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.”

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.”

Patika Coffee

- Location: 2nd St. & Congress Ave.
- Hours: Monday - Friday: 7:30 AM - 4:30 PM
              Saturday: 8 AM - 1PM
- Telephone: 512-535-3955
- Website: www.patikacoffee.com / Facebook: Patika Coffee / Twitter: patikacoffee
- Cuisine: Coffee.  Pastries.


Andy Wigginton and Nick Krupa kicked their software careers to pursue happiness via coffee.  Their inspiration for Patika came five years prior to opening when they were on vacation in San Francisco.  “We came across a coffee cart (Blue Bottle) at the farmers market that had a huge swarm of people around it.  We had the best lattes we’d ever had.  Their original location was a tucked away garage door in Hays Valley.  We make it a ritual to go there every time we go back and have a quest to find really great coffee in great cities.”  

Patika is a Turkish word that means ‘foot path’ but also implies a hidden pathway.  Back in the 1500’s, some of the first coffee houses in the world were in Istanbul and they were outlawed for their popularity, so many of them would set up in back alleys and foot paths.  These coffee houses were the original speakeasies.  Since Andy and Nick were inspired by a coffee house that was off the beaten path, and since they are on a well-traveled beat downtown, the name Patika was a perfect fit for their other worldly coffee and refreshing teas.

The partners say that Austin is a great city to start high end coffee.  In their words, “The community is really supportive of small businesses, everyone is very laid back and has a very open and accepting attitude where if you want to try something different in a different way they like that and embrace it.  We have a great lifestyle – anyone that comes here feels it.  We meet a lot of tourists being down town and they talk about how Austin feels like a nice place where people are appreciative of outdoors and nice people.  Having lived in California, New York, and Europe, Austin feels like the right combination of big enough stuff to do but small enough with community – although we could turn the temperature down about 15 degrees.”

Colibri Cuisine

- Location: Downtown - W. 6th St. & Nueces
- Hours: Tuesday - Sunday: 7:30 PM - 2:30 AM
- Telephone: 956-451-7427
- Facebook: Colibri_Cuisine
- Cuisine: Tex-Mex - done gourmet!


Being from the Rio Grande Valley, Anthony Alaniz has a heritage in providing gourmet Tex Mex.  Since he was five years old, he lived with his grandparents and remembers begging them to buy him a special food trailer just like the one that was next door to them selling snow cones and snacks. 

“Unfortunately we grew up with the males being served in the kitchen with the females cooking.  As much as I wanted to help, I couldn’t because it wasn’t part of our culture.  So the only time I could participate was with BBQ for Sunday afternoons.  Of our extended family, the males would be outside cooking and the females would be inside preparing the sides, rice, potato salad, etc.  Thats when I got to hang out with the men and they would showcase their specialty whether it was ribs or fajitas.  As I got older, as much as I liked the kitchen it wasn’t accepted - it wasn’t something to pursue as a career,” says Anthony. 

So after quitting his accounting cubicle job, Anthony decided to get his teaching certificate and taught fourth grade for five years.  That is when he had a life realization.  “I kept telling my students ‘follow your dreams, you can be whatever you want to be, stick with it’ - and I kept feeling like a hypocrite because I never pursued my dreams of owning a trailer food business.  Then, I finally made a decision to do what I always wanted to do.”  So he moved to Austin to go to culinary school at le Cordon Bleu and has been operating his trailer since October of 2009.  The first of his family to graduate from college, his grandmother and mother have both been to visit him at Colibri with proud hearts for all he has accomplished.

Flip Happy Crepes

- Location: Southside - 400 Josephine St -@Barton Springs Rd. 
- Hours: Wednesday & Thursday: 10 AM – 2:30 PM

               Friday: 10 AM - 2:30 PM / 6 PM - 9 PM

               Saturday: 9 AM - 3 PM

               Sunday: 10 AM  - 2 PM
- Telephone: 512-552-9034
- Website: www.fliphappycrepes.com / Facebook: Flip Happy Crepes / Twitter: fliphappycrepes

- Cuisine: Sweet & Savory Crepes

Nessa Higgins and Andrea Dayboykin were good friends with children in the same elementary school obsessing about vintage trailers before they developed the Flip Happy Crepes concept.  Nessa grew up in the Caribbean and moved to Austin in the 09’s by way of the Midwest and New Orleans.  Andrea also spent some time living in New Orleans but originally comes from Houston.  She met her husband Patrick Gannon in New York and when he took her to his homeland of Ireland, she fell in love with him and the crepes she tried there.  Since no one was doing crepes out of an Airstream in Austin in 2006, the dynamic duo decided to put their plan into action and manifest their food trailer business crepe-style. 
 
Andrea would say the food is what she likes best about their business while Nessa would say the people.  Nessa shares, “I like the production of it, I like it that we just mad something out of nothing.  Our concept is gourmet street food. We are not your average hot dog or burger.  It’s about quality ingredients that are affordable and served in a casual setting. We put a lot of time and care into our food.”

Both ladies had exposure to the food industry although neither worked directly within.  Nessa’s grandfather owned several bars and grills while she was growing up and Andrea’s husband Patrick has been a chef for over 20 years.  He is the brains and creativity behind the Flip Happy menu development.  While Nessa favors the fried egg and ham with gruyere and mornay sauce and Andrea prefers the spinach feta with garlic aioli, their fan favorite is the Cuban and pork crepes, which happened to beat Bobby Flay in a Food Network Throw Down.  Another crowd pleaser is the chicken and mushrooms.

The Jalopy Rotisserie & Press

- Location: Downtown - 1502 San Antonio St.
- Hours: Monday – Friday: 11:30 AM – 7 PM 

              Saturday: 11 PM -  3 AM

- Number: 512-814-8557
- Website: www.jalopyaustin.com / Facebook: The Jalopy - Austin / Twitter: jalopyaustin

- Cuisine: Sandwiches - rotisserie pressed

When Nick Patrizi graduated from The University of Texas, his family was very serious when they sat him down and told him he could do anything he wanted except something in the food and beverage industry.  Afterall, coming from a large Italian family with a history of owning restaurants they knew first hand the ups and downs of the restaurant business.  But instead of taking on corporate finance banking gigs, Nick decided to try his hand at the family business but in his own way – out of a trailer. 


The contrast of clean quality product with super friendly Nick in a white chef coat out of an old 18 wheeler is beautiful.   He uses an onion marmalade with reduced red wine, reduced balsamic and clove in a demi glace to sauce up his chicken and he has a huge pot boiling down chicken bones to make chicken butter with fun seasonings which takes 72 hours to make.  He has an asian-based sauce with oyster and sweet chile.  My favorite part of the ingredient discussion: “We have seven different peppers that I pickle (that’s a peck): anaheims, poblanos, hatch, serranos, etc.”  Nick’s Asian Chicken Hot Sandwiches are not a panini – he likes his bread toasted and caramelized so there is a little burntness factor to it, just like home. In case your mouth isn’t watering yet, he has a caprese, but instead of basil he uses a juicy spicy parsley pesto with a medley of six different nuts (not quite a peck) with lemon juice, serranos, garlic and olive oil. 


From Beaumont to Switzerland, Nick has seen many beautiful places in the world, but he chooses Austin to call home.  You can hear an eclectic mix of Rolling stones, Earth Wind and Fire, Lady Gaga, and more when you walk up to make your order from the Jalopy.

Odd Duck Farm to Trailer

- Location: Southside - 1219 South Lamar Blvd.

- Hours: Tuesday - Saturday: 5:30 PM - 10 PM 

- Telephone: 512-695-6922
- Website: www.farmtotrailer.com / Facebook: Odd Duck Farm to Trailer 

- Cuisine: Locally-sourced high end cuisine. Menu changes frequently 

  

Bryce Gilmore is the founding father of the Odd Duck concept and food trailer.  His culinary visions for upscale fine dining blended with the local food movement makes Odd Duck's creations a must-eat on any trailer food crawl.  He uses locally sourced ingredients by shopping at a few of Austin's favorite farmers' markets, which means his menu changes based on what is 
available seasonally.  The Pork Belly Slider is one of his favorites, and is his best selling item on the menu.  

Be sure to appreciate the craftsmanship on his food trailer; he drove all the way to Wisconsin to pick up his current model and repurposed it himself to give it a porch-screen feel.  His 700 lb wood-burning stove in the back allows him poetic license to blend the right smoke to food combinations that will leave your taste buds wanting more.  I want to try the grits with the soft-boiled duck eggs and mushrooms next time we are out.


Bryce picked up some of his culinary artistic flare from his father, Jack Allen, a founding chef at Z'Tejas who now has his own place.  However, Bryce also went to culinary school in San Francisco.  His advice to new trailer businesses?  Get Creative.  Show us something new.

Local.  Sustainable.  High End Foods.  What more could you ask?  Go see Bryce at Odd Duck, and tell him the trailer food diaries sent you.