2nd & Congress Food Trailers Closed - UPDATED

I feel like it's happening on a monthly basis now. Trailer parks closing all over Austin for condos or offices to move in; it's truly a sad sight.

If you haven't heard, the food truck lot at 2nd & Congress closed about a week ago. Five trailers were forced to relocate and with the move, Congress Ave. will definitely lose some of the best lunch options on the street.

My office used to be off 4th & Congress, so every week I'd walk a couple blocks down the road to have a choice of turkish wraps, korean-mexican tacos, seafood po boys, a calorie controlled burger or a good cup of coffee. The lot catered to almost any craving. As we bid adieu to the trailers at this lot, make sure to keep your eyes out for their new locations. I've tracked down most relocation plans for the trailers, but I'll be tweeting and updating this post as I find out more.

Chi'lantro
Couldn't find any news of a the new trailer spot, but they have three other trucks in Austin and I'm sure you won't have trouble finding those Kimchi fries. (YUM)

Kebabalicious
This place is amazing- which is clear since they also went brick and mortar earlier this year. I recommend the beef/lamb kebab with hummus and zucchini fries. SO GOOD.
Their brick and mortar is off East 7th & Navasota, but if you want the true trailer experience, their new spot is going to be off 4th & Guadalupe by Republic Square Park. UPDATE: After what seemed to be a week's long fight with "power issues," Kebabalicious is set to open up Tuesday at 7th & Congress!

@Kebabalicious

Patika Coffee
I never had the chance to try Patika, but my friends all love their French press coffee. A close friend and fellow blogger, Austin Caffeinated, said she hasn't been yet either, but she's heard that "along with Franks they have some of the best espresso in Austin." This is something coming from the coffee aficionado. There's a post on their Facebook page that says they have a secured new spot, but to stay tuned. UPDATE: Looks like another member of the group is moving down the road!

@PatikaCoffee

Snap Pod
This trailer's dedication to serving local and organic food may not sound unique among the Austin local-food-culture, but their mission to serve healthy trailer food is. It's quite rare to find a trailer menu that allows you to order a guilt-free and calorie-conscious lunch. That's probably why there's such a huge rally behind the Snap Pod to find the trailer a new home. On Snap Kitchen's (the parent and brick and mortar of the pod) blog they're asking for fans to offer suggestions on how and where the pod should move. Help Snap Pod find a new home!
UPDATE: As of June 11, Snap Kitchen still seems to be on the hunt.

@SnapKitchen

UPDATE: They're still looking for a new place to call home.

UPDATE: Snap Pod has found a spot!

According to a recent article in ABJ the food truck will open sometime early this month (November) on the "northeast corner of Fifth Street and Congress."

Turf N Surf Po'Boy
Their new digs are off 4th & Congress - just down the street from the old spot. A post dedicated to this trailer's cajun deliciousness is coming soon!

Ahem..Introductions? - The Peached Tortilla

Let's just say I've been on a brief hiatus for the last few months. After studying for exams, stressing over exams, and actually taking exams, I couldn't bring myself to voluntarily put effort into writing anything. I know that maintaining a blog takes self discipline and hopefully it will be a discipline I can master. At least on my free time from 386346 other school commitments or when it's 3 a.m. and I can't fall asleep.

I went to New Orleans for a month to work over break, but a few days before I left Austin I fulfilled one of my desired food truck visits at The Peached Tortilla.

I saw via twitter (@peachedtortilla) that there was a lunch special at the trailer off 2nd and Colorado. I convinced my roommate to hop in the car and take a trip to the truck that I had somehow kept missing. The food and the service were exceptional.

I went after the Banh Mi taco on white corn because it had been the most highly recommended. And I loved it! The description of "Vietnamese braised pork belly, pickled daikon and carrot salad" intimidated me a little, but these new ingredients didn't scare my palate. The spicy sriracha mayo and cilantro pulled it all together as a taco that rivaled my beloved Torchy's Brush Fire.

I think my roommate ordered the BBQ Brisket taco with creamy slaw and smoke roasted peach bbq sauce. Mmmmmmmmmmm

Eric Silverstein, owner and founder of The Peached Tortilla, was a pretty laid back guy. He answered some questions I had for an article I was working on (more details on that to come) and even let me take his picture.

I need to make my way over to West Campus (where the truck is located most evening at Freewheeling Bicycles), so I can relive the Banh Mi and maybe try a slider or two.

Can't rely on a Gypsy-- Izzo's Tacos & Holy Cacao, another story

I went to the Gypsy Picnic Trailer Food Festival thinking “This is it. The perfect end to my required blog stream about food-trailers: a trailer food festival!”

Too bad it sucked. And when I say sucked, I mean it crushed my little foodie heart to walk into the grounds to see 2009 ACL-like-dust, disgruntled people and lines. Oh, the lines.

Okay, maybe I’m being a little harsh. I think I built up my excitement for the festival and it turned out to be very disappointing. Apparently the Gypsy Trailer Festival organizers did not expect the kind of turn out that occurred. The festival was supposed to be a combination of merchandise shopping, listening to music and of course snacking on your favorite trailer foods. Instead, it was a festival of lines. Every trailer had a line at least 100 people long. There was a line to buy your food, then a line to wait for your food to be made, and finally, a line of the people eating their food.

On top of the lines, half of the trailers were completely sold out by the time I got there (2:30 p.m.), and the festival was supposed to go on until 8 p.m. After about 20 minutes I left with no food and lots of disappointment.

I decided to head down South First and see if I could find a trailer that wasn’t at the festival that I could snag something from. To my surprise, when I pulled in the Trailer Park & Eatery, Torchy’s was open and Holy Cacao had an ice chest full of cake balls.

I begrudgingly passed up Torchy’s and decided to try the recently awarding-winning Holy Cacao. I asked the server for their best flavor, she recommended the red velvet cake. I’m not a huge fan of red velvet, so she recommended her favorite, chocolate. Now you’re talkin’.

The website lists the chocolate cake ball as “Holly’s Favorite Cake Ball: All chocolate, all the time: Chocolate cake dipped in chocolate and dusted with cocoa powder.” It was delicious! The perfect balance of fudgy brownie and bitter sweet chocolate.

After enjoying my chocolate treat, I went further down the street to a lot with no official name, but holds around three trailers. I found Izzo’s Tacos parked here and decided to give them a try. Again I asked the server for the best item on the menu and he recommended The Padre…which they were all out of. They were out of beef, chicken, and carnitas because of the Gypsy Picnic. I asked him if the vendors didn’t think that a lot of people were going to come. He said that they thought there would be a lot of people and had quadrupled their normal daily preparatory meals, but ran out in three hours. Again, I don't think the Gypsy Picnic organizers realized how successful the festival was going to be.

After this process of elimination, I opted for the Escobar, made of carne guisada (cubed pork), pico de gallo, and cilantro, and the Portabella Shroom, made with a generous portion of portabella mushrooms, caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato, and chipotle aioli. The aioli was delicious, but I really enjoyed their salsa which was just chunky enough and really spicy. Overall, Izzo’s Tacos was good, but left a little something to be desired and didn't live up to Torchy’s.

If you went to Gypsy Picnic- please leave comments below about your likes or dislikes at the festival.
To read a few reviews about Gypsy Picnic you can visit Yelp or Mike Sutter's Statesman blog.
Also if you have a favorite Holy Cacao cake ball or Izzo’s Tacos dish share it with me because I definitely will be going back to Holy Cacao at least.

Note: Please excuse the poor quality of the pictures. My camera died, so I had to revert to my phone.

Damn Worth Getting Lost For - Torchy's Tacos

This week I visited Torchy’s Tacos in the South Austin Trailer Park & Eatery off of South First. I was going to attempt to venture outside of the more frequented food-trailers, but I woke up Sunday morning and could not get my mind away from Torchy’s "damn good tacos." Bare with me people, I’ll be adventurous next week.

I am a taco fiend. I love the spices, the succulent flavor of the meat, the salsa, the cheese, the variety of toppings…everything! My favorite kind of taco however, is the breakfast taco. I don’t think it gets any better than eggs, beans, cheese and salsa all wrapped up in a homemade corn tortilla. Torchy’s Tacos pulls this off perfectly.

I’ve been to the UT District Torchy’s off Guadalupe several times, but had never been to the trailer park location. I had heard of the South Austin Trailer Park & Eatery and always wanted to check it out, so I wrote down the address and hopped in the car.

The address listed on the website is 1311 S. First St and I live off 43rd, so I thought that I could just drive South on Lamar and I’d eventually hit First Street and take it from there. After passing Sixth Street, I was getting pretty excited for my long overdue breakfast taco but, after driving for another ten blocks I realized that I must have gotten turned around. It turns out that all the numbered streets in Austin run East to West, except First Street magically runs North to South. I guess I’m realizing this late, but for all you Austin newbies out there- you’ve been informed!

I whipped out my priceless TomTom, forced myself to continue driving past Gourdough’s, and eventually found the Trailer Park & Eatery.

The Torchy’s Tacos food-truck shares the trailer park with Holy Cacao and Man Bites Dog, but Torchy’s was the only one open at 10:30 a.m. The trailer park has generous parking (for Austin), umbrella tables, and a covered eating area that boasts Torchy’s Tacos as Austin Chronicle’s choice of Best Taco & Best Taqueria for 2010.

I normally would order my usual egg, bean, cheese and green chilies, but I went out of the norm just for you lovely reader! Also, it gave me an excuse to buy two tacos. I ordered my usual and the taco of the month: The Scarecrow. $3.50 for pumpkin crusted chicken, roasted poblanos, escabeche carrots, cojita cheese and cilantro, served on a corn tortilla with creamy chipotle.

Can I just say that ordering that taco was one of the best random-order-decisions ever? The escabeche (pickled) carrots were the bomb, they were crunchy and packed so much flavor. The pumpkin crusted chicken caused a déjà vu moment, but I realized it reminded me of the breading at The Mighty Cone. I thought the poblanos were a little soggy for my taste, but overall the taco was a great choice. I even enjoyed the chipotle sauce that I normally would substitute with the traditional salsa.

You should visit the South Austin Trailer Park & Eatery if you’re trying to get some good, cheap food and stroll slightly off the beaten path.

P.S. Torchy’s Tacos just opened a new location in Dallas! If you’re there for a visit you should stop in and tell me if that location is as good as the real thing.
What’s your favorite Torchy’s Taco? Answer in a comment below and I’ll try and check it out!

**All photos by Rachael Sperling