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.

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.”

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.”

Osmo's Kitchen

- Location: Southside - 801 Barton Springs Rd
- Hours: Monday – Saturday: 11 AM – 6 PM
- Telephone: 512-514-1727
- Facebook: Osmo's Kitchen / Twitter: OsmosKitchen

- Cuisine: Italian & Cajun fare

Kent & Robin O’Keefe each had over 20 years of combined cooking experience under their belt when they met at the Culinary Institute of America in New York.  Prior to starting their food trailer, they had a catering company in Austin called Two Bodacious Chefs.  They picked Austin because it seemed to be a good spot between his hometown of Houston and her hometown in New York where they both felt at home.  Their Osmo’s Kitchen trailer developed out their love of culinary arts and has a two-boots concept offering a combination of Italian and Cajun cuisine.

When you walk up to the trailer with unique paintings on the side, you’ll hear some Zydeco music coming from the trailer in addition to Stevie Ray Vaughn, Ray Charles, Alman brothers, Led Zeppelin, and ZZ Top.  If you ask Kent, his wife’s Sicilian gravy with meatballs and pasta takes the cake, but their best seller happens to be the Blackened Catfish Poboy with spicy slaw.  He says the best part about the business besides the actual cooking is interacting with the customers and seeing people enjoy what they have prepared.

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.

Lulu b's

- Location: Southside - 2101 South Lamar
- Hours: Tuesday – Friday: 11 AM – 4 PM

              Saturday: 11 AM - 5 PM
- Telephone: 512-921-4828
- Website: www.lulubssandwiches.com / Facebook: Lulu B's Sandwiches / Twitter: lulub0107

- Cuisine: Vietnamese Sandwiches

Laura Bayer was teaching elementary school before opening her Vietnamese trailer food business in January of 2008.  In comparison to teaching, Laura says about the trailer food industry,  “When it was new, it was completely different.  I got out of teaching because it was emotionally and physically draining.  But now that we are busy, it’s just as demanding just in a different way.”  Her mother is the beacon of Vietnamese cooking in Laura’s eyes.  In fact, when Laura was in elementary school it was well known among the teachers that her mother’s egg rolls were highly sought after.  Laura says, “Every teacher in every school we went to would ask if mom was making egg rolls.”   

A lot of her lemon grass recipes were learned from her mother including her fish sauce and summer rolls.  The grilled pork sandwich and the summer rolls are her favorite items on the Lulu b’s menu, but the Chinese BBQ pork sandwich takes the win for the crowd favorite.  One of Laura’s favorite things about the business is serving repeat customers and having the satisfaction of people who really love and appreciate our food.  Having done no advertising, all of her customers have come from word of mouth, including Jake Gillinhall and a lot of famous local musicians.  One of her customers is a dog trainer who brings dog treats for lulu b’s to give away. 

In addition to Vietnamese fare, Laura used to sell Vietnamese smoothies.  She remembers, “I went to Vietnam when I was 31.  My aunt actually had a little coffee stand outside her house where she sold smoothies, coconuts, coffee – that’s where I learned to do those items but the trailer is too small to accompany that now.”  What makes a Vietnamese smoothie different?  It is a refreshing combination fresh fruit, condensed milk, sugar, lime and ice. 

Originally from California, Laura moved to Austin in July of 1999 with her best friend at the time, whose father had recently passed away and her mother was moving back to Texas.  Initially, Laura said no, but she found herself falling in love with Austin and agreed to go only if Austin was the city her friend would choose.  When asked what inspires her, Laura says, “My love of food – I get excited when I have good food.”

Hola Aloha!

- Location: Southside - 2113 South Lamar
- Hours: Tuesday – Friday: 12 PM - 4 PM

              Saturday: 12 PM - 5 PM

- Website: www.holaaloha.com / Twitter: holaaloha

- Cuisine: Shaved ice and gourmet waffles made with homemade fruit syrup. 

A former entertainment wardrobe stylist and set designer, it wasn’t Chella’s intention to start a food trailer business.  She was back in town after touring with a ballet company doing wardrobe when a dear friend of hers approached her about a coffee trailer start up.  After some initial research, Chella offered the shaved ice idea.  With her friend’s heritage in Hawaii, and her growing up in West Texas with Raspados (the latin version of shaved ice), the snow cones made more sense to her although she was serious about providing a healthier option for the summer time snack.

Inspired by her Aunt Mary who always made everything from scratch with fresh ingredients, without using recipes, Chella serves only wholesome homemade goodness out of her trailer.  She makes all the syrups with organic juices and flavors, generally fresh fruits and berries.  Depending on the ingredients she will use organic cane sugar or agave nectar for the sweetener.  Her personal favorite is the Lemon Ginger syrup with Coconut ice cream at the bottom and her equally delectable best seller is the Strawberry Basil with a sweet leche dulce cream.

Bananarchy

- Location: Southside - 600 South Lamar Blvd. - @Barton Springs Rd.
- Hours: Monday – Saturday: 12 PM - 9 PM
- Telephone: 214-883-3473
- Website: www.bananarchy.net / Facebook: Bananarchy / Twitter: bananarchy_atx
- Cuisine: Dessert - Frozen Bananas

University of Texas student Anna Notario was watching a marathon of “Arrested Development” episodes when it dawned on her that the family in the show was on to something big with their frozen banana stand.  She shared the idea with her friend Laura Anderson who ended up writing her thesis on the experience of trying to open the stand.  Once that paper was in play, the girls got more serious about the big idea.  The bought an ex-lemonade stand from Fiesta Texas off of craigslist and opened shop in May of 2009.


Laura and Anna, both native Texans met as house mates with a group of almost 30 people.  The house is owned by a college pastor and many of the people who lived their were somehow associated with it.  Both girls are well traveled, Laura having spent some time studying in Mexico and Anna in Thailand on an 11-month mission trip helping with a range of projects including girls in the sex trade industry and countries heavily afflicted with AIDS.

Although her favorite item on the menu changes everyday, Laura really likes the chocolate covered with cinnamon, the Afternoon Delight, or Vanilla with Cinnamon.  Their best selling dipper is chocolate, and their best selling topping tends to be toffee or reeses pieces.  In addition to selling frozen bananas, the bananarchists enjoy having events with bands playing.  At their first Bananarchy Awareness Party they had a band that played video game music in rock form while party-goers held ‘fight the man’ signs and dressed in banana costumes.  This party was their record day for sales, selling 229 bananas.

Pick Up Stixx

- Location & Hours: 
  SoFi Food Court - 2202 South 1st St. - @Live Oak 
      >Monday - Thursday: 11 AM - 8 PM
      >Friday & Saturday: 11 AM – 6:30 PM
  Downtown - E. 7th St. & Trinity
      >Friday & Saturday: 9 PM - 3 AM
- Telephone: 512-234-2103
- Website: www.pickupstixx.biz / Facebook: Pick up Stixx / Twitter: pick_up_stixx
- Cuisine: Fusion Kabobs

Don’t be scared of Cowden Ward’s big sideburns and crazy eyes, he’s really a nice, cultured cook with 20 years of experience in the food industry.  Originally from Dallas and raised on Lake Buchanan, Cowden has spent time working outside of Texas in Arizona and Europe.  Having been in Austin on and off for 20 years, he finally sunk some roots, mobile though they might be, with his Pick up Sticks trailer.  Keeping his cool in the mass chaos of a busy run, Cowden likes to have the music blaring in his trailer.  He has everything from Tibetan Monk chants to Salsa to Metal to Stevie Ray Vaughn to Cowboy Junkies, Beethoven and Mozart, and his favorite – Junior Brown. 

In Cowden’s words, he loves this business: “I can do whatever I want.  I can play with food.  I’ve been known to run specials in restaurants and do well – so I can offer something different than what everyone else is doing (other than tacos and burgers).  There are so many other starches to play with! I’m going to try and run 20 different sauces – Mexican, Mediteranean, something weird like jalapeno tomato mint, or saffron pickle relish.  I’m trying to work with a local grower that is consistent with local produce and meats – that is where I can offer my special at market price and keep it real.”  And why does he do it? “To see that smile – to see people enjoy life a little more.  It’s a challenge to make someone smile through your food.”

Izzoz Taco's

- Location: Southside- 1207 South 1st St. - @Gibson
- Hours: Tuesday - Thursday: 8 AM – 9 PM

               Friday 8 AM - 10 PM

               Saturday 9 AM – 10 PM

               Sunday 9 AM – 9 PM
- Telephone: 512-326-4996
- Website: www.izzoztacos.com / Facebook: Izzoz Tacos / Twitter: IzzozTacos

- Cuisine: Tacos - breakfast, lunch, & dinner

 

“Where good friends make tacos and good tacos make friends.”

Being a fourth generation Austinite with a family history in the restaurant business, John Galindo is a hometown hero.  Austinites will recognize his great grandfather’s efforts in working to open the iconic ‘Tavern’ on 11^th and Lamar as well; and his grandmother used to waitress at Jaime’s Spanish Village which sadly is now closing.  In fact, there are over 100 years of combined experience in the food service industry working in the Izzoz trailer today.  Izzoz is a shortened word in Spanish for twins.  Since twins run in the Galindo family, and John has niece and nephew twins, the name ‘Izzoz’ made since.

Having cooked with the some of the best, John’s food certainly stands out as does his customer service.  He calls you his guest, never a ‘customer’ and goes out of his way to remember your name and what you like to be sure to put a smile on your face the next time you visit his establishment.  Having been rooted in the business for so long, he has some suggestions for new vendors: “It’s not what you’re selling, it’s how you sell it – it’s the same with tacos or cupcakes or pies or stuff in a cone – attention to detail, the character you bring every day is what matters.”

Trolley Cafe

CLOSED - 9/2010 - goodbye, Trolley Cafe

Cuisine: Coffee and Sandwiches

The concept of the Trolley Café began as an animal conservation project when Dustin Butler was volunteering in the Philippines for the Peace Corps.  There, he started working with locals to protect the Civet cat, a fruit-eating, tree-dwelling threatened species that is part of the mongoose family.  Fruit from the coffee plant is part of this rare wild mammal’s diet; they climb up to the top of the coffee trees and eat the sweetest fruits, leaving the beans on the jungle floor for people to harvest.  So Dustin worked with farmers in the area to develop a rare strain of coffee known as “Civet Coffee” using the beans the Civet’s leave behind.  And the money goes directly back to the conservation efforts he established with the same people he befriended while living in a tool shed in southeast Asia. 

The coffee is shipped from the Philippines through Adam Valenzuela’s shipping company in San Antonio.  Adam, a Pilipino himself, met Dustin through his shipping company and quickly realized Dustin spoke two of the native languages from his area.  The two went into business together and the Trolley café is a result of their friendship and business relationship.  Additionally, the pair have partnered with Sesa teas, which is a local company that imports Indian teas.   In addition to serving wellness teas and iced coffee, the Trolley Cafe offers breakfast, lunch and frozen deserts with an Asian flare.  From waffle stix, to grilled breakfast and lunch sandwiches, to real fruit smoothies, your taste buds are in for a real treat.

Their trolley is a nostalgic image.  It happens to be the same make, color and model as the old dillo trolleys that used to run here in Austin.  Dustin says, “We bought it out of a shopping center in Colorado.  We had it towed down and I converted it myself to a mobile kitchen, added a bunch of brewing and blending equipment… it still drives, it even has a bell on it.  In fact, people have tried to get inside and ask where we are going because they think it’s the old Dillo.”  Before setting up shop in the South Lamar / Barton Springs area of Austin, Dustin was driving the Trolley to various rodeos and events.  He anticipates utilizing the seating and rest area behind the trailer for live music, artists and other creative endeavors.

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.