Fresh ingredients, simply prepared, generally make fresh, simple sandwiches. At Hey!… You Gonna Eat or What?, you will not find one of those sandwiches. From the snarky quote bubbles, garish red paint job, and bold menu, you get the feeling that this bus plays by its own rules. No doubt you’ll find fresh ingredients, but HYGEoW works some dark magic to create unexpected twists on classic sandwiches.

After drooling over following Hey!… You Gonna Eat or What? on Facebook and Twitter for months, the time had come to answer the eponymous question: yes I’m gonna eat. Eric, the man in charge, greeted me from the other side of the parking lot by somehow recognizing me from my tiny Twitter picture. He’s an imposing man with a big voice and bigger personality. We chatted for awhile about the menu and he described his four favorites in the kind of detail that only someone who loves what they do can. After too much deliberation, I narrowed it down to the Shiner Monte Cristo their flagship sandwich, and the Texas Mesquite Turkey. I asked Eric, and before he could answer, I already knew it had to be the Shiner Monte Cristo.

So I took my seat and waited for the Shiner Bock beer-battered, deep-fried sandwich to be made. It’s filled with ham, turkey, cheddar, and provolone (who needs veggies?) along with a cherry-fig jelly. While waiting to eat I got to meet his wife, Liz, at the register and then snapped a few pictures of the bus. To be honest it felt like it was taking awhile to prepare the sandwich… that is until I saw Eric come back out with TWO sandwiches in hand. He went ahead and made my Shiner Monte Cristo and also the Texas Mequite Turkey. Oh snap! With both sandwiches came homemade potato chips, which are exactly what chips should taste like: crispy, potato-y, not-greasy-y.

Texas Mesquite Turkey and Shiner Monte Cristo

With two giant sandwiches laid out in front of me, there was no pretty way to go about it. With sleeves rolled up and proper hunkered sandwich-eating form assumed, I started with the still-hot-from-the-deep-fryer Monte Cristo. If you thought you heard thunder that night, rest assured it was just the crunch of the Shiner Bock shell. On its own the dough is a little sweet, like a donut (yes, those specks of white are powdered sugar), which goes incredibly well with the salty meats and cheeses locked within. This sandwich isn’t for the faint of heart (literally, it can give you a heart attack). The bread is warm and soft, the cheese is melty and gooey, and the meats are salty and juicy. The jam on the side is tasty, but I forgot about it, meaning the sandwich didn’t need anything extra. Good for dipping those awesome chips in though!

Shiner Monte Cristo

Staring at me with a look that said “you better save room” was the Texas Mesquite Turkey, built on Ciabatta bread with pepperjack, fried green tomatoes, lettuce, and jalapeño jelly. So after half of the Shiner Monte Cristo I switched gears and hit sandwich number two. The first bite, and each subsequent bite, was warmspicycreamysaltysweet. It took awhile to realize the absolute highlight of this monster is the fried green tomatoes. Like, make it a fried green tomato sandwich and I’d be ecstatic. Combined with the jalapeño jelly for a little heat and creamy spice from the pepperjack, the sandwich is incredible. It definitely holds its own next to a beast like the Shiner Monte Cristo.

Texas Mesquite Turkey

Where the Shiner Monte Cristo throws down with over-the-top gluttony in a delicious package, the Texas Mesquite Turkey impresses in a more practical way. I’d recommend going with a friend and getting these two sandwiches to share. Next on my hit list will be the BLT, which sounds amazing. There’s no doubt HYGEoW can fry up some mean bacon and I want to be there when it does. When you’re craving a big-time, no-holds-barred sandwich, just know Hey!… You Gonna Eat or What? has you covered.