menu has a wide variety of choices and some vegetarian options as well.

The next time I go back I want to try the Traditional or the Kielbasa (Polish sausage) and The Blueberry for dessert. Yes, I've already planned my entire order.

On a side note, I just want to commend Brit and Rob on how quickly they've grown their business and settled in to the Austin food truck community. Their food is amazing, but they're also one of the most resourceful food truck operations I've seen. They ship, deliver and sell bulk quantities of their products and their menu is featured at the Longbranch Inn. 

You can read about Rob and Brit's full adventure from their "corporate" lives in New York to running their small business in Austin, and keep up-to-date on the trailer, on their blog, Twitter, or Facebook.

If you visit the trailer and try The Blueberry before I get a chance to, leave me a comment and tell me all about it!

Na zdrowie!

I'm like a real grown up writer, or something.

Remeber when I hinted about more details to come surrounding my interview with Peached Tortilla? Well, whether you read that post or not, good news! An article I wrote (and edited with the help of Professor Dave Junker) was chosen to be published to the Texas Advertising and Public Relations news page.

So, click below to check it out! Texas Advertising and Public Relations - NEWS

A special thanks to Jodi Bart of Tasty Touring and Eric Silverstein of The Peached Tortilla for their time and contributing words.

Comments are welcome!