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The Gypsy Picnic

November 09, 2010

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The Gyspy Picnic.
A gathering of Austin’s best trailer food nomads for a day of tasty treats, tunes & more.

Man Bites Dog.
1311 South 1st Street
Austin, Texas
(512) 445-5591
http://www.manbitesdogaustin.com/

Old School Dog.
Vienna beef frank with ketchup and/or mustard. The more gourmet version of your traditional hot dog snuggled between a bun. Signs of a delicious frank? Ones that have char-coiled marks on them.

Hot Link Dog.
Earl Campbell Hot Link with Sriracha Mayo and Jalapeno Relish.
Beware of spicy explosive fireworks! If the hot link doesn’t get you, the sriracha mayo will. And if not, that Jalapeno relish will sneak up on you. For some reason, I couldn’t get enough of this. Speaking of which, I could really do with one right now.

My Big Fat Greek Dog.
Merguez lamb sausage with tzatziki sauce, tomatoes, diced onions, olives, cucumbers and feta cheese.
Hello greek explosion in my mouth!

Gourdough’s
1219 S Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78704
(512) 607-6568
www.gourdoughs.com

Cherry Bomb.
Glazed cherry topped doughnut with cinnamon sugar and cake mix topping.

*$5

Flying pig. 
Freshly fried doughnut smothered with maple syrup icing and topped with crispy bacon.

*$6

Naughty and nice.
Freshly fried doughnut sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

*sample size
$3

86 This
108 East Main St
Pflugerville, TX 78660
(512) 284-5825
www.86thisaustin.com

Multi Tasker
Smoked brisket and cheesy mashed potato sandwich.

*sample size
*$3



Coolhaus
Check website for location
http://eatcoolhaus.com/austin/

Fig Mascarpone.
Locally produced super premium fig mascarpone ice cream sandwiched between two homemade chocolate chip cookies.

*$4

Vanilla Bean.
Locally produced super premium vanilla bean ice cream sandwiched between two homemade chocolate cookies.
*$4
These ice cream sammies are HUGE. I was full after eating just one. The cookies are soft and chewy, and the ice cream is premium. The sammie was so delicious that I even gobbled up the wrapper. Wait, what?
Yup, the wrapper is 100% edible. Genius. 
Owners and Lead “Screamologists” Nathan Hathaway and Christine Aldrich created a customizable edible wrapper that can be consumed along with the sammie. Don’t worry if you got ice cream dripping down your fingers or even elbows, and most of melted onto the wrapper, just pop the whole thing into your mouth. I believe the wrapper is a rice paper base.

Turf N Surf Po’Boy

211 Congress Ave
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 965-4679
http://www.turfnsurfpoboy.com/ (Coming soon)

Crawfish Etouffee.
Whole wheat Roll with Crawfish Etouffee. Fully dressed with lettuce, spinach, and onions.

Shrimp PoBoy.
Jumbo Fried Shrimp on a whole wheat bun. Fully dressed with lettuce, spinach, and onions.

Royito’s
828 West 6th St.
Austin, TX
http://royitoshotsauce.com/

Picadillo Taco wth Chips.
Ground beef, potatoes, bell peppers, onions and tomato served up in a fresh tortilla. Comes with a side of chips & salsa. None of that grocery store salsa though. Fresh salsa made with Serrano peppers instead of jalapeños that give a explosive flavor. And no canned tomatoes either.

*$3

Migas Taco with Chips & Salsa.
Tortilla chips, eggs, cheese, bell peppers, tomato and onion served with a side of chips & salsa

*$3

Holy Cacao
1311 South 1st St
Austin, TX
(512) 851-2253
http://www.theholycacao.com/

Red Velvet.
Southern classic red velvet cake mixed with cream cheese frosting, then dipped in white chocolate and topped with toasted red velvet cake crumbs

Wedding Cake.
White cake married to butter cream frosting, then dipped in white chocolate and crowned with hard rock sugar crystals.

*sample
*$3

The Peached Tortilla
600 West 6th St, Austin, TX (Friday & Saturday 9:00pm – 3:00am)
3rd & Colorado (Friday 11:00am – 2:00pm)
2401 San Gabriel St, Austin, TX (Tuesday – Thursday 5:45pm to 9:00pm)
(512) 761-3241
http://www.thepeachedtortilla.com/

Hand Cut Belgium Fries.
Fresh cut Belgian fries with dipping sauce of choice (Peach Mint or Bacon Ranch)
I highly recommend their truffle aioli.

*$3

BBQ Brisket Slider.
Super tender cut brisket topped with a creamy jalapeño slaw. Smothered with smoky roasted peach BBQ sauce on a sweet roll

Le Cordon Bleu
http://www.cordonbleu.edu/

Le Cordon Bleu came out to the picnic and gave away free pork empanadas and mango empandaas with ice cream.

What is Le Cordon Bleu?
Le Cordon Bleu is a world renowned network of educational institutions dedicated to providing the highest level of culinary and hospitality instruction through world class programs.

Chi’lantro
N Congress Ave (5 Days A Week 11:30am to 2:30pm)
11301 Domain Dr (5 Days a Week 11:30pm to 2:30pm)
West 5th St & Colorado St (5 Days A Week 9:00pm to 3:00am)
http://www.chilantrobbq.com/

Kimchi Fries.
Fries topped with caramelized kimchi, bulgogi, cheddar jack and Monterey cheese, cilantro, onion and Korean peppers. Drizzled with a spicy orange sauce

*$5

Author’s note: This is one of their most popular items. It was featured by Chef Aaron Sanchez on Food Network, which I am very proud to have been able to be a part of.

Jalopy
15th and San Antonio
Austin, TX
(512) 814 – 8557
http://jalopyaustin.com/

Son Hong.
Incredibly juicy rotisserie chicken paired with homemade pickled peppers with an exciting oyster and sweet and savory chili sauce. Stuffed along with a crunchy herb slaw and scallion salad between two toasted slices of French bread.

$6

Caprese.
Lemon-parsley pesto, mozzarella, and tomatoes. Is there anything better than that combination?
The star in this sandwich is the pesto. Made out of parsley, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and zest, and fresh pepper. Slathered on fresh French bread, sliced Roma tomatoes, and mozzarella.

$6.5

Bacon.
Bacon, bacon aioli, and bacon. I am a sucker for bacon. Just like those dogs from the Begging Strips commercials.
I’m quoting Nic (the owner) here, “The bacon is a monstrosity of deliciousness.” The bacon complements the juicy rotisserie chicken perfectly. And to make the sandwich even more awesome? Bacon aioli. And for those who are concerned about their health? There’s the option to add a tomato.

$6.5

Three things attracted me to Jalopy’s at the Gypsy Picnic. (1) The colorful and one-of-a-kind artwork on the trailer with (2) a dashing man in chef whites and flat cap entertaining costumers while (3) sandwiches were magically coming down a wooden slide. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to eat at Jalopy’s during the Gyspy Picnic because the line was incredulously long. But I did stop by Monday night with friends and my goodness, that wait at the Gyspy Picnic would have been worthwhile!
Nic is incredibly nice and a fellow Longhorn who knows his sandwiches. I normally dislike sandwiches but that was because I never had a real, delicious sandwich until now. My favorite part of the sandwich? The incredibly juicy chicken that has been slowed cooked after being brined overnight in a mixture of water, salt, rosemary, black pepper, cider vinegar and other special ingredients.

I’ve been hearing a lot of negative feedback on the Gyspy Picnic and here’s my spiel on it. The weather was gorgeous. Not too hot and not too cold. It was perfect for a picnic. The location was at Auditorium Shores, which is right next to Townlake and across from Austin’s beloved downtown. 30 trailers came together in one location to bring their best dishes and in my opinion, they brought it. It was super convenient to be able to try a bunch of different trailers in the luxury of 2 minute walking distance. And in return, trailers that have never been heard of were able to showcase their delicious food.

Yes, I know you are going to say that the lines were long and the trailers were not prepared or organized. Dude, give them a break. This was the first food trailer festival and no one expected anything. All the trailers and the organizers of Gyspy Picnic were not expecting such a HUGE turnout. Over 15,000 people and counting. Are you kidding me? A typical restaurant doesn’t even get that many customers in one day, much less in one hour. And the reason why there was a shortage of food was because the trailers were told that they only needed to bring 1000 units of food, which sold out in the first 2 hours.

I spent about 20-30 minutes in line for each trailer. And yes I was tired and thirsty but I had a good time with friends, eating good food, playing with dogs and listening to awesome music for 4 1/2 hours.
I do think the prices and so called “sample” portions were misleading. The trailers were originally told to make “samples” of their food so the general public could get a taste of their food at a cheaper price but from eating at some of these trailers previous to this event, I know those were not “sample” portions but their regular portions.
Anything marked with an asterisk (*) above was restricted to this event and may or may not be available during regular business hours.

Let me know about your experience!

For more information
http://www.gypsypicnic.com/
http://twitter.com/gypsypicnic
http://www.facebook.com/gypsypicnic

WRITTEN BY:

Jane Ko is the Austin blogger behind A Taste of Koko, Austin's top food and travel blog featuring the hottest restaurants and weekend getaways. Jane has been a speaker at South by Southwest (SXSW), Texas Conference for Women, BlogHer, and more on entrepreneurship and social media. She lives in Austin Texas with her dog and cat.

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