Austin has long been the home of a great tradition of taco carts and other types of food sold out of roadside trailers. While we've enjoyed a number of city favorites for some time now, recently there seems to have been an absolute explosion of food trailers in Austin! See if we mention your favorites after the jump...
As mentioned, we've had plenty of favorite food trailers before, like Torchy's Tacos, Flip Happy Crepes and Hey Cupcake, just to name a few. Recent months have seen a rise in the number and variety of these roadside treats. In the SoCo area, The Mighty Cone, featuring meals in easy-to-carry paper cones, joined the same lot as Hey Cupcake last SXSW festival. Along with those two trailers, residents in the area can also enjoy Roppolo's pizza, beverages from Armadillo Tea and Coffee, and gourmet popcorn from Cornucopia.
Perhaps one of the first "dedicated" areas in Austin for this sort of dining trend popped up with the South First Trailer Park and Eatery. Along with the old favorite Torchy's, Shuggie's offers up burgers and po-boys. La-Dee-Dah joined soon after with home decor and sweet treats, like gourmet s'mores and cupcakes.
Next door to the South Austin Trailer Park and Eatery, you can find another great taco cart, Izzoz Tacos as well as the famous Holy Cacao, known for their cake balls on a stick.
The trailers mentioned above make up only a tiny portion of the amazing food trailers found in and around Austin, and so we pose the question to our readers: what's your favorite food trailer/cart/stand in Austin? And if you don't live in Austin, what's your favorite in your city? Not a fan of eating food out of carts? Let us know why!
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view Aaron's profile
I miss the little egg roll cart on the drag that got busted for selling stolen goods a few years ago.
view whytephoenix's profile
I got a sno-cone from a trailer in Austin. The cupcake may be about as far as I'm willing to take it (and that's only cuz I love sweets). Any kind of real food, I just don't trust from a trailer.
view TrueTex's profile
Flip Happy Crepes!!!
Blueberry lemon- I'm drooling just thinking about it
I wondered what happened to that eggroll cart
view T-Hut's profile
Check out the 180 plus food carts in Portland, Oregon. From Sicilian, to Bosnian, Korean, Artisan pizza, waffles, Soups, Vegan Indian - you name it.
www.foodcartsportland.com
view Lizzy C's profile
My favorite was always the eggroll cart in front of the fountain at UT next to the business school. It's been 9 years since I finished B-school & moved away, so I don't know whether they're still there or not. They did a tremendous business.
view tailfin's profile
I can't remember the name of the popcorn trailer on S. Congress but the carmel and cinnamon roll flavors were wonderful. As for cupcakes I would skip the trailers and check out Sugar Mama's on South 1st.
view mstrygrl's profile
tailfin -- A few years ago, the cops shut down some of the Chinese food carts around UT because it turned out they were fencing stolen electronics. No more eggrolls! Well, some might back now, but several cart operators were arrested. They had students who'd rob places in West Campus and then they'd somehow sell the stuff out of the carts or at least set up the sales. All I know is no one ever offered me a DVD player with my fried rice.
mstrygrl -- Sugar Mama's is so good. Even though the cupcakes are smaller than Hey Cupcake, they have so many more flavors and they taste better.
view palindrome's profile
We had Hey, Cupcake recently. It was ok, but it was worth it to laugh at the Michael Jackson cupcake they were selling. It's a chocolate cupcake with vanilla icing with a shot of whip cream inside.
I'll have to check out the others.
view inkstainedwriter's profile
Why have the recent AT Austin posts not been about homes? Maybe this should be over at The Kitchn...
view jamiealyse's profile
tailfin- the egg roll cart in front of the fountain is still there and its still delicious
view Suzanne Esme's profile
tailfin - The egg roll guy is still there. His chicken-fried rice with the Singaporean spices? Is awesome. I'm leaving B-School in a few weeks and will really miss him.
Lulu B's, the Vietnamese food trailer on South Lamar, is supposedly awesome, but I havent tried it yet.
view Alyce's profile
Mighty Cone is great! I went there twice while I was in Austin for SXSW. I want to learn how to make my own. The fries were great, too. I wish one would open up in Atwater!
view faithcrawford's profile
jamiealyse: Reviewing Adrienne's recent posts, almost all are home/decor related and even this one is about reappropriated mobile homes. But you have a point about this being a bit off-the-beaten-path of our usual coverage. When you write about design/decor nearly every day of the year, what you realize is that the best inspiration often comes from outside of the stores/industry, sometimes from unexpected sources :D
view gregory's profile
I love this idea of mobile food specialists traversing the streets. But, when I brought it up at a party on Sunday, the response around the table was not positive. Turns out the existing coffee truck industry here in Toronto is very corrupt and most of the drivers sell more drugs than coffee and honey buns. Guess we'll have to get over this stigma and do a PR campaign before we can get treat trucks here in T.O.
http://danamccauley.wordpress.com
view Dana McCauley's profile
If I could live anywhere in the world it would be Austin. Keep it weird!
view cher k's profile
oh, how I miss Austin's culinary kookiness. Flip Happy Crepes is amaazing-- roasted chicken with caramelized onions and goat cheese, just lovely.
Also, who can deny the charm of a French favorite being served out of a trailer?
view Ash c's profile