Short Bus Subs

- Location: Roving - follow website and twitter to learn location
- Hours: Tuesday - Saturdays: hours vary according to location
- Number: 512-535-7827
- Website: www.shortbussubs.com / Facebook: Short Bus Subs / Twitter: ShortBusSubs
- Cuisine: Sandwiches

Eric Klusman hails from a sandwich shop family in the Midwest but he got to Austin as quick as he could.  Alongside his brother Dane and business partner Ryan Campion, the three opened “Short Bus Subs” in August of 2009.  The concept to serve cleverly named quality sandwiches out of the window of a 23-foot school bus actually came to Eric in a dream.  After the economy had crashed, he decided instead of opening a shop he would do something a little less expensive so the Short Bus Subs idea was born.

“The Principal” is Eric’s personal favorite item and he claims to eat one everyday.  Similar to a club, it has swiss, bacon, ham, turkey, roast beef, Dijon, lettuce and tomato.  “The Bully” is probably their best seller, which is their version of an Italian sub.  With six vegetarian sammies to select, the “Hot Teacher” sells like hot cakes and includes a tomato/garlic pesto spread with mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, and marinated/roasted Portobello’s.  The bus does not have one location.  They roam freely to catering events and deliver to offices.

Coolhaus

- Location: Roving - follow website and twitter to learn location
- Hours: Roaming everyday - hours vary according to location
- Number: 512-743-7601
- Website: www.eatcoolhaus.com /  Facebook: COOLHAUS Ice Cream Sandwiches /Twitter: coolhaus_AUSTIN
- Cuisine: Dessert - ice cream sandwiches!


Christine Aldrich & Nathan Hathaway were friends for many years and partners in life before picking up the torch for Coolhaus, a choose your own ice cream and cookie adventure in the trailer food business in early 2010.   In a merge of food and architecture, Nathan made the 1984 vintage mail truck from Los Angeles what it is today.  With a background in food and a love for baking, Christine manages the flavors that are as non-traditional as they are delicious.

Despite Christine’s claims to be a baker-extraordinaire, since she is producing and selling in such large volume she doesn’t get to make the cookies and creams herself.  With personal favorite items on the menu like mascarpone and balsamic fig on snickerdoodle or coffee toffee on a chocolate cookie, rest assured many hours of quality control have gone into consideration of their super fine menu. 

Perhaps Nathan’s love to scream for ice cream was founded during his first job as a dishwasher at age 15.  He and crew purchased a 5 gallon bucket of mint chocolate chip that they would eat a heaping bowl every day in the pursuit of satiating their appetites.  Christine also has fond ice cream memories including ice cream socials on Sunday afternoons in Michigan, or the ice cream shop that her University ran via their dairy.  Regardless of where they got their sweet tooth, Christine and Nathan can be found roaming the streets and events of Austin with Coolhaus.

Juan Pelota Coffee Truck

- Location & Hours:
   Coffee Truck: Roves to sporting events - location & hours vary accordingly
   Cafe at Mellow Johnny’s: Downtown @4th St. & Nueces
- Telephone: 512-473-0222
- Website: www.mellowjohnnys.com/juan-pelota-cafe  / Facebook: Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop / Twitter: juanpelotacafe
- Cuisine: Coffee

Affiliated with hometown hero Lance Armstrong, the Juan Pelota coffee truck made its debut in April of 2010 to fill a void in providing snacks and drinks at bike races.  The truck drove out to the Tour of Gila in New Mexico where it served contestants, staff and volunteers under a variety of weather conditions.  Post Gila, the truck went on to the AMGEN tour in California before making it’s way back to local triathlons and  bike race events such as the Mellow Classic at Lance’s ranch.  

The Juan Pelota coffee truck is an off-shoot of the Juan Pelota Café, which is located in Mellow Johnny’s bike shop by la zona rosa downtown.  The rustic yet modern building used to the be the old Pearl distributing center before blooming into a community bike shop and café where commuters can even bike in and shower before heading out for the work day.  In addition to races and special events, the coffee truck goes out to ‘the driveway’ every Thursday night just off 183.

Hat Creek Burger, Co.

- Location & Hours: 
  Burger Bus: Roves to UT sporting events - location & hours vary accordingly. Follow website and twitter to learn location.
  Hat Creek Burger, Co.: 5400 Burnet Rd. 
- Telephone: 512-732-2025
- Website: www.hatcreekburgers.com / Facebook: Hat Creek Burger Co. / Twitter: hatcreekburger
- Cuisine: Burgers

Hometown hero Drew Gressett grew up here in Austin and graduated from the University of Texas before doing a fair amount of traveling between DC, Dallas and China with a real estate venture.  But he had always had a dream of owning a hamburger stand and decided it was now or never when he opened Hat Creek Burgers in October of 2008 with no regrets. 

Drew says his mom taught him how to make his first burger.  “She always cooked a typical backyard burger with thicker patty – but ours are thinner.  Manageability of a smaller burger, that’s our angle at Hat Creek.”  His favorite way to eat a “Big Hat” burger is with American cheese and ketchup only.  The size of the hat refers to the size of the burger: the “Big Hat” has two 1/5 lb patties while the “Little Hat” is one 1/5 lb. patty.  They offer four cheeses to choose from including American, Cheddar, Pepper Jack and Swiss.  Drew says the premise of their product is a super fresh hand-pattied burger whose meat has never seen a freezer.  “Freezers are for ice cream,” he says.  His burgers have fresh cracked pepper, and are all natural with no hormones, no antibiotics, all vegetarian fed beef.

While Hat Creek started out as a trailer, they moved into a brick and mortar building in 2009 and now use the trailer for special events such as UT baseball games.  Drew mentions a good point in that “the mobile trailer is such a great platform to eventually get into a brick and mortar, and then for a brick and mortar, it’s good to expand business with a mobile unit.”  Coach Barnes and Coach Brown are among two of Drew’s guests.  His employees love the burgers so much, that one of them commenced to eating a 10-patty Big Hat after clocking out. 

The name Hat Creek refers to one of Drew’s favorite books and movies: Lonesome Dove, which contains the Hat Creek Cattle Company.  The real Hat Creek is a trout fishing stream in northern California, and although he hasn’t been yet, Drew does love to fly fish when he’s not at the grill.

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.

Elixer Coffee

- Location: Eastside - 4209 Airport Blvd. @Mueller Park 
- Hours: Monday - Friday: 7 AM - 11 AM
              Saturday & Sunday: 8 AM - 11 AM
- Telephone: 512-689-1448
- Website: www.elixercoffee.com /  Facebook: elixercoffee /  Twitter: elixercoffee
- Cuisine: Coffee & Breakfast Pastries

Keturah Somerville was a pediatric nurse before she started her family and decided to create a neighborhood coffee shop where she could stay at home with the kids.  She found a ‘52 Studebaker with a converted flatbed that was already outfitted with the espresso machine in Tuscon, Arizona via craigslist.  Keturah loves talking with her customers and getting to know them.  She gets to hear lots of Studebaker-related stories that bring the older customers back to memories of their youth.  The atmosphere of the coffee-car sparks a childlike behavior in one retired couple who come to hula hoop with Keturah.

About her children growing up in the coffee business, Keturah shares: “I have three children and two of them have been avid coffee drinkers since they were very little.  I’m sure they’ll be able to grow up and tell stories about the disk that comes out of the espresso maker.  When you pull a shot, you have a little 2 inch by 1 inch puck – my babies love to break them into crumbles in the yard – they get covered in grounds and wreak of coffee for days.”

Max Parfait

- Location & Hours: 
  Roving - follow on Twitter and Facebook or sign up for newsletter to learn varying times and locations.
  Saturdays: 9 AM - 1 PM - 4th and Guadalupe @Austin Farmers Market
  Sundays: 11 AM - 3 PM - 414 Waller St - @HOPE Farmers Market
- Telephone: 512-522-6514
- Website: www.maxparfait.com / Facebook: Max Parfait / Twitter: maxparfait
- Cuisine: Texas Burgers & Belgian Fries


Zarghun and Edeaicsa (Eddy) Dean opened Max Parfait on July 4, 2010 after a ten year run starting and selling Tribeza magazine.  It might surprise you to find out that Zarghun passed up a career in law to pursue a trailer food business but he seems destined to be successful at whatever he puts his heart into.  Regarding the leap into the food industry, he explains, “Food has been the center of my family as long as I can remember.  I’m originally from Afghanistan, I was 8 when we moved here.  A lot of Afghan families would have a weekly get together and bring food and prepare something.  My mom was the stand out cook in that community – she did a phenomenal job of cooking for us – the burger she made was one of them.  So once I met my wife and we got married, she is from Veracruz, Mexico and she is a phenomenal cook when it comes to Mexican food.  She and my mom really bonded over the cooking and passage of information took place as a result of that.”




Their menu is limited to a few items that they do really well with the burger being Zarghun’s favorite and their best seller.  In his words, “We used a recipe my mom developed and passed on to my wife – my wife tinkered with it and she makes home made buns.  It’s a stand out burger; we season it a bit so it’s different from other burgers you’re going to eat in Austin, Texas.  We wood fire it so it adds another dimension.” 

The couple wasn’t crazy about offering a veggie burger, so Eddy came up with a recipe for a portabella sandwich for any vegetarians who might come by and it has been surprisingly popular with even their meat eating customers.  Their Belgian fries are right up there with the burger in terms of crow favorites.  I asked Zarghun to explain what makes it ‘Belgian’ and he said, “It is the process of cooking them.  They are cooked twice – at a lower temperature first, and then the fries have to rest and sweat a little.  Then you cook them a second time at a higher temperature.  This gives them a crispy outside and a mushy inside like baked potatoes.  We go a step further by using organic potatoes and we fry them in olive oil.”


As far as their name ‘Max Parfait’, it was inspired by an old duke Ellington song that was a tribute to his drummer Max Roach.  When Zarghun heard the song and album he thought about a fictional character called Max Parfait and the trailer was born.

Chi'lantro

- Location: Roving - follow website and twitter to learn location
- Hours: Everyday - hours vary according to location
- Website: www.chilantrobbq.com / Facebook: Chilantro BBQ / Twitter: chilantrobbq
- Cuisine: fusion tacos

From bus boy to working at fast food Chinese restaurants to starting his own business at age 21, Jae Kim has always been involved in the food industry.  His family ran a food business when we has young in Korea.  “I remember growing up in the back of the kitchen,” Jae says.  His aunt and other relatives also owned restaurants and they were able to give him a lot of good advice, knowing the ups and downs of the business.

Born in Korea, raised in Orange County, California, his coffee shop “the Foothill Café” is where he found is true passion for the service and food industry.  The concept for Jae’s Korean/Mexican fusion food trailer came from his background with a large population of Koreans and Hispanics.  “I grew up with burritos and Korean food,” he says, “and the reason I wanted to do it in Austin is because Austin is culturally diverse; Austin welcomes the trailer scene and they want to try something new – this is the best location I can think of in Texas that would welcome this idea – so I put the ingredients together and did research; experimented with friends and family – and opened a truck.”

Jae’s beef dishes are sweet and smoky, while his pork dishes are spicy.  He finds that different locations have different preferences on fair and sells a good amount of tofu and vegetarian dishes as well.  You can get any of these in  taco, burger or burrito form.  Jae’s personal favorite is either beef or pork tacos.

Jae’s advice for other vendors starting out is first to have patience, and second to have determination.  “I made nine dollars my first day, four dollars my second.  So patience is the number one key… Sometimes it gets tough; you have to be really determined to serve the customers regardless of the weather and the situation…  It doesn’t matter if we have one customer, we are still going to go out there and serve; we keep our promise with our customers.”