Chaat Shop

Hello Austin! One of the big food truck meccas in the U.S.

This is one of those fun times where two of my alter egos collide: Drupal and food trucks. And it’s DrupalCon Austin next week that brings me to town.

Now imagine my surprise at the difficulty in using social media to actually pinpoint food trucks. Seems most of the trucks on wheels (sorry all you stationary trailers, I can’t count you) camp out in parks and depend on people knowing (or looking up) the address of their usual spot. Entirely different model than the constant state of flux that is the Chicago food truck scene.

The other problem is that some of the larger finder sites like Roaming Hunger and TruxMap have stale data. Of the trucks listed in our vicinity, the ones I clicked on were closed down for years. Whaaa? Apparently, we are spoiled in Chicago by @chifoodtruckz and his amazing service.

After hunting online literally for an hour, I tossed my hands up and decided to head someplace that may or may not have trucks and/or trailers which just might be open for lunch: 6th and Waller. Plan B was to hit up nearby BBQ or Bahn Mi.

So, fellow Drupalers @zendoodles and @realityloop headed out with me to see what’s what. Imagine my surprise when we come up to the East Side Fillin’ Station food trailer park. Even better: the first beauty I laid my eyes on was the Chaat Shop truck. Wheels and all.

We took a stroll through the park to tally the food offerings, but I’m a sucker for good Indian grub, so it was back to Chaat Shop for me.

I was planning on hitting at least one other truck so I went light: a pair of beef puffs and a mango lassi. I didn’t snap the samosa that @zendoodles ordered, but that thing was as big as my fist. Easily the largest samosa I’ve ever seen.

Those beef puffs were incredible. Light and flaky pastry. Intensely spiced filling of beef and potatoes. All resting on a refreshing salad dressed with tomato chile mayo. The green dipping sauce was so good, I did it as a shooter when I was done. And the mango lassi? Hello: mango lassi. Say no more.

This was really day one in Austin, so I wasn’t yet acclimated to the heat, so I wasn’t up to my usual task of eating from several trucks at once. But, it should come as no surprise that I intend to close out my second city in the 5 in 10 challenge. Also, this marks state three for the Patriot mission.

Can I get a huzzah? Don’t mess with me taco_cart. (sorry, inside joke)