Italian food.  The last bastion of Austin’s food scene that has yet to be conquered.  In a creative, deeply talented culinary scene, it’s perplexing that such an approachable, crowd-pleasing cuisine is virtually non-existent.   You might say “But what about [this place]” or “You’re forgetting [that place]“, but I assure you, I am not forgetting any place.  Austin’s Italian landscape is a desert, and it has been for quite some time.

To try to crack the code of Austin’s Italian food plight, Nic Patrizi of The Jalopy food truck renown, is trying his hand at cracking the Italian code.  Growing up in a huge Italian family out in Beaumont, Nic spent lots of his free time at his family’s eponymous (SAT word!) restaurant.  Now he’s taking recipes from the way-back machine and putting his own twist on them.  Along with his cousin, sister, and other friends and family, they’re launching the Patrizi’s food truck out on the east side.  It’s set up next to The Vortex with covered seating (hand-built by Nic’s cousin) on tables and chairs from the original Beaumont restaurant, served on original plates.  And being right next to the Vortex, you can get drinks at the bar.

I was lucky enough to enjoy a complimentary soft launch sampling of some of the upcoming menu items.  Check out the pictures below — it’ll be like you were there too!  The meatballs, made with meat from Salt & Time, had great texture and flavor.  The fresh, homemade ricotta may have been the best thing on the table.  He could package and sell that cheese and be just fine.  The fettuccine was a new recipe Nic was trying out got progressively better as they worked out the cooking time.  All three pasta dishes had great flavor, particularly the tomato sauce under the ricotta.

From what we tasted in the early goings, Patrizi’s is going to bring the level of Italian food up quite a bit.  Check ’em out on Facebook (and occasionally on Twitter) for hours and menu specials.