AUSTIN (KXAN) - A new festival kicks off Tuesday in Austin called Truck by Truckwest. It’s a chance to sample 65 food trailers around the city for $20. Brian Erickson, a business consultant, dreamed up the idea after not only being a fan of the food trailers but realizing some trailers need to receive more public support in order to stay in business. Last May he started contacting owners of food trucks asking if they wanted to take part in the festival and 65 jumped on board. Like John Galindo who opened up Mellizoz (formerly Izzoz) along South First Street back in 2008. "We were right at the cusp of the whole food trailer explosion," said Galindo. The trailer has a big following and it could get even bigger now that it's taking part in the first ever Truck by Truckwest. "You take six days to cruise around the streets of Austin and show them your badge and then they give you whatever their specials are," said Brian Erickson, Producer of Truck by Truckwest. That badge is $20 online and $30 at the Long Center where the event kicks off Tuesday evening. John is making a full meal of corn chowder, tacos, and Mexican hot chocolate. "So if you want to do the math and you are going to get a meal at each trailer - you are eating for less than three dollars a day and its breakfast, lunch, and dinner," said Galindo. Next door, Gourdoughs will be giving out their new smashing pumpkin donut. "Its pumpkin mouse with gingersnaps and then caramel with a little bit of sea salt," said Ryan Palmer, Co-owner Gourdoughs. They hope that sweet concoction for the festival will get some new customers. "It just kind of broadens everyone's horizons on what kind of trucks are out there right now," said Palmer. The festival is also part competition. Those eating the samples are asked to go online and vote for their favorite truck – the winner receives $10,000. Trailer owners also receive a portion of the sales from tickets to cover their costs. Truck by Truckwest runs October 29-November 3. Source: Original Post
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John Scott and Eddy Patterson, who co-own Stubb’s music venue and sauce company, have paid $2.4 million for the former Ridgway's printing building on South Lamar Bouldevard, near Barton Springs Road, and will begin construction in January on a restaurant with a very special bar. The pair purchased the 50-foot mahogany bar, built in 1866, from the shuttered Cedar Tavern in New York City seven years ago for $150,000 and have kept it in storage until the right spot came along. Cedar Tavern was a famous hangout for beat writers and abstract expressionists, including Jack Kerouac and Jackson Pollock who were 86-ed from the University Place watering hole at times for drunken behavior. Cedar's draw for 1950's bohos was because it was the closest place to get a cheap drink after Robert Motherwell’s weekly salons in his Greenwich Village apartment.
The Cedar Tavern later became a haunt for folk musicians: Bob Dylan and filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker met there to plan the documentary "Don't Look Back." Lubbock natives Scott and Patterson were regulars at Cedar Tavern when they lived in NYC in the early ‘90s and hatched the idea to market the sauces of Christopher "C.B." Stubblefield while having drinks at the bar. “I met Stubb when I was nine years old and my mom took me to see Muddy Waters at his club (in Lubbock),” said Scott, whose mother was a philosophy professor at Texas Tech. Scott, Patterson and business partner Burke Edwards won't reveal the restaurant's food concept or a name until they announce the chef within the next month. But the space will be designed by Mickey Spencer of East Side Showroom. Michael Dickson of Winflo and Kung Fu Saloon will oversee general contractor duties. The new place, which won't have live music, is expected to open in October 2014. Note: C.B. Stubblefield's name has been corrected. Source: Original Post |