I’ve gotta say, these Trailer Food Tuesdays events are pretty fantastic. Since the first one early last year, they’ve really found their groove and know how to show off Austin’s food trucks to Austin’s hungry residents. Ev and I headed down after work hoping to meet up with friends and try some new-to-us trucks.
Before we got there I was most excited to try Slab BBQ. I missed them when they were serving the crowds of SXSW so I made it my priority to try first. As luck would have it, they had the shortest line! With their sausage wrap already sold out, I was happy to get one Notorious P.I.G. slider and one O.G. slider. The P.I.G. blew me away with the mustard sauce covering everything under the bun. It was loaded too! The O.G. was tasty and I’d sure enjoy it again, but paled in comparison.
Ev was less enthused about BBQ of any kind and grabbed a lobster slider from Dock and Roll Diner. Where the Slab BBQ sliders cranked it up to an 11 from the get-go, the lobster slider exercised a lot more restraint. I had a bite before any BBQ and thought it was a light, balanced sandwich with great flavor. Not being a lobster lover, however, I left the rest for Evelyn to enjoy.
The next truck visit was based on who had the shortest line. That doesn’t mean we settled on the food; it just meant our logic was based on our hunger-divided-by-patience quotient. Lucky for us, Little Fattys was tucked in the corner rolling out the red carpet for us.
With four options, we snagged two that we hadn’t tried before: Guava Love — braised pork, guava BBQ sauce, and buttermilk slaw — and The S.A.M. (I am) — spinach, artichoke, mushroom, parmesan cheese, and jalapeno ranch. The cornmeal pocket holding everything together should be considered a threat to all tacos and sandwiches everywhere. And for the fillings, I preferred the Guava Love, which left Ev happy to keep The S.A.M. (mostly) to herself.
With our gorditas in hand, we met up with some friends who set up a picnic blanket on the lawn. Not three minutes later two more friends rolled up on bikes. And almost simultaneously Ev got a text that our neighbors were sitting 20 feet away. In moments Trailer Food Tuesdays felt like Mike and Ev’s Amazing Food Truck Hangout.
With the formality of dinner out of the way, dessert time was upon us. I’m not sure how it happened, but there was only one true dessert truck on this night*. The line for Yeti Frozen Custard was long when we arrived and it was long when we were ready to get
dessert. I got in line with our neighbor Helen and her not-quite-2-year-old son.
*I know, you can say Mister Fruit Cup is dessert, but it’s fruit… so…
The line moved slowly, so thankfully there was a random game of cornhole sitting nearby for the little guy to play. Shortly after, in true Franklin BBQ fashion, we were getting word that they were quickly selling out of vanilla and chocolate custards and would only have their special key lime left. Now, as an act of ultimate food-truck-owners-are-awesome-people, the Yeti’s second in command, Justin, came by and handpicked us out of line and sent us to the back of the truck to make sure we could get in on the Yeti goodness.
We didn’t hesitate to order up two vanillas, two key limes, and a chocolate to bring back to our group. Not wanting to General consensus was that there was no general consensus. Ev preferred the chocolate best while two of us thought vanilla won out. The key lime was ok, but not up to the same level as the other two. The frozen custard proved to be a fantastic end to the trailer meal with something for everyone.
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p>For posterity, the full list of trucks included Peached Tortilla, Yeti Frozen Custard, Slab BBQ, Mister Fruit Cup, Whole Foods Market, Little Fattys, Kebabalicious, Lucky J’s, Way South Philly, and Dock and Roll Diner.