Eric Regan and his wife Liz are the masterminds behind the Hey! You Gonna Eat or What? trailer located on South Congress and Gibson in Austin, Texas. Their concept utilizers iconic sandwiches with a different twist. This beauty to the left is one of my all time favorite sandwich-treats, and also Eric's best-seller: The Monte Cristo. This version utilizes hickory pit smoked ham, mesquite smoked turkey, cheddar and provolone somehow built on three pieces of honey wheat bread (it's a double decker) and fried in Shiner Bock beer batter. The dipping sauce is a cherry fig combo, and hell, I dipped the chips in it too.
More on the Monte Cristo. I learned from Eric that this sandwich first appears in Parisian street cafe in the early 1900's under the name 'croque monsieur' and was essentially a ham and cheese sandwich on french toast. As it migrated across the ocean to Southern California, Disnleyland helped boost this sandwich into mainstream in the 1950's when the Monte Cristo became their bests-seller.
Chef Eric likes to keep the chips simple. In his words he explains, "The chips are homemade to order. We have a straight forward approach, using russet potatoes that go from mandolin to fryer right when you order and are seasoned with freshly ground sea salt. We have a lot of flavor profiles going on in the sandwiches, so the chips need to be simple."Now lets talk about the Lone Star BLT. Why didn't I think of this myself? Applewood smoked bacon? check. Fried green tomatoes? check. Green leaf lettuce? check. Poblano pepper aioli? YEP!
