Mmm biscuits... - Biscuits + Groovy

WHO doesn't crave biscuits on a Sunday morning? (Especially after a late night of Halloween festivities?)

A couple weeks back I wanted to grab breakfast, but didn't feel like heading out of the comfort of my sweet Hyde Park surroundings. So, I did a quick Yelp search of "food trailer 78751" and the third listing down was "Biscuits + Groovy." I remembered that seasoned writer and foodie, Addie Broyles, had recommended the trailer via Twitter a few weeks back when I was looking for new trailers to try. A top recommendation plus a food trailer specializing in BISCUITS makes for a required visit.

We parked and were hit in the face by the smell of biscuits baking across the street (the Biscuits + Groovy site recommends you park in the Snappy Mart parking lot on the other side of 51st).

I tried to take pictures, but my phone wanted to take ultra-bright shots. I think it wanted to give an ethereal aura to the pictures because the biscuits were that good.

The menu has cute musically-inspired names for all the different biscuit plates- The Johnny Hash, The Gloria Gaynor, The M.C. Hammer - to name a few.

I decided on the M.C. Hammer because I was a little short on cash and it was only $4 for a biscuit, scrambled eggs, cheese and vegan bacon, I got white gravy on the side because I've never been a huge smother-your-food-in-gravy person. I went with the vegan bacon because I was trying to be a little healthier, but didn't like it so much. Unless you're vegan or vegetarian, I say just go with the real thing.

The scrambled eggs were fluffy and the cheddar cheese hit the spot. I took it easy on the gravy, I just wasn't feeling it that morning. The biscuit was lovely! It was warm, soft and had just the right amount of saltiness. It reminded me of the biscuits you'd get an authentic mom 'n pop comfort-food joint.

Again, the over-bright picture reflects the heavenly goodness.

I went back to Biscuits & Groovy the following Sunday because I didn't feel like I had fully experienced the groove of the trailer. (Sorry pun felt necessary.)

This time I went all out and ordered the Johnny Hash, vegan style. It comes with THREE halved, perfect biscuits, potatoes, (vegan) sausage, (vegan) bacon,(vegan) brown gravy, sprinkled with (vegan) cheddar cheese and chives on top . I think the biscuits alone make the meal, but the hash was pretty good.

Photo cred: @saholas

I don't know why I went with the vegan again against my own advice because I think the real deal tastes so much better. I know because I sampled my (clearly smarter) friend's dish. She ordered the orginial, Biscuits + Groovy with 3 halved biscuits, sausage, white pepper gravy and chives. The white gravy is ridiculous and I liked the real sausage better than the vegan. NOTE - I wouldn't recommend eating the whole boat of biscuits in one sitting because you'll leave feeling pretty heavy. We learned this lesson the hard way.
The wait at the trailer can be a little long, but just bring along your own coffee, sit back, sing along to ABBA and people watch. Time will fly.

Also, it seems like a pretty popular place for families with young kids. There were several cute moms wiping jelly off faces and dads in band tees sharing the perfect-for-sharing plates with the young'ins.

My overall recommendation is to not come starving because there WILL be a wait, order the real thing (if it's not against your food-lifestyle choices) and bring along a pal so you can try different dishes, toppings and fillings!

What's your favorite breakfast or brunch place around Austin? Comment below or tweet me, so I can try 'em out!

Biscuits + Groovy is off 51st and Duval, across the street from Snappy Mart. They offer vegetarian and vegan options. And they recycle! Hours are M-F 9 a.m.-2 p.m. and S&S 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

UPDATE: Since writing this, a friend of mine went to Biscuits + Groovy with her boyfriend when he came in town and my neighbor brought his parents when they visited from Wisconsin. They all raved about it! I love when friends help friends find good food. :)

Gypsy Picnic 2011

Bringin' the gypsy to the picnic

If you got to experience Gypsy Picnic this year, yay! I hope you ate your fill of the variety of trailer food and enjoyed the amazing weather. If you went to last year’s Gypsy Picnic and tried it out again this year, WASN’T IT 50,000X BETTER?

The harsh, but true criticism of the first-ever Gypsy Picnic in 2010 was heeded and the attendees benefitted. I was thoroughly impressed by C3’s improvements to the festival: the area blocked off at Auditorium shores seemed twice as big as last year, the number of trucks increased and the vendors were more prepared overall.

This year I had the chance to work behind-the-scenes at the festival at The Peached Tortilla. If you’ve read my posts (and there isn’t an overabundance of them...yet) you should know that I’m madly in love with the Banh Mi taco and all other things ‘peached.’ So basically I felt like I was getting to work backstage on the set of one of my favorite TV shows!

"I'm a peach head!"

Being on the inside of the truck – or in Gypsy Picnic’s case, on the other side of the table – was such an amazing experience! I got to talk to so many cool people and tell hundreds of hungry folks that they should buy one of my favorite foods in Austin. And man, were we churning out some tacos!

I parted ways with the peached crew around 2 p.m., but not before having a banh mi taco, BBQ brisket taco and szechwan veggie taco. I have no shame. The Szechwan veggie was new to me and caught me off guard with how spicy it was. The eggplant, red bell pepper and onions blended well with the black bean garlic sauce, tofu and pickled daikon slaw. I don’t think anything will top the banh mi taco for me though.

After happily stuffing my face, I wandered out to the center of the park to try to decide where I wanted to go with my $20 in ‘research funds.’

My first stop was Short Bus Subs because I saw on Twitter that it was one of their peeps' birthday and I have never been out to visit the trailer at Mueller Park. Eric, the birthday boy and one of the three co-owners and brothers who runs the bus, traded my birthday wish for a sub!

The Short Bus

I sampled The Hot Teacher, a veggie sub with roasted portabella mushroom, red pepper, sun-dried tomato pesto, mozzarella, cheddar and fresh sun dried tomatoes. I was honestly surprised with how good the sub was. I mean subs are subs, but I think it was the sun-dried tomato pesto and freshly baked from scratch bread that made it.

My second stop was East Side King, the fan favorite winner. A hippy-biker type recommended the Thai Chicken Karaage, but I opted for the Fried Brussels Sprout Salad. It was a unique combo of fried brussels sprouts, sweet and spicy sauce, shredded cabbage, alfalfa sprouts, basil, cilantro, mint, onion and jalapeño. The brussels sprouts were flavorful and not deep fried, just crispy enough. I’m not sure if it was the sweet and spicy sauce or the mint in the dish, but something triggered a coughing fit. I had to give up on the rest of the salad which was unfortunate because I really liked it!

East Side King
Left Thai Chicken Karaage, Right Fried Brussels Sprout Salad

I met up with some friends and we made our way over to Tenderland for the “battered” (aka deep fried) pork tenderloin sandwich. It was HUGE! I snagged a couple of bites of my friend’s sandwich and it was good, but a little too much fried sandwich for me. I think if they made the sandwich in a smaller portion it’d be better, but it’s not something I would seek out to buy.

Gypsy Michelle with her Austin-made craft beer and tenderloin sandwich.

I was getting full, but I had few more stops on my list. I powered through to give you more, fellow food truck lovers. I had planned on trying Ju Ju’s Kaboose, a Cajun/traditional Louisianan food trailer that I learned about for the first time in the Gypsy Picnic lineup. I loved the roving musicians that happened to be walking by as were waiting in line at Ju Ju’s, especially because they had a brass band sound that went along with the Cajun cuisine.

The roving jazz band!

Having roots in New Orleans I was really looking forward to trying the Crawfish Cornbread served up by Ju Ju herself…I was so disappointed. The cornbread was served in a cupcake sleeve with a spoon. You needed the spoon because it was so mushy you couldn’t eat it like normal crumbly corn bread. It lacked flavor overall and left me wishing I had a bottle of Crystal hot sauce to pour all over it. The Pork Poboy did look like the real thing (compared to some so-called poboys I've seen in Austin), but I was too full and also didn’t want to shell out $8 to try the foot long sub.

Ju Ju's Kaboose
Crawfish Cornbread

My last two samples before dessert were bites of each slice from Spartan Pizza. The Zeus, made with roasted garlic olive oil (something I don’t think I’ve ever tried, but loved!), bacon, spinach, tomatoes and mozzarella, was delicious, but was a little overtaken by the bacon. It seemed to be their rendition of a Margarita pizza. I really liked The Spartan with tomato sauce, green bell pepper, white onion, lots of fresh garlic and parmesan, and topped with red pepper flakes. People at the picnic had said that Spartan Pizza was better than Homeslice Pizza which is pretty much the only place that can get me out of the house for a pie. Though Spartan definitely gave 'em a run for their money, I think Homeslice still has a special place on my palette.

Van kissing eating a slice of The Zeus.

I ended on a high note with the Frozen Hot Chocolate from Holy Cacao. Holy chocolate was that shake amazing. I had planned on sharing it with a friend to try to compensate for all the calories I’d already consumed, but once I tasted that sucker I became very greedy. It was great when you were drinking it and at the end of each sip there was a punch of chocolate that stayed with you. Everyone I was with either bought or shared one after tasting it. Yeah, it was good.

Leah and I fighting over Holy Cacao's Frozen Hot Chocolate.

Overall, this Gypsy Picnic was a 500% improvement from last year. Lines were kept to three minutes or less at most spots, hardly anyone sold out before 5 p.m. and the $3 samples at every trailer made it easy to try a wide variety. AND I got to meet Tiffany Harelik of Trailer Food Diaries who I consider to be a total local celebrity.

Tiffany Harelik, Trailer Food Diaries author and co-creator of Gypsy Picnic and me squinting happily.

This food truck foodie left feeling happy, full and excited for next year's picnic.

Which trailer was your favorite? Did you try one of the dishes I did? Do you agree or disagree with my reviews? Was there something I missed that I need to hunt down around Austin? Leave a comment below and share your Gypsy Picnic experience with me!

Eating under the evil eye: Mati Greek Trailer

I took my first trip to the Eastside Drive-in a two weeks ago looking for an eggy breakfast at The Local Yolk.
My friend and I were severely disappointed when we arrived to find the trailer closed! We had our hearts so set on egg sandwiches that we were just going to leave and head home to make our own. But we decided to look around first, after all it was my first time at a new food-trailer park!
We scanned the menus of the trailers there and decided to stay and try out Mati Greek Trailer.

I didn't snag a pic, but chef/owner Jason Rodis is a character. He's one of those people who makes me feel like I'm a step behind or missing out on the joke- in a good way. His passion about Greek cuisine shows through the enthusiastic and proud way he talks about his menu.

"I don't have a favorite...it's my menu!" he told me when I was trying to decide what to order.

I went with the chicken souvlaki pita for $6. (Should I admit here that I knew what souvlaki would taste like based on my favorite Pita Pit menu item? I love my Pita Pit!)
Souvlaki is traditionally a lamb dish, but can be prepared with other meats or just vegetables. At Mati you can order "pork, chicken, shrimp or mushrooms marinated in herbs and olive oil grilled then topped with red onions and tomatoes." The tzatziki sauce was excellent, not too oily and no mint from what I could tell.
The chicken was easy to slide off the skewer and the marinade made the meat juicy and tender. I liked the healthy portion of onions and tomatoes, but some shredded lettuce wouldn't have hurt.
My favorite part though was the pita! It reminded me of a homemade tortilla: it was soft, warm, and got extra attention from the tzatziki sauce. Mmm
Rodis' "125%" Greek heritage makes for authentic Greek dishes right in East Austin. I enjoyed my lunch and didn't walk away feeling like I had overindulged...that came later when I went for froyo.

Head over to Mati at the East Side Drive-in, 1001 East 6th street, Austin, TX 78702.
@MatiGRtrailer https://www.facebook.com/Mati.Greek.trailer