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.

fancy dress

Once, during a dinner conversation with my roommates, I was asked if I could only eat one type of food for the rest of my life which I would choose. We went around the table and shared our personal choices and when it came to my turn, I quickly blurted out Thai food. It didn't really take me much thought at all. I love Thai food.

Kurt is a coworker of mine at one of my three summer jobs (yes, THREE) and we needed one more hang out before I left for Guatemala. Naturally, we ate at a trailer which seemed like such an original idea for a one-last-hangout-before-you-leave type situation, but turned out to be a popular choice on how to spend time with me. Anyway, he frequents a Thai trailer and has raved about it to me and when I can possibly combine good people with my favorite type of food, I jump on the opportunity.

Coat & Thai is precisely the trailer that Kurt loves. It's located along South Congress in the same park as Hey Cupcake! and Mighty Cone. Now, this stretch of trailers isn't my favorite and here's why: it's just too gimmicky-feeling for me. It's like it's trying too hard. It's on one of the coolest streets in the city, but that also makes it a bit touristy. It's really not the trailers' fault, they are probably smart to be there for business reasons, but I don't really like going there to eat. It makes me feel like I'm going to McDonald's in Paris (which I did, but only out of necessity). I just don't feel cool there.

With all that said, I was still excited to try a new Thai trailer. Especially one this cute and with such a clever name. They get extra points for both of those in my book.

As is typical, we walked up and started reading the menu. Thai menus can either be extremely clear about what you're going to get or very vague, there usually isn't an in between category. This menu was just the perfect level of whelming-ness (neither over nor under), but I still solicited the help of the nice girl working the window in making my dinner selection. I ruled out a noodle dish (I was feeling rice-y) and since Danny was getting a curry, I opted for an entree dish. I settled on the E-1 or Pad Ka-Pao with beef. Danny chose the Red Curry and Kurt ordered the Cashew Chicken. All three of us also got a beverage to complete our meals. Mine was the mango juice. The amiable girl at the window handed us each a number and we took a seat and chatted while we waited.

Less than 10 minutes later, we exchanged our plastic number cards for styrofoam containers filled with meat and vegetables in sauces next to scoops of rice. After taking photos (all with my phone again, lo siento), the food was still so hot I couldn't taste much. I did reach over and try a bit of Danny's curry and confirmed that Thai red curry is maybe my favorite food on the planet. And this one was really good. I should have negotiated a trade, but I was trying to be mature and hide my jealousy. I think I failed since I took at least 10 bites of his food. I'm just lucky he likes me and he didn't bat my hand away as it slid across the table to steal another spoonful. 

But back to my own food now, and I have to say that it wasn't spectacular. I remember the first bite of beef inspired me to think that it was a bit tough and possibly overcooked. The next was better, but I wished I had gone with chicken. The flavors were good throughout, but I enjoyed my bites without beef in them more since the vegetables held a better texture. I ate most of the dish though, so don't you dare think I hated it or anything. I just liked the curry better and after tasting that, mine seemed to lack the ability to hold my attention. Maybe I'm tunring into a 'Thai snob' but the Pad Ka-Pao didn't convert me to the Coat & Thai team. Now, if I had ordered that red curry the story could have had an entirely differnt outcome. Now I wonder how their Pad Thai compares as well.

I'm going to give this establishment 3.9 out of 5 trailers. They have their work cut out for them if they want me to be a repeat visitor based on the location alone, and I think they didn't succeed in overcoming that. I did find my meal plesant; way above the line of "edible" and even past "good" but just not into the "outstanding" section. The price was fair (around $7) for the amount of food and the staff was incredible. Maybe I'm getting harsher with more practice, but I'm sticking with the score. Don't hesitate to try it yourself and let me know what you think. If I go again, I'm getting that red curry with zero hesitation. Hopefully Danny gets the Pad Thai.

Guest Reviews (in the order I received them):

Coat and Thai, a quick fix for Austin's Pad-Cravings

The Thai restaurant scene in Austin is a funny sort of phenomenon. People here pride themselves on their worldly palettes and appreciate a broad knowledge of all things curried, spicy, and different. "You haven't had Ectipopian food?! When I was in Ectipopia, I swam with the Ectipoop tribesman who taught me to catch the [fill in the blank with mythical fish-beast]". Yeah, yeah, you were a badass once, and young. This kind of attitude seems to be amplified to a five-pepper degree by Thai food culture. People are crazy about their pad-whatchamacallits, and why not, they're delicious!  I can't count how many times I've been unknowingly thrust into a which-thai-place-is-best argument: Madam Mam's [You went to UT]; Titaya's [you graduated from UT and you fancy yourself on the up and up]; Thai Kitchen [you live nearby and you're smart.] With so many Thai food-loving Americans (hipster/yuppie/young-

progressive-family) flooding into Austin, and so few Thai people (the land-locked state of Texas is not getting less land-locked or closer to Thailand than the west (or east?) coasts anytime soon) the arguments seem only to be heating up.

Enter a quick fix to the "I want Pad-whateverthehell, and I want it now!" craze. Coat and Thai serves up all the usual fare you'd find at other Thai places and throws in a healthy handful of lesser known dishes. The menu is made up of family favorites of the trailer's owners and the love and nostalgia shine through. The food is very tasty, not my favorite but better than some [cough] [madam mam's] [cough] and comes quick with a smile. They've got a good selection of cold, canned beverages straight from the motherland herself and they're on display, which is always nice if you don't know what the hell a mangosteen is. I didn't but apparently it's delicious.

The one thing for me that wasn't stellar were the portions. I've gotten used to taking home another half-meal for later (I'm of the opinion that Thai is better the day after) and was a little let down to find out that it was all gone before dipping below the 2000 degree fahrenheit mark.

This issue is offset by their pricing. It's very reasonable, between 6 and 8 bucks a dish.

Go there, be happy. It probably won't be exhibit A in your case, but everyone needs an exhibit B, right?

-D

A certain sandwich chain says, “funny name, serious sandwich,” but with this trailer on South Congress it’s closer to “clever name, get there now!” I do have to admit, I was the one who suggested Coat and Thai. I saw it on the road craving some Thai food but pressed for time. I was definitely in for a treat. Usually I go with the classic Pad Thai or Pad Kee Mao, but since I was going to be guest writing for this blog I decided to try something new. I went with Cashew Chicken. Seems pretty ordinary right? Well, they threw in something I can never say “no” to. Well my friend that is the fruit of hospitality, pineapple.  The tangy blend of the pineapple with the spiciness of the dried chilis, just helped bring it all together. And the chicken was plentiful and very tender in the sauce. Very tasty, don’t miss this trailer. 

KL