Conscious Cravings

- Location:  Longhorn Food Court - 1901 Rio Grande St. - @Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd
- Hours: Monday -Saturday: 11 AM - 8 PM
- Telephone: 512-782-0546
- Website: www.consciouscravingsaustin.com / Facebook: Conscious Cravings / Twitter: ConsciousCrvngs

- Cuisine: Vegetarian

Rishi Dhir spent four years as an auctions trader on the Philly stock exchange before looking for something more laid back to do.  As a vegetarian, he had created unique recipes based on his own dietary needs and thought he had something that might hold up with the general public.  As such, he heard about Austin and the trailer food scene and opened Conscious Cravings in August of 2010.  His menu is mostly hot wraps and cold sandwiches.  Rishi loves to eat the Black Bean Slider Wrap, and his customers report the Chimmichurri Seitan Wrap is sure to please.

The name Conscious Cravings was developed to inform people the food is healthy while also being short and catchy.  What does Rishi say the best part about Conscious Cravings is? “The fact that I’m allowing people to have affordable healthy tasty food that is not offered widely.  It’s cheap, healthy, organic, and environmentally food.”

Torchy's Tacos

- Location: South Austin Trailer Park & Eatery - 1311 S. 1st St - @Elizabeth 
                   Other, various locations can be found on their website. 
- Hours: Monday-Wednesday: 7 AM - 10 PM / Thursday & Friday: 7AM - 11 PM / Saturday: 8 AM - 11 PM / Sunday: 8 AM - 10 PM
- Number: 512-366-0537
- Website: www.torchystacos.com / Facebook: Torchy’s Tacos / Twitter: TorchyTaco
- Cuisine: Tacos - breakfast, lunch & dinner

Ask anyone in Austin where their favorite place to grab a taco is and you’ll likely hear “Torchys!” in response.  Torchy’s five founding partners are Bob, Farrell, Rebecca, and Jay with Mike Rypka as the chef behind the team.  Having been a chef at MTV, Dell, Chuys, Lucy’s Boat Yard and beyond, putting together delectable flavor combinations with tacos as the vehicle was right up his alley and his consistently good recipes are the reason behind Torchy’s rapid success.  In addition to their trailer, they now have multiple other brick and mortar locations and have expanded into other cities. 

Down at the South Austin Trailer Park and Eatery where Torchy’s trailer sits, you can enjoy tacos under the shade of the Live Oak trees that overlooks Bouldin Creek.  The names of their tacos are equally shady with such crowd favorites like the Dirty Sanchez.  In addition to their normal menu, you can look for such specialty items like their Turkey taco with mole during November.  What should you get?  The ‘brushfire’ and the ‘fried avocado taco’ is hot on my list.

The Peached Tortilla

- Location: Roving - follow website, facebook, and/or twitter to learn location
- Hours: Tuesday - Saturdays: hours vary according to location
- Telephone: 512-761-3241
- Website: www.thepeachedtortilla.com / Facebook: The Peached Tortilla / Twitter: peached tortilla
- Cuisine: Fusion Tacos

The Peached Tortilla is former lawyer Eric Silverstein’s mobile truck that is serving gourmet asian/southern fusion through the medium of street food.  Born in Japan, and having traveled thoroughly around Asia, Eric was exposed to a variety of cultures and cuisines.  At the age of ten, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia which offered a new range of ingredients and flavors.  “When I started that concept made sense to mingle those two cultures,” says Eric.  His personal favorite item on the menu is the Banhmi taco, which uses pork belly that is brined and braised served with a pickled daikon carrot salad with sirracha mayo and cilantro.

I asked Eric to explain the name, the Peached Tortilla, and he said, “It originates from Georgia roots because it’s the peach state.  The word “peached” is something that allows you to define it yourself.  To us, ‘peached’ is to get flavor smitten – we want people to get ‘peached’.  The tortilla ties in with tacos.  We also want to separate ourselves out from corporate America and this name was one way to do that. “

Eric represents the rebel version of entrepreneurs who aren’t satisfied working for someone else.  After discussing a new city with his girlfriend and much research on his concept, Eric quit his job and three weeks later they moved to Austin and opened the Peached Tortilla.  Why Austin?  “We felt like it was a really open minded city open to eating from a food truck.  There was already a tremendous amount of growth in trailer food industry, the city is growing, the economy is doing well, my concept is different and Austin likes different.”  Currently, Eric is dishing up his gourmet fusion at multiple locations.

Recipe: East Side King's Thai Chicken Karaage

A destination trailer for Asian food aficionados, East Side King shares their Thai Chicken Karaage recipe with those equally adventurous in the kitchen to attempt a re-creation. Enjoy!


East Side King's Thai Chicken Karaage
Serves 4-6


Ingredients

3 lbs Chicken legs - Boned and cut into large bite size chunks

8 oz Thai Chicken Sauce (recipe follows)

4 oz white onion – Sliced thinly

2 oz Jalapeno – Sliced into thin rounds

3 oz Cilantro – Picked and washed

1.5 oz Mint – Picked and washed

1.5 oz Thai Basil – Picked and washed

2 C Corn Starch

4 cups Vegetable Oil

Method: Lightly toss the cut chicken in the corn starch, until each piece is evenly coated and there are no moist spots.  Preheat your oil to 375.   Fry chicken until golden brown and cooked throughout.   Move the hot chicken to a large bowl, add the onions, jalapeno, and herbs, and add the sauce.   Toss gently in Thai Chicken Sauce, and be sure to coat all the pieces well. Transfer to a serving dish, top with Sweet Chili Sauce, and enjoy!

Thai Chicken Sauce

4 oz Water

4 oz White Vinegar

4 oz White Sugar

1 oz Sweet Chili Sauce

2 oz Fish Sauce

1.5 oz garlic/thai chili – minced

Method: Combine in a bowl and whisk until all ingredients are fully incorporated.

Sweet Chili Sauce:

4 oz White Vinegar

2 oz White Sugar

1 oz Chili flakes

Method: In a small sauce pot combine the vinegar and sugar.   Allow the mixture to come to a boil without stirring.   Add the chilli flakes and stir.  

#19

- Location: East Side Drive In - 1001 E. 6th St. - @San Marcos
- Hours: Tuesday & Wednesday 8 AM - 2 PM
              Thursday - Saturday: 7 PM - 3 AM
              Sunday: 11 AM -2PM
- Telephone: 512-799-6764
- Website: www.number19bus.com /  Facebook: #19
- Cuisine: Sandwiches - of the cheesesteak sort

From working in an engineering firm to owning a hair salon to managing a deli, Tim Lasater has a background as colorful as it is diverse.  It was when he was touring in Philly with his band Pop Unknown that he had the realization no one was doing a good cheesesteak in Austin.  Tim tells the story: “I had some business partners that were opening a beer and burger joint on the Eastside and the lease fell through.  While we were looking for another brick and mortar I found the bus on craigslist, but the investors were not interested.  I was talking with my old bass player and he said he would find the money.  He called me the next morning and said he found the money so I drove down to Dripping Springs and got the bus.  Driving the bus, I thought I had lost my mind.  We forgot to measure the height and I didn’t know if it would even fit under a bridge.”


The bus was originally built as a tour bus for the Cheshire Inn, a hotel in Saint Louis in 1975.  It’s the only factory made double decker bus in the US.  And as far as the name, Tim wanted something simple that everyone could remember.  He remembered the Clash’s song about a bus route that was number nineteen.  The history behind that was that in the UK, the 19 was a double decker bus route that would take people home from live music venues and bars.  So with his background in music and new found double decker trailer food business that serves lunch and latenight, the #19 was a natural fit.


For his best-selling cheesesteaks, Tim uses rolls and meat from Philadelphia, but he twists it up with some mushrooms and cheese.  And his brother Ryan, who is also a musician works the bus too. Tim says of Ryan, “He’s an assistant manager.  That’s what I tell him anyways, it makes him get up a little earlier in the morning.”  And on why he picked Austin as the spot for the #19: “After traveling Europe with the band and working in Yellowstone and Jackson hole, I met a lot of people and went to a lot of cool cities – but I love the laid back atmosphere and vibe in Austin.  You don’t have to dress up to go to the great spots.  Its got the best of all the worlds of music, rivers, people, put together –not too small and not too big.”

Powdered Sugar

- Location: Longhorn Food Court - 1901 Rio Grande St. - @  Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd 
- Hours: Tuesday – Saturday: 12 - 8 PM
- Facebook: Powdered Sugar
- Cuisine: Dessert


Amber Glowski is a social work student at UT.  Although she wasn’t technically in the food industry prior to opening Powdered Sugar in August of 2010, she brings up a good point: “Food has always been a part of me.  I’ve been eating and grocery shopping and cooking most of my life, so food is something everybody’s around no matter what.”  She bought her 1964 Shasta trailer from Kristin Gunn, who formerly operated Sugarstar, her ‘Martha Meets Metallica’ cupcake business out of the same trailer. 

In Amber’s words, “I started this business with an observation.  It’s such a piece of Austin culture – this isn’t a big thing in other big cities in Texas, Austin has it first.  I tried food trailers and I realized no one was doing funnel cake.  To me it seemed obvious: people are used to eating funnel cakes out of a truck.  Plus there is no where to get funnel cake year round – you can’t go to a store and get a funnel cake.”

Amber remembers being about 7 years old and eating her first funnel cake where she grew up at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo but not all of her customers were raised with funnel cake fun.  “It’s fun to find people who’ve never had one in their life that are 45-50 years old.  The funnel cake also spans generations from little children who are so excited or more mature people who have grown up with funnel cake – that grew up with it in the 50s and 60s – it’s fun to see their reaction.”  Amber reports the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo sold some 100,000 funnel cakes earlier in March of 2010. 

The funnel cake was traditionally made in cast iron skillet over a burner.  It is Dutch in origin and outside of the being well known as a ‘fair’ food, it is still very popular in Pennsylvania where large Dutch and Amish communities exist.  With Amber’s vision, Austinite’s can now relive the excitement and wonder of fair time funnel cake by visiting her “Powdered Sugar” trailer year round.

La Fantabulous

- Location: Gibson Trailer Park - 1318 S. Congress Av. - @Gibson St. 
- Hours: Varying. Follow Facebook page or take a chance and stop by! 
- Telephone: 512-619-3008
- Facebook: La Fantabulous
- Cuisine: Tacos - breakfast, lunch, & dinner


Josie Paredes had been cooking since she was seven and spent 25 years in commercial kitchens before opening her la fantabulous taqueria trailer in 2007.  Her menu is inspired from hole in the wall places she visited while backpacking the beaches in Mexico.  “I love the way they combine their seasons with their fresh meat and fruits, and a lot of avocado,” Josie says.


Josie’s mother can take credit for giving her the passion to cook.  Josie says, “My mom made her moles from scratch.  She used different dried peppers, peanut butter and chocolate.  What’s not to love, it’s reeses pieces on chicken.”  Her personal favorite item on the la fantabulous menu is fish tacos.   Currently the fish is red snapper, but she is moving to a ‘catch of the day’ so she can buy fresh fish daily.


If you ask Josie the best part of the trailer food business, she’ll answer: “I get to do my own thing.  I love to cook, I like to make people happy with my food.  I love the expression – that’s the best payment for me – that something that I made out of love, someone else is enjoying it.”

The Local Yolk

- Location: East Side Drive In - 1001 E. 6th St. - @San Marcos
- Hours: Tuesday & Wednesday 8 AM - 2 PM
             Thursday - Saturday: 7 PM - 3 AM
             Sunday: 11 AM -2PM
- Telephone: 512-745-9110
- Website: www.thelocalyolkaustin.com /  Facebook: The Local Yolk
- Cuisine: Sandwiches - all feature egg!


Having catered, bar tended and waited tables; the trailer food business came naturally to Shelly Speer.  Her menu concept is centered entirely on the incredible edible egg.  “I just really love to make egg sandwiches… It is fun to see how many different ones that I can come up with.”  Her personal favorite is the tuna melt that comes with a fried egg on top.  The Florence is a crowd favorite.  It’s an Italian grilled sandwich with pesto, tomato, mozzarella and a fried egg.  She also has deviled eggs which you can buy one at a time or by the dozen that she anticipates engaging fun flavors to change things up and is currently using a curry.  

Shelly doesn’t have her own chickens yet, so she buys her eggs from Farm to Table.  All of her sandwiches come with Kettle chips and a pickle.  She developed her French toast dessert snack when she accidentally received a cinnamon swirl loaf instead of her normal sandwich bread.   “…so I made French toast and we passed it out for free for people to try and people loved it.  I just cut it up in squares with a toothpick and drizzle it in syrup over it.  It’s good for latenight or brunch.”

Iggi's Texatarian

- Location: Waller Trailer Park Eatery - 1112 E. 6th Street - @Waller
- Hours: Wednesday & Thursday: 5 PM - 12 AM
              Friday: 5 PM - 2:30 AM
              Saturday: 12 PM - 2:30 AM
              Sunday: 12 PM - 10 PM
- Website: www.iggistexatarian.com / Facebook: Iggi Pup / Twitter: iggistexatarian
- Cuisine: Vegan - Texas style

Zoja Ulesoo and Rebecca (Becca) Strong met when they were both living in a vegan cooperative in west campus with 26 other room-mates.  Becca was raised vegan and having cooked her whole life was starting to kick around the idea of operating a vegan trailer.  Her friend Zoja stepped in with the funding and marketing to help get Iggi’s Texatarian off the ground and they opened in August of 2010.


They were playing with different themes, but their trailer was already painted like a big Texas flag, so they decided the Texan theme was going to work.  “It is kind of ironic since most Texan-types aren’t normally vegan, but we wanted to have a more welcoming attitude towards omnivores,” explains Zoja; and for inquiring minds, “Iggi” is Becca’s pit bull mix.


Since their menu concept is southern comfort vegan food, they have a variety of healthy options that are sure to please your palette.  The mac n cheese tastes close to the real thing, but the sauce is made of potatoes, carrots, and mustard.  The Quintessential Chili recipe is Becca’s mother’s and step-father’s recipe which they have entered in the Texas Chili Cook-off the last 20-odd years and has won the people’s choice on multiple occasions.

Giovanni's Pizza Stand

- Location: Southside - 2900 S. Lamar - @Manchaca
- Hours: Monday - Saturday: 7 AM - 10 PM
- Telephone: 512-656-7033
- Website: www.giovannispizzastand.com
- Cuisine: Tacos for breakfast. Pizza & pasta for lunch and dinner. 


Julio Rangel might not be the first person you would expect to be running a high quality Italian style food trailer.  He says smiling, “I’m from Mexico – but my diet is more than beans.”  His menu is more than beans too.  From pizzas and pastas, the Giovanni’s concept uses fresh ingredients that tantalize your taste buds.  After 20 years of making pizza, he says he still eats it as if it were the first time.  Julio also loves the scampi, which includes shrimp with mushrooms, spinach and sun dried tomatoes in a garlic butter sauce with Romano cheese.


When Julio came to the states from Guanojuato, he said he didn’t even know how to cook an egg.  He started working in construction and then got a job at Mezzaluna, where he saw men in the kitchen for the first time.  He determined being in the kitchen is what he really liked to do and instead of going to school for a title, he decided to be a street chef.  He says, “You keep practicing til you get better and hopefully someone likes your stuff.’


When he first started out in 2007, he had a 14 x 7 trailer with a wood burning oven.  Julio tells the story: “Can you believe inside I had a 1500 pound oven? It was our family homework for me, my wife and our two children to get the oven in place.  She would tell me ‘you’re crazy.’  But you need to be a little crazy to make this happen.” 

He has some advice for new entrepreneurs as well: “I know its hard at the beginning, but everyday you gotta keep feeding the dream. If you don’t, you forget, you get frustrated and you keep working.  Everyday do a little bit to keep the dream alive.  If I had an extra $10 I would go buy a spoon.  My wife was like, why is this guy buying a spoon when I need milk.  You don’t have to spend $2,000 every time, but spend $5 to keep the dream alive.  It will be there, it’s just waiting for you to make it happen.”

Counter Culture

- Location: UT Campus area -120 E. North Loop- @Avenue F
- Hours: Wednesday - Saturday: 12 - 8 PM
                Sunday: 12 - 6 PM
- Telephone: 512-897-2602
- Website: www.countercultureaustin.com / Facebook: Counter Culture / Twitter: CCVegan
- Cuisine: Vegan & Raw foods


Sue Davis traded one art form for another when she moved from a black and white fine art printer in the photography world to a chef in vegan restaurants.  She has been a vegetarian since the early 90’s and has been eating a vegan diet since 2002.  Originally from Massachusetts, she moved to San Francisco in the late 80s, to Austin in 95, and spent some time in LA before returning to Austin to develop her vegan trailer food business.

Sue opened Counter Culture in July of 2009 with a small basic menu that includes mainly sandwiches, salads, raw food and desserts.  The Philly Seitan is probably her best seller and it’s not hard to see why since she makes the seitan herself without the help of preservatives.  You won’t find any tofu on Sue’s menu, she feels like it’s everywhere and is used as a substitute for meat too often.  Rather, she makes everything from scratch.  Since she doesn’t over advertise about her vegan menu, it’s one of her favorite things to serve an unknowing citizen and have them be pleasantly surprised.

In addition to her background with photography and culinary art, Sue is a vinyl record collector and former DJ.  She has singer/songwriter-style acoustic music at her trailer during Sunday brunches.  Sue rationalizes, “A brunch tab can get pretty high if you order mimosas, but here it’s different.  Every Sunday I do a different themed brunch from Southern home cooking to breakfast burritos, and you can bring whatever you want to drink.”

East Side King

- Location: Eastside - 1618 1/2 E 6th St - @Liberty Bar
- Hours: Everyday: 7 PM - 1:45 AM
- Telephone: 512-422-5884
- Website: www.eastsidekingaustin.com / Facebook: East Side King / Twitter: eastsidekingatx
- Cuisine: Asian Fusion

The famed East Side King trailer concept of “Good South Asian Street Food” was developed by business partners Moto and Paul and opened in December of 2009 since it seemed to be lacking in the Austin area.  They found their trailer appropriately sitting on the East side of Austin in someone’s yard via craigslist.  Hailing from a small island in the south part of Japan, Moto has been in Austin for 20 years.  The trailer’s namesake comes from Moto’s Blues and Soul band which has the same title.  Some of their best customers are bar tenders from Liberty bar and chefs from Mulberry.  The chicken karaage is a best seller and Moto’s personal favorite item on the menu

Along Came a Slider

- Location: Waller Trailer Park Eatery - 1112 E. 6th Street - @Waller

- Hours: Everyday - 12 - 3 PM / 7 PM - 3 AM 

- Hours: 512- 522-8284

- Website: http://www.alongcameaslider.com/ / Facebook: Along Came a Slider

- Cuisine: Burgers - sliders fashioned upscale

Business partners Tyler Johnson & Jeff Shaver have taken their 26 combined experience in restaurants and developed a new concept for Austinites to enjoy.  These two Marriott chefs ‘Along Came a Slider’ concept involves using sustainable, local and organic products that are raised humanely as often as possible.  Why Sliders, we asked?  “We see it as being the perfect vehicle to do any dish – classical French, Asian, Mexican and beyond.”

For Tyler, nothing beats their “Barbacoa Style Brisket” which starts with pressure cooked all natural beef brisket that has been marinated using a traditional mexican barbacoa recipe.  This gets topped off with a lime infused crema and house pickled red onions.  Austinites who love their tex-mex will agree that the crowd favorite has been the “Chicken Fried Guac”, which besides the corn guacamole has crispy tortilla strips and a STR sauce featuring smoked, toasted, and roasted chiles.  Jeff's favorite is their "WD Pig" short for 'wired and drunk'.  As the name implies, the all natural pork shoulder is rubbed with a pecan coffee and braised in Firemans 4 before it lands on a bed of jalapeno cole slaw and gets drizzled with a Texas Pinot  Noir BBQ sauce.  All of their signature sliders are served on preservative-free fresh baked daily buns from the New World Bakery.

Jeff was born in Flatonia and Tyler in Kansas, but they both agreed on Austin as a landing place for their trailer food business: “Austin, Texas is one of the greatest cities.  It is beautiful, there is a lot going on for it. I (Jeff) also do music so I can release that passion as well here.  It’s a funky cool town people are open to new ideas and new concepts.”

Kate's Southern Comfort

- Location: Southside - 1900 Barton Springs Rd - @Sterzing St.
- Telephone: 512-573-5215
- Hours: Every Day (except Tuesday): 11:30 AM - 9 PM
- Facebook: Kate’s Southern Comfort
- Cuisine: Comfort Food - Meat Pies

Kate Bellinger has been a chef in Austin for over 20 years with experience in such well-known restaurants as Shoal Creek, Shoreline, East Side Café and more.  She had been watching local trailer food businesses explode in the past year.   When she was unfortunately laid off from an executive chef position, she decided it was time to give opening her own business a shot.

The concept behind Kate’s Southern Comfort is Louisiana Fried Pies.  The pies are “affordable for me to make, affordable for anyone to eat, and they are good grab-and-go food you can take on a picnic, down to the (barton) springs, or sit at the trailer,” Kate says.  She grew up in East Texas in the early 60’s with some pretty bland casseroles but upon moving to Louisiana, Kate learned to cook from people’s grandmothers at big Sunday afternoon family get-togethers.  Kate’s fried pies involve an Argentine crust and she makes all the fillings from scratch.  The ‘Nak.i.tish’ has a spicy, peppery pork filling that is super savory.  Although her crusts do contain some beef fat, she gives a nod to her vegetarian customers with the ‘Humble Pie’ which involves mustard and collard greens along with sweet potato.  You might also be interested in the ‘Bleudan’ which was made by mistake but contains boudin sausage and bleu cheese.  Although Kate claims not to have a best seller or a personal favorite, she speaks highly of the current special which is a hatch green chile chicken and cheese fried pie that melts in your mouth.  But don’t take Kate’s word for it.  She’s had customers from New Orleans that have been so impressed they had to call their Meemaw and come back for a second helping.

Man Bites Dog

- Location: South Austin Trailer Park & Eatery - 1311 S. 1st St - @Elizabeth 
- Hours: Sunday - Thursday: 11 AM - 9 PM
               Friday & Saturday: 11 AM - 10 PM
- Telephone: 512-445-5591
- Website: www.manbitesdog.com / Facebook: Man Bites Dog / Twitter: manbitesdogtx
- Cuisine: Hot Dogs


After receiving his MBA in May of 2009 and with 12 years of restaurant experience, Jeremiah opened the first Man Bites Dog trailer in November of 2009 and the second in March of 2010.  After having spent some time in Chicago, he decided there wasn’t anything like the dogs there back in Austin, so he put together some 40-odd variations around a hot dog theme and narrowed the menu down to 12 of his favorite combinations.  The Buffalo Hottie, which won the critics choice award for the best nontraditional hot dog in the Chronicle Restaurant Poll is a Jeremiah’s personal favorite, but the Abe Froman is his best seller. 

Originally from Bowie, Texas, Jeremiah grew up in Oklahoma.  He was brought to Austin for his 21^st bday and knew that this is where he wanted to stay.  Simply put, Jeremiah states what Austinites love about our town, “Austin has all the big city stuff in a small city environment.”  He employs artists, waiters and people seeking part time work while they pursue other endeavors.  His best suggestion for anyone wanting to get into the trailer food business? “Learn to be handy.  My first trailer on South 1^st – I thought it was a good deal but I spent a bunch of money fixing it up.  I know a lot more about trailer plumbing and electrical than I did before – it’s good to fix it yourself if on small budget.”

86 This

- Location: Outlier - 108 East Main St. / Pflugerville - @Hanovers Draught Haus
- Hours: Thursday - Saturday: 6 PM - 1 AM
- Telephone: 512-284-5825
- Website: www.86thisaustin.com / Facebook: Eighty Six This / Twitter: 86this
- Cuisine: Sandwiches & Burgers - menu rotates

Business partners Michelle & Mark had a similar love for the hustle and bustle of the food industry when they met working at a local tex mex restaurant here in Austin.  While Mark’s resume includes everything from prep work in the kitchens to front of the house serving food and alcohol, he realized he wanted to be a restaurateur during the time he was in culinary school.  Michelle has been a hostess and waitress and really enjoys event coordinating alongside their trailer vending endeavors.

Rather than offering a set menu, the ‘86 This’ menu concept is developing organically.  Mark offers a unique perspective to the question “Whats for lunch?”   In his words, “I see so many vendors trying to hang their hat on one specific dish or sauce, and I wanted to let things develop.  Our menu for South by Southwest was street food type fare things to walk away; when we parked at Hanovers, we did more bar food.  We aren’t stuck with anything.  We are kind of open; we are caterers and we can make everything from our truck.”   His personal favorite item on the menu is ‘the multitasker’ which was developed from his mother’s recipe of a roasted brisket and mashed potato sandwich.  Michelle loves their cheeseburgers.

They worked with Felix of ‘Kitchen on Wheels’ in New Braunfels when it was time to find their trailer.  Interestingly, Felix had found a their current box in North Carolina.  It was one he had previously worked on and sold, but he found it again with all the bare bones in place. 

The pair is very positive about the trailer food movement in Austin.  “Everytime we see a new food trailer – we are happy for them, even if it’s a half hearted attempt.  We want to be in the scene because we are caterers and festival people.  You never know who is thinking outside of the box.  Don’t be scared to follow your dreams.”

Takorea

CLOSED - 8/2010 - goodbye, Takorea.

- Cuisine: Fusion tacos

“East meets Mex”

Paul Kim was in commercial real estate finance before he put Takorea on the map.  Growing up in both Missouri and Texas and living in New York for a few years gave him a real interest in eating and cooking diverse food.  His concept blends Korean BBQ and Mexican food.  He started working on his idea just by cooking and having friends over to try his food.  Once he got his recipes solidified, his friends helped improve it. 

Paul says, “I feel like I’m doing something somewhat unique.  I want to be an ambassador of the good things of Korean food are to people that haven’t tried Korean food.”  His personal favorite is the beef taco in a cabbage wrap while the crowd favorite seems to be the hot dog with beef on top.  His customers are from all around the globe, including a Chinese Bulldog, but he had the opportunity to serve his first Korean Mexican while on the job in his first year.

One Taco

- Location: Downtown - W. 6th St. & Nueces St.- @Little Woodrow's 
- Hours: Monday - Friday: 7:30 AM - 2:30 PM / 5 PM - 12 AM 
               Saturday: 2:30 PM - 2 AM
               Sunday: Noon - 6 PM
- Number: 512-539-7561
- Website: www.one-taco.com / Facebook: One Taco / Twitter: onetaco

- Cuisine: Tacos - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Late Night

Axel Beverido and business partner Tony Avila met through their wives who were room mates in college at Monterrey Tech in Mexico.  Before their venture with One Taco, Axel was working for John Deere in Mexico and Tony was an architect.  They mutually decided they wanted to be their own boss and pursued their entrepreneurial dreams in the trailer food setting.  With no family or personal history in the food business, the team purchased a Chevrolet taco trailer on craigslist and got started.  Whether you’re having breakfast or lunch with One Taco, the steak taco is hands down their best seller although other popular tacos include the fried egg, the beans and cheese, and the norte.  Alex and Tony are living proof you can change your life and become your own boss while working with good friends.

Kebabalicious

- Location & Hours: 
   2nd St. & Congress Av: Tuesday - Friday: 11 AM - 3 PM
   7th St. & Trinity St: Thursday - Saturday: 9 PM - 3 AM
- Website: www.austinkebab.com / Facebook: Kebabalicious
- Cuisine: Kebabs


Chris and Kristian first met in high school in Houston, Texas.  When they graduated, they went their separate ways but remained close in spirit.  Midway through their first semester of college, they took off for an opportunity to snow board and work at a hotel in Switzerland.  Although they wouldn’t be able to leave work very often, the guys took advantage of the live music scene and subsequently would hit up ‘restaurant 1001’, which was where the Kebabalicious trailer story starts.

Demir, a Turkish entrepreneur in Switzerland is who took Chris under his wing and gave him an opportunity to go into his big facility to learn how to do this style of food.   Chris says, “Without him I wouldn’t know how to do it.  He liked me, but I had to push to open the door and work with 52 turkish guys.  I had to do some smooth talking to get in.  Without that I wouldn’t know how to do any of the sauces.”  Demir started out 20 years prior with a little stand and it took him ten years to expand enough to get out of the trailer.  He is now running a million pounds of beef and lamb per week out of his factory.  Demir told Chris, “I can’t pay you but I like that you want to take this back to Texas.  You can’t ever come back to Switzerland and open a kebab stand – and put me out of business.”

So after their return, Chris was graphic design major and Kristian was a photography major at Texas State University (then known as ‘Southwest’) when they opened their test market in the quad.  Realizing they had a good enough product to impress the masses, they eventually took their trailer to down town Austin.  The official open-date for Kebabalicious as we know it was the week before Halloween in 2006.  Chris says, “We get a lot of Turkish customers that live here in Austin.  The first question they ask is ‘Are you Turkish?’ to them it’s a big deal – an American kid making Turkish food.  I tell them the story and it gives me credibility.  It’s a pretty curious thing for them to see an American owner of a Turkish kebab stand – they are always ok with it, but they are also my biggest critic.”

Each business partner has a rich cultural background, Kristian with a Costa Rican/Guatemalan/Lebanese heritage while Chris grew up with Peruvian/South American/Texan roots.  So the menu is globally inspired from their childhood through their experiences traveling.  Chris says, “Traveling was an eye opener for the both of us - it expanded our horizons with the different cultures, languages and food.  It was a big deal for us at age 20-23 in Europe.  I had the time of my life.”

Karma Taco

- Location: Downtown - 4th St. & Guadalupe
- Hours: Thursday - Saturday: 7 PM - 3 AM
- Number: 512-721-6820
- Website: www.karmataco.com / Facebook: Karma Taco / Twitter: karmataco
- Cuisine: Tacos - Dinner & Late Night


Alan Joers & Daniel De Leon are long time friends that met in Tampico, Mexico.  Alan invited Daniel to South by Southwest in 2009 to convince him to partner in purchasing a bar, but Daniel had other ideas.  He was impressed and amazed with all the food trailers and communities that were in Austin and proposed a new idea: Karma Taco.


It’s true what they say goes around comes around and the Karma Taco is no exception.  Alan explains, “At the beginning, a lot of customers wanted to pay with credit card but we weren’t set up for it yet, so we started giving food away for free.  It worked marketing wise – but for them they were saying it was ‘good karma’.  The people I gave free tacos too are my most supportive customer base right now – so I guess it was good karma.”


To the new trailer vendors getting started, Alan offers this advice, “I would really suggest to them to put a little more into their trailer.  I see a lot of trailers that are plain white.  For a city like Austin with so much art and music – be a little creative on your concept.”