latenightalicious

Trailer food and drinking have a long history (as I have gathered from the association with cowboys in the beginning times of food trucks) so it is fitting that I visited a classic Austin late-night beacon of deliciousness last weekend. My friend and former co-worker was back in town for a visit and could not stop raving about how much she loved eating at Kebabalicious while she lived here. This probably had as much to do with their location (right across the street from the frequented Mug Shots on 7th) as their tasty, hand-held kebabs. Since we ended up at Mug Shots and I had unintentionally skipped dinner, my opportunity was at hand to sample what Kebablicious had to offer. 

Sheena became my partner in crime, and we decided to share the classic beef/lamb kebab at medium spice level as our midnight snack.  We opted to go with the regular size since we both seem to be unable to find jobs that financially appreciate our skills and talents. It was a short-term economical decision, but worked out well for us in the long run. The friendalicious food truck worker even agreed to take a photo with us!

 

I instagramed this one. I like how it turned out. 

 

Mug Shots even let us bring the food into the bar so I could continue educating Sheena in the game of pool (billiards, I suppose, is the proper name). This was a really great option seeing as the last six Saturdays in a row there has been a cold front here in Austin and the evening was pretty chilly.

Sheena expertly cut the kebab in half using the greatest tool ever invented and we chowed. There was a bit more meat on my half so Sheenski grabbed a bite off the back of mine to experience the fullness of the kebab.

I loved so many things about this. The medium spice provided excellent flavor paired with the veggies and meat inside, but wasn't overpowering (like I expect the hot level to be). The flat bread was tricky to bite through and probably could have been fresher, but still really wasn't a negative aspect of the meal. The meat filling was quite yummy, I only wish there had been more. It was really the only criticism I had: I wanted more meat! 

We demolished it so quickly, I barely remembered to take a picture. As this demonstrates, we thoroughly enjoyed visiting Kebabalicious. Sheena even mentioned going to eat there again as re-inspiration for the blog! I think she was a happy customer.  

I give this late-night goddess of 7th street 4.5 out of 5 trailers. The location was insanely perfect to satisfy the late-night crowd, the customer service was outstanding and photo-friendly, and the food hit the skipped-dinner-spot in my stomach like a charm. I seriously only wanted more meat. That would have been a trailer rating of 5 for sure.

 Guest Review:

 I always enjoy when friends come to town and visit, it allows me to do very Austin (y) stuff and try new places to eat. Our friend Heather came to town and there was no better way to celebrate her brief return to Austin then having a small get together at Mug-Shots.  If you’ve never been to Mugshots then you should definitely go and check out the laid-back atmosphere. Shalyn even taught me to play pool (this requires it’s own blog)! Across the street from Mugshots is a very delicious and well-known trailer called, Kebabalicious. That’s right my little foodie readers, that’s kebabalicious, five syllables, ends in –licious, and rhymes with delicious. Shalyn and I shared the beef/lamb Turkish style wrap. Typically, I have a problem with lamb.  I have had it many ways and I usually can’t get past the taste. However, I think I found a winner!  This was the most delicious wrap I’ve ever had. There are no words to describe its tastiness.

The beef/lamb was spicy and seasoned to perfection. I loved how the lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, and tzatziki sauce seemed to add a creamy richness to the wrap that’s very traditional of Mediterranean food. My only complaint? There wasn’t enough meat. All the meat was packed towards the front end of the wrap that by the time we got to the end we were eating all vegetables. Even so, nothing can take away from the experience of eating one of these wraps.  It’s the perfect midnight snack and the perfect food to go. Out of all the food trailers Shalyn and I have been to, this one is my favorite thus far. 

Sheena

sowing seeds

Writing, at least for me, is a bit like exercising. I need to start slowly, with light weights and build my strength up before I try to push myself to run that marathon. Coming back to this blog after my nearly four month hiatus is a bit nerve-wracking since I am so out of shape, but my kind boyfriend met me for a quick trailer lunch last Friday to help ease me back into things.

Most of you know I love using Twitter, especially for food trailer and blogging-related things, so it should be no surprise that I solicited the help of my Twitter community in selecting a lunch location. I tweeted for suggestions on where I should go for my first excursion back and @natanyap (Natanya Anderson, http://feteandfeast.com) was kind enough to respond that The Seedling Truck (@SeedlingTruck) had some good stuff going on lately.

 

The truck is open in a variety of locations for lunch (but they are taking a break at the moment), brunch (my favorite meal ever), and dinner with a different menu for each time of day. The ingredients are all sourced from local organic farms and they even have a list of their choice farms on their website. Speaking of their website, it's phenomenal! Probably one of the cleanest layouts, most updated schedule and menu, and easiest to navigate food trailer websites I have visited. I feel strongly that this is one of the first steps to success for a food truck, so go you, Seedling Truck! I'm impressed with your online presence.

Likewise, I am impressed with their menu offerings. On the day we visited the adorable hand-written menu displayed these scrumptious items:

This particular Friday, Danny and I were meeting for a late-ish lunch and The Seedling Truck only serves lunch until 1:30pm. I usually like to think of myself as a timely person, but sometime during college I became one of those 10-to-15-minutes-late-to-everything kind of people. I do not know exactly why or how this happened, but now it's true. Somehow, Danny puts up with this, and has been quick to catch on to his role in making sure disasters do not occur. Sometimes this means pre-ordering me a margarita before happy hour ends and I love him for this. This time it meant ordering lunch for both of us before they closed, and he did a great job! He got us the Kale & Crab Chowder and the Pork Pastor Sandwich with an Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie to finish things off. I met him right after he ordered and we waited at the cute picnic table area adjacent to the parking lot for our food to be prepared.

As an unspoken rule, Danny and I typically share our meals so that we have the option of tasting different things. The only catch is that I try to limit my dairy intake so he eats most of the heavily-dairied items such as the chowder. I did try a few bites and it was pretty good, but the star of the show was the sandwich, no contest. The pineapple jicima slaw was a fantastic addition to the soft bun and tasty shredded pork. I would have eaten more of this than Danny even if the dairy thing wasn't an issue. I really loved it. The accompanying popcorn was nothing special. We were the last ones for lunch that day, but it shouldn't have tasted like it came from one of those holiday tins that people give other people for gifts when they really don't know much about who those other people are at all. It was stale and boring and we didn't want to eat more than a few sample bites. Thumbs down, popcorn.

As dessert, we shared the large, chewy cookie and I loved it. The chocolate chip count was higher than your average cookie, and for me this was a huge plus. I also loved that it was soft-baked instead of crunchy. As the trailer packed up and pulled out of the parking lot to go back to the magical land where all the trailers go when they aren't serving customers, we gathered our trash and remnants in the Eco-friendly containers and bid farewell to the GSD&M complex.

 

I know exactly why this trailer was recommended to me: it's awesome. This is a strong new addition to the trailer family of Austin and I'm excited to go visit again, especially when the season changes. I want to try more of their fresh foods and support local farms in the process!

This trailer gets a 4 out of 5 trailers and this is why: their website it awesome, they have a schedule they actually keep, and their food is fresh and GOOD. Besides that popcorn. I really was not a fan of that popcorn. That is partially made up for by being fantastic and tweeting back at me. They are really utilizing The Internet to their advantage and I'm a huge fan of that. 

Guest Review: 

It's always tough to follow up a review like that. She really nailed it right? Hit on all the main points and gave you a complete picture of what to expect when venturing for some good, honest, Austin trailer food. I won't try to compete here, allow me to just dive into some of the details. I figure if you've made it this far in the review, you're way too into this blog stuff anyway and probably looking for the gory details. 

Yeah, it was good. Nothing crazy, but it did the job. The sandwich was great; really tasty, soft pork in the pulled fashion. The sauce was good and not over-powering. The sauce, which I've never heard of, seemed to basically be thick slices of onion sauteed in balsamic vinaigrette tossed with pineapple chunks. This combined well with the soft and warm artisan bun and both of us attacked this thing full on, clearly trying to get more than our half of the sandwich. What didn't combine well with the artisan bun? The flippin' popcorn. Shalyn nailed it when she said, "holiday-tin popcorn", except I think it might've been a holiday tin from 1992. The popcorn didn't chew or crunch or mash, it merely changed shape in my mouth like softened iron in the muscled hands of a metalurgist. Hey, Seedling truck, I'm not a metalurgist. I'm just a boy with hunger pains. Could you not have just paired it up with something fresh and healthy? Lettuce perhaps? 

Despite the popcorn fiasco, the meal was still satisfying and I agree with Shalyn's 4 of 5 stars. Go get a pork sandwich, you won't be sorry. Just tell them to hold the portion of iron-ore.

 

Danny

there's no place like home

Here I am again. Back in my home state of Texas, but most importantly, back in my chosen home city of Austin. It feels so right to come 'home' to this place, even when I loved where I was. I think I found it, you know? The One. Austin, I know I have joked about meeting you too soon and that I wish I had moved here when I was in my 30's and ready to settle down, but let's be honest. You've stolen my heart and no other city will ever take your place. You're where I belong.

Ok, enough with the cheese. I had an excellent experience volunteering at Safe Passage and now that I am home, I only feel bad about one thing: I didn't keep all my promises to you, my reader. I filled your mind with visions of Guatemalan food and tales of eating adventures in Central American paradises and I didn't come through for you. I introduced you to the all-important 'Tipico' and for that I am not sorry, but I should have done more. If you feel gypped, send me an email (trailertrashandtreasures@gmail.com) and I'll buy you a snack at a local trailer. Not a full meal now, I am still unemployed. ;)

To make it up to the rest of you kind, fair readers, I plan on jumping right back into the swing of things here at Trailer T&T. I will soon be eating, photographing, and blogging about food trailers around Austin and I can't wait to get started!

A few things are holding me back at the moment: 1) I am seeking employment so that I can afford to keep up my not-so-cheap habit of eating at gourmet mobile restaurants and 2) I need friends to come with me (this is where you can help! well, if you can help with #1, please let me know too!).

Regardless of both of these points, I will do my best to post my first trailer of 2012 by the end of January. Thank you very much for your support through 2011, your patience with my absence, and your future visits to this blog! I could not do this without you.

típico

'Guate! Guate! Guate!' will be forever embedded in my brain after spending nine weeks (so far) in Antigua/Guatemala City, Guatemala. The people have been lovely, the work I've been doing has been challenging, but the food has been excellent. I'm on a tight budget down here, but I've done a decent job of sampling a lot of what Guatemala has to offer. It has taken me a while to decide what I want to highlight, but it suddenly came to me the other evening (literally, it was dinner the other night). Every single time I see arroz, frijoles, y platanos on my plate, my taste buds do a little happy dance. I can not eat enough of this combination. I love the rice. I love the beans. I REALLY love the plantains.

 

We have a rotation of lunches at the project, as do most cafeterias, and Thursdays are almost always a 'rice and beans' day. Every third Thursday or so, we get the perfect combination of rice, beans, and plantains. This happened last week and it took me by complete surprise since I thought it was Wednesday all morning. The schedule at Safe Passage is such that my class in the morning has lunch at 11:30am and once all the morning kids have left, the staff eats around noon. I walked into the comedor with the kids and saw the marvelous black mush (the beans at the project are refried black beans) next to the brilliant yellow platanos and actually jumped up and down with excitement. Of course the teenagers in my class all laughed at me, but this isn't unusual. While trying to wait patiently for the clock to reach 12:00, I ran into one of my fellow platano lovers, Kelsey, and only had to say, "Guess what's for lunch!" She could tell by my smile and volume level that it could only be one thing. Platanos. They are, after all, the stars of this meal.

Don't get me wrong, I love rice and would eat it every meal without complaint. The beans here in Central America, I absolutely adore. But combining it all with the sweetness of a perfectly ripe and fried plantain takes the dish from sustainable to pure indulgence. I vow to make this back home, soon and often. I'll even make it for breakfast sometime since here it is considered a 'typical Guatemalan breakfast' or 'desayuno tipico.'

Other typical Guatemalan food has been great as well. I've eaten a little bit of street food, too, but they are quite different from food trailers back in Austin. It's usually just a few people (mostly ladies) around a little stand with a grill selling dangerously delicious food. I'll do my best to get a few photos of it before I leave for you guys. And, honestly, if I'm there taking pictures already I might as well eat and blog about it too, right? ;) Vamos a ver.