No Gimmicks, All Flavor at Franklin

There’s no shortage of gimmicky names on the Austin food truck scene. Names like Cutie Pies, G'Raj Mahal and Kebabalicious populate the trailer universe, making trailer food almost as fun to discuss as it is to taste. Some trailer owners take a more subtle tack. Simply named after owner Aaron Franklin, Franklin Barbecue proves that you don’t have to have a cutesy name to find success in this business.

Even without an ultra-catchy name, Franklin Barbecue has drummed up a lot of interest in—and demand for—its product. Picture this: two large smokers waft the scent of beef brisket into the air in a small shaded courtyard with picnic tables. Behind the window of a little blue and white trailer, a friendly fellow, who turns out to be Mr. Franklin himself, chops up still-steaming brisket to fill each order. He puts a heap of juicy brisket atop a soft bun, along with onions and pickles, while chatting it up with the visitors whose mouths are watering staring at the meat (I know mine was!). This is Texas barbecue done right.

The sandwich was every bit as good as it looked. Not only was the brisket moist and break-apart tender, but it was packed with smoky flavor. It was also hearty, the kind of sandwich that puts meat on your bones. It contained so much brisket that pieces were falling out of the bun. The rub was thick and peppery and added a great texture to the edge of the brisket. I poured a generous amount of Franklin’s espresso sauce on top of the sandwich. The sauce had a pungent, molasses-like flavor that was a little off-putting at first but grew on me with each bite.

Along with the brisket sandwich, I ordered baked beans as a side item. The beans themselves had a good consistency but were not remarkable otherwise. The best part about them was that there were pieces of brisket trimmings interspersed in them, which added a great flavor and complemented the sandwich. I thought the brisket trimmings were a nice alternative to using bacon. Franklin offers other sides too: potato salad, cole slaw, etc. But make no mistake, the brisket is the main attraction.

Word of Franklin’s mouth-wateringly good barbecue has spread. At 11 a.m., when Franklin opens, a line of 30 to 40 customers has already formed. By 11:15, you’re looking at a 45-minute wait, and by one o’clock – well, you’ll be lucky if you can get some brisket at all. The demand only promises to keep growing, as Franklin has gotten plenty of local and even some national media attention.

Franklin Barbecue truly speaks for itself, no gimmicks needed. Thanks to its incredible brisket, Franklin is now at the top of the expert panel’s trailer ranking, followed closely by Flip Happy Crepes.

Gypsy Picnic, Part 2: Hot Sauce and Ice Cream

That’s right: hot sauce and ice cream. Ok, so they were not part of the same dish. But I did have both of them at the Gypsy Picnic, which gives you an idea of the sheer variety of foods that were offered. Trailer businesses from around the city offered everything from Korean tacos to cake balls to kabobs.

After visiting the Hat Creek burger truck, a taco from Royito’s Hot Sauce was in order. With two separate lines – one for ordering and another for picking up orders – the wait for Royito’s Hot Sauce was a long one. Thankfully, Royito’s turned out to be well worth the wait. I ordered the migas taco, which came with chips and a cup of hot sauce. Interspersed with the migas were green peppers, tomato, onion and shredded cheddar cheese. The flavor combination of all these was great. What pulled the dish together though, both literally and figuratively, was the homemade tortilla. It was light and fresh and acted like a warm blanket surrounding the migas.

The hot sauce was very different from what I expected. A lot of the locally made hot sauces are vinegary. Others are so heavy on peppers that heat is the predominant flavor. Royito’s sauce was surprisingly sweet and reminded me of summertime. There was some fruit ingredient – peach or pear, maybe – that gave it a lightness I wasn’t expecting. The heat was definitely there, too, but was nicely balanced by the sweetness.

Ice cream sandwiches seemed like the perfect follow-up to a taco, so next was a much anticipated stop at CoolHaus. For those unfamiliar with CoolHaus’ sandwich method, patrons choose from several ice cream and cookie options to create an ice-cream cookie combination. Of the sample flavors available, I chose dirty mint ice cream (basically the same concept as mint-chocolate chip ice cream) on chocolate cookie and bacon on chocolate chip.

Both ice cream flavors were fully true to their ingredients. The dirty mint was like no other mint ice cream I’ve had before. The mint component was actual finely ground mint leaves! Talk about freshness. The bacon ice cream actually tasted like bacon, but not overwhelmingly so. Small pieces of bacon added to the sweet, buttery flavor and made for an interesting texture. The cookies were good as well, although for me they just acted as a platform for the real star – the ice cream.

Gypsy Picnic, Part 1

Austin City Limits. SXSW. Republic of Texas Biker Rally.

The Gypsy Picnic?

Add it to the list of events that help to make Austin unique. At the first annual Gypsy Picnic, Austinites braved long lines for the chance to sample delectable trailer foods of all kinds. It was crowded. It was crazy. It was sort of “state fair” meets “outdoor concert” meets “bring-your-dog-to-the-park day.” And I’m happy to report that the trailer tour was there, right in the middle of the action.

With dozens of foods to try, it was difficult to make selections. The Hat Creek Burger Bus was an immediate and irresistible draw. A $3 burger never tasted so good! It really hit the spot. The patty was thin but juicy and flavorful and topped with American cheese. It just doesn’t get any more classic than that. A little table of toppings sat next to the truck – a topping buffet if you will – with fresh lettuce, tomato, onion, jalapeno, mayo, mustard and ketchup. This made for a pretty thoughtful addition to an already tasty treat.

The young woman taking orders informed us that one of her team mates was making the second run of the day to get more ingredients to make sure no burger fan went hungry. This was about three hours into the event, and some of the other trailers had sold out. It seemed Hat Creek had managed their stock well. And as one look at the line stretching out from the truck made clear, this was no small feat. Congrats to Hat Creek for making a solid showing at the Gypsy Picnic!

Stay tuned over the next few days for more Gypsy Picnic adventures…

Izzoz Tacos Go the Distance

If this tour were a contest for the longest trailer in Austin, we’d have our winner. Standing at one end of the Izzoz (pronounced “Ee-zoes”) Tacos Trailer, you’d have to call out to a friend standing at the other end in order to be heard. I’d estimate its full length at 30 feet or so – no exaggeration.

Thankfully, the flavor of Izzoz’ tacos can stand up to the size of the trailer. The Old School Crispy taco, a ground beef taco with lettuce, tomato and cheese, is everything you’d want from a crunchy beef taco; meat that’s salty but not too salty and greasy but not too greasy; a generous amount of fresh toppings, and a crispy shell that adds just the right amount of crunch. Sides of salsa offer plenty of heat. The meat could have been just a smidge more flavorful, but that’s my only critique. Even though it’s only been a few days, I find myself craving another one of these. There’s just something about seasoned meat inside a fried shell that makes the mouth water.

Along with the Old School Crispy taco, I also ordered the Fried Avacado taco, which had a great combination of flavors, including a great-tasting breading. The consistency of this one left something to be desired, though. Soft avocado in soft breading was topped with soft toppings inside a soft flour shell. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as big a softie as anyone, but I also like a little crunch to make things interesting!

Izzoz also serves up tortas – Mexican sandwiches – which got good reviews from other members of the expert panel. These came with some of the most delicious garlic fries I’ve had in recent memory. Izzoz Tacos measured up to its own impressive size, putting this trailer in the number two spot just behind Flip Happy Crepes.

Flipping for Flip Happy Crepes

Austin is full of contradictions. Take a short walk from the regal Capitol building over to Sixth Street and you’ll find yourself surrounded by live music and other festivities. A drive from one end of town to the other will take you from the hill country to a busy downtown skyline back out to prairie country. Cowboys, hippies, football fans and politicians all somehow reside together in this crazy town. With so much juxtaposition, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there’s a shiny trailer just south of the river that serves crepes – light, feathery pastries typically associated with desserts – filled with savory ingredients like chicken, pesto, mushrooms and cheese.

The expert panel visited Flip Happy Crepes for the third stop on the Trailer Tour. I tried the chicken basil pesto crepe, which was absolutely delicious. Melted white cheddar cheese surrounded soft pieces of chicken, with just the right amount of pesto, spinach leaves, and tomato, all enfolded by a warm crepe. The cheese and pesto had a wonderful richness to them, while the veggies added a freshness and lightness to the dish. And the crepe. Oooooh the crepe. It was perfect. At once soft and crispy, with a good flavor of its own. Even though the pesto was the most flavorful thing about the dish, the crepe stole the show.

Flip Happy also serves sweet crepes with tantalizing ingredients like fresh strawberries and bananas, dark chocolate sauce, vanilla pastry crème and Nutella. The expert panel members sampled the cinnamon sugar crepe with toasted coconut and cream cheese frosting, which was deemed amazing by all. If this weren’t enough, the ambiance at Flip Happy Crepes compliments the food beautifully. Picnic tables shaded by tall pecans make for the perfect spot to sit and enjoy a crepe or two.

The expert panel, deeply impressed by the overall scrumptiousness of Flippy Happy Crepes, gave this eatery a score of 46 out of 50 – the highest score yet. All panel members were in agreement about the quality, with a variation of only 6 percent between the highest and lowest individual scores.

Next time you’re in the mood for something a little different, stop by this little trailer whose crepes defy the expected.

Muck n Dave's

For the second installment of the Trailer tour, the expert panel sampled BBQ from Muck n Dave’s Texas BBQ at the South Congress Trailer Park. Although we hadn’t firmly decided on what trailer to visit, the delicious scent of smoky beef persuaded us that to visit any eateries other than Muck n Dave’s would be pure folly. There’s nothing like the smell of Texas BBQ wafting through the air to motivate a person to action! This fact may give Muck n Dave’s a leg up on surrounding eateries.

I tried the chopped brisket sandwich, which was decent. Let me qualify by saying that, having tried some amazing BBQ from different parts of Texas, I have a high standard for beef brisket. It should be tender, smoky, and should have a lot of flavor before adding even a drop of sauce. This sandwich was pretty good but was by no means in the “best I’ve ever had” category. My expert panel companions had similar feelings about their sandwiches. It wasn’t that the sandwiches were bad – they just didn’t have that “wow” factor.

One thing I did enjoy about the sandwich is that it had just a smathering of sauce on top of the beef, allowing for the flavor of the beef to stand on its own. I’ve had many sandwiches where the chopped beef is doused in enough sauce to fill a silo, hiding all traces of the meat underneath. Even so, I ended up adding more to the sandwich as I ate, because to be frank, the sandwich needed more flavor. The sauce was sweet and mustard-y, and reminded me of the Salt Lick’s, although it wasn’t as good (it’d be pretty hard to top the Salt Lick’s, to be fair).

Muck n Dave’s does offer sides, which I can’t comment on because I didn’t try. Those will have to wait for another day. All in all, Muck n Dave’s was good but not great.

The Jalopy

I am proud to report that the first stop on the Austin Trailer Tour was a success! The Expert Panel visited The Jalopy Rotisserie and Press, located at 15th and San Antonio.

Before describing the food, let me just say – the Jalopy is intriguing in every way, from the décor to the method of food delivery. Cartoony, colorful artwork compliments funny sayings in French on both the truck itself and the tables just in front of it. Also, ordering is lots of fun. The truck sits several feet off the ground, so you step up onto a sort of platform to order. When the food is finished, the patron’s name is called and a wrapped sandwich is dropped down a little chute of sorts, at the bottom of which the sandwich lands in a bucket. This place gives new meaning to the whole play-with-your-food concept.

But down to the food. The Jalopy offers several different chicken sandwiches. I chose the “Suite 709,” which had jalapeno pepper slices, onion, cilantro and a sweet and salty brown sauce reminiscent of Teriyaki or Hoisin. The thing that struck me most was the combination of sweetness, saltiness and spice. Sweetness from the brown sauce and onion slices; saltiness from the sauce; and spice from the peppers and cilantro, which offered plenty of pep. Blandness was not a problem here!

While I did appreciate the contrasting flavor elements, for me the sandwich didn’t entirely come together. Maybe it’s my distaste for most things pickled – I like pickles themselves, but pickled peppers don’t really do it for me. The cilantro didn’t taste quite right on this sandwich either. Which really surprised me because I love cilantro on just about anything. I did like the sauce, although it was a tad overly salty.

Despite the negatives, I found myself thinking about this sandwich long after eating it, which counts for a lot. The Expert Panel gave the Jalopy 31 out of a possible 50 points – which may sound low, but this is Austin after all, and we have high standards for our Trailer food.