Big Top Dogs

- Location:  Downtown - 201 E. 6th St. - @Brazos

- Hours: Thursday -Saturday: 8 PM - 3 AM
- Telephone: 512-484-0050
- Website: www.bigtop-dogs.com

- Cuisine: Late night hot dogs

Long before John Dawson had his hands in the mobile vending scene, his grandfather was selling peanuts out of a push cart in Toledo, Ohio.  A Greek immigrant coming through Ellis Island at age 16 his grand-dad eventually developed his street food business into a brick and mortar restaurant/diner that was called ‘Clean Bite’ where John’s mother spent time as a waitress during the depression and war years.  So it was a bit of fate that John would develop ‘Big Top Dogs’ after traveling to and living in New York, where his grandfather started their family’s journey to pursue the American dream.
 

As part of his mission to provide authentic New York hot dogs, John contracted with Sabret, which is a New York family owned business that offers nitrate-free 100% all beef dogs with natural casing that are also gluten free.  In addition to the quality of his food, the stainless steel cart also lends to the authenticity of his business.  So what makes a New York Style dog so unique?  John instructs, “Take a bun and a stick, put some push cart style deli mustard on the bun, then put the dog down and add the sauerkraut with onion sauce (Vidalia onions and tomato sauce).  Mustard is the foundation of everything.  If someone wants ketchup, they have to do it themselves.”

Veracruz All Natural

- Location:  Eastside - 1704 E. Cesar Chavez St. - @Chicon

- Hours: Monday - Friday: 7 AM - 7 PM

              Saturday: 7 AM - 6 PM
- Telephone: 512-963-1428 / 512-964-8414
- Website: www.veracruzallnatural.com 

- Cuisine: Breakfast & Lunch ...fruit cups, sandwiches, smoothies, tacos...

As you might suspect, Reyna Vasquez, owner of Veracruz All Natural is from the sunny shores of Veracruz, Mexico.  She moved to Austin 11 years prior to opening her trailer.  She had experience working as a waitress but ultimately wanted to be in business for herself so she and her mother and sister started making smoothies and other fresh treats in 2008.  Her personal favorite items on the menu are the smoothies and the fruit cups.  She sells the most smoothies that have a blend of berries and orange juice.  When asked what her favorite part about owning her own business is, Reyna says, “I like to talk to different people from different countries or cultures.  I like to meet new people all the time.  The weather is similar as Veracruz, where I came from and the people are really friendly.  This is a really nice way to live.”

Elotes Locos

- Location:  Outlier - 6301 W. Parmer Ln. - @Little Woodrow's Bar

- Hours: Wednesday -Saturday: 6 PM - 2 AM
- Telephone: 512-909-6767
- Facebook: Elotes Locos / Twitter: ElotesLocos

- Cuisine: Tex-Mex

Originally from El Paso, Texas Chris and Liz Aguirre moved to Austin about three years prior to opening their food trailer in May of 2010.  After 12 years in corporate America, enough was enough.  The simple pleasure of working for themselves is one of the most satisfying things about Elotes Locos for the Aguirres.

Liz had always had a passion for food and the couple thought a trailer was the best way to showcase her skills while leaving room for their business to grow.  It took about 14 days for their brand new trailer unit to be manufactured from scratch in Monterey, Mexico.  Their favorite items on the menu are the tacos bistec and the tacos al pastor, although their best seller is the steak quesadilla.

Austin Daily Press

- Location:  Downtown - Red River & 9th St. 

- Hours: Tuesday -Saturday: 8 PM - 3 AM
- Telephone: 512-644-2959
- Website: www.austindailypress.com / Facebook: Austin Daily Press / Twitter: AUSdailypress

- Cuisine: Pressed Sandwiches

Cory Nunez was traveling through Austin from his hometown of St. Simmons Islands, Georgia, visiting his brother when he decided to park it here permanently.  He worked at his chef-brother’s restaurant for a few months before eventually opening up his own Austin Daily Press with his business partner Amy Hildenbrand.  At first, they did a lot of deliveries of hot sandwiches to people’s bar stools from his downtown location.  57 different bars were the recipients of Austin Daily Press delivery, and the team anticipates getting back into their delivery aspect with an emphasis on green via their new electric scooters. 

Meanwhile, back at the trailer, Cory recommends the Steak and eggs which has Munster with Habanero Cream Cheese or the Baloney Sandwich.  Their Gyro is another crowd favorite which is a play on the wrap containing Israeli salad with lemon juice and parsley plus Tabasco(TM), Tzatziki  and Feta cheese all grilled on a fresh sandwich.  You can hear Amy & Cory cooking to the tunes of 70s and 80s jams such as Hall and Oates, Billy Joel, Huey Lewis and the News, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and beyond.  Cory & Amy have served Elijah Wood, Drew Barrymore, the entire cast of ‘Always Sunny in Philadelphia’, and a ton of UT football guys out of their trailer.

Old School BBQ

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

- Hours: Monday & Tuesday: 11 AM - 3 PM

             Wednesday: 5 - 10 PM

             Thursday & Friday: 5 PM - 12 AM

              Saturday: 12 PM - 3 AM 

- Hours: 512-947-6830

- Website: www.oldschoolbbqandgrill.com / Facebook: Oldschool Bbqandgrill / Twitter: oldschoolbbq

- Cuisine: BBQ

“Old school quality of service without the rip off pricing”

Having gone to the Cordon Bleu school under a master chef in France, his corporate experience with Hard Rock Café and TGI Fridays as well as having opened 56 restaurants in 2 continents and 3 countries, Dan Parrott brings over 35 years of experience to the table at Old School BBQ & Grill.  As a single Dad he brought his son Danny with him to build restaurant concepts from the ground up.  They would hire and train the staff and move on to another project.  So the restaurant business was in Danny’s blood early on.   Their third business partner Trey is responsible for the trio’s move from L.A. to Austin and it was driving around with realtors that they noticed the boom in the trailer food scene.  Thus, the Old School BBQ concept was born.

Dan says, “Old school going back to when it was your pride and your pleasure to serve others because they were giving you their most precious commodity – their time.  We aren’t trying to make all the money we can – I was making ridiculous money and left it all behind to come back on this hot bus just to look at someone when they take a bite and I can see their face.”

Their brisket is their best-selling item and although their namesake highlights their BBQ, the grill side of this trailer is pretty strong too.  For their hamburger, they start the day with two choice cuts of angus steak that they grind every morning themselves.  On top of the burger, they add caramelized onions and Vermont aged sharp cheddar cheese that is melted on the patty.  If you want tomatoes on it, they will slice it right in front of your eyes.  There is a limited amount of this product, so when it’s gone for the day, that’s it. 

Dan offers his perspective on how the food industry has changed and why he feels it is important to serve his guest good quality food at a reasonable price:  “I love what I do but I don’t respect the industry I’m in anymore – after 35 years, the industry has defaulted into one more us corporate structure.  People in offices are making decisions about people in food – I don’t think that’s right.  Back in the day when you went out for food it was a special event, a really big deal you looked forward to – and the people feeding you knew it was a special event – they knew they had to capture your grace that one time.  When you went to eat and someone else did it, you would get dressed up, service and quality were incredibly important.  After all, if you are going against ‘mom’ you better be good.  Then there’s the aspect of value –the money the patrons raised in their livelihoods had to be used to buy farm parts.  The food culture back then, you knew you were working with a group of hard working people that deserved the best.  And that is what we are doing at Old School.  The main thing for us, I really hope people understand that if nothing else, we do what we do with great passion.  We are going to give it our all.  We just love making people smile when they have a really good meal.”

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.