sunflowers

 

My mom was in town for a visit this past weekend. She has been in love with Lyle Lovett for as long as I can remember and he was playing a show with John Hiatt at The Paramount Theater on Wednesday night. She got tickets for us to go see him and since this blog has been happening, she wanted to go eat at trailer with me before the show. As we drove down 5th Street to get our tickets from will call, we ran into a spontaneous water balloon/water gun fight on the corner of 5th and Congress! It was hilarious! I rolled down the windows and one guy squirted my mom with a water gun. She loved it!

Anyway, we continued our way to dinner at the Sun Farm Kitchen trailer on E. 11th. I had struggled a bit with their website to determine if they would be open or not, but they were. I had seen a photo of their trailer online and it was a good thing, too. If I didn't know exactly what I was looking for I would have passed it right by! Turns out it's located next door to The Purple Bean Cafe (subject of my very first blog posting). We walked up and I was thinking, "Oh! How charming! There are lots of sunflowers and a strange bike on the top!"

We walked up to one of the two windows to peruse the menu and order. The man working the trailer was chilling in a hammock inside the trailer and let us have our space to decide what we wanted. He was eccentric in the way that extreme yogis and vegans are, but was nice in a quiet way. I ordered the vegan Italian sausage and asked for his input whether I should get it in a hot dog bun or tortilla. He suggested the tortilla which was the direction I had been leaning already, so it was decided. I also got an avocado milkshake since we had been discussing them so often at work and I was still in doubt over whether or not it would be tasty. Since mom was in town, she was paying (the greatest thing parents of 20-somethings can do for their children) but there was no mention of payment at this time, so we walked down the hill to wait for our food. There was some confusion on exactly where we could/should sit, but we settled on the picnic table at the far end of the arrangement. The ADULT-sized picnic table, I should specify. Our rear-ends did not properly fit the first table we tried... it was more of a Goldilocks type situation. The adult-sized table turned out to be juuuuuuuuust right.

Maybe I was quite hungry and impatient, but our food just took too long. Plus I was unsure of when/how to pay for this since the transaction did not take place immediately after ordering, per the usual trailer protocol. The guy was just too cool and trusting about it all. It made me anxious. When it was ready, we picked it up from the same window at which we ordered and I offered him money then (to allow myself to stop worrying that I'd forget it and leave without paying unintentionally). He accepted it and offered me some of the habanero chutney with the warning that it was VERY hot. I enjoy spicy foods so I bravely loaded my paper plate-dish thingy with some of the intensely orange mash and headed back to my seat.

 

For a vegan sausage, this thing was packed with flavor. I was proud of myself for ordering it, but more proud of myself for honestly enjoying it. All except that chutney. That man was not lying! It may be one of the spiciest things I've ever exposed to my tongue. It burned my taste buds for a solid couple of minutes, but the veganness of the sausage and the soothing qualities of the tortilla helped chill out my mouth. My avocado milkshake also had those calming characteristics you need to save you from inferno-mouth, however it did lack strong flavoring. The beverage was cool and just the right amount of creamy, but with chunks of ice like that you can't really call it a 'milkshake.' I need to let Lindsey make me a real avocado milkshake a la her father.

This trailer, overall, let me down. While I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed my vegan fare so much, the food was about the only thing I liked about the place. Well, that and the sunflowers. The website drove me nuts while I was trying to get a solid answer on their hours, menu, and exact location. The menu offerings were limited, but what they did serve was tasty. The seating arrangement was awkward, but we didn't stay for the movie night so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on that one. The service was sufficient, but not as friendly as I would have liked and have experienced elsewhere. All-in-all, I give it 3 out of 5 trailers since food is the most important factor. Unless specifically requested, I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there again. I'd prefer the next-door charms of The Purple Bean for sure.

This last picture is just for you, Mom. :)

Guest Review:

Farm fresh, locally grown, organic...how can you go wrong? Right?  Well, there was plenty wrong with this place but upon reflection, the wrong was mostly aesthetic.  I opted for the hummus platter because I wasn't starving.  To call what was offered up a "platter" is a quite a stretch. There was a dollop of decent hummus with some very tasty grilled pita and a small pile of raw carrots, celery and surprisingly, slices of purple cabbage.  It turned out to be just the right amount of food for me and I'd have to say the pita was the star of the "platter".  I washed it all down with a cup of cold water while sitting at the only adult-sized picnic table available with my feet on the seat to avoid the fire ants munching on my sandaled toes.  There was one other seating option...a kid-sized picnic table located closer to the action.  We tried that one first but quickly realized, with a burst of laughter, that it was just too small with it's 1X4 seat!  A little bit of TLC on delineating a cool seating area would do wonders for this trailer.  The best part of the whole experience was spending quality time with my eating companion - my beautiful and talented daughter and author of this blog, Miss Shalyn Elise!  And...it's a night I'll always remember because later that evening I MET LYLE LOVETT!

Mom