Austin’s most popular gringo taco trailer & mobile food pioneers TORCHY’S TACOS turns 3 years old this week. To celebrate, they’re throwing a Birthday Party this Thursday evening at their non-mobile location on the corner of South 1st & El Paso.  FREE KEG BEER will be served from 7-10pm along with fiddle music from teenage prodigy Ruby Jane Smith.

Don’t forget about movie nights up the road at Torchy’s South Austin Trailer Park (1311 s. First). Tonight’s feature film is GroundHog Day

-cabeza

We visited the newest Torchy’s location today and I have to say the new digs have a lot of potential.. You can find the new spot just south of the original location on S. 1st St and also houses a new burger trailer called Shuggies.  

Formerly an auto shop and used car lot.. they’ve managed to repurpose the shop into a covered eating patio that overlooks bouldin creek, quite nice.  Other renovations were still in progress..  Read the rest of this entry »

i think i am more curious about Shuggies Burgers & Seafood.. WTF?
more investigation after the jump Read the rest of this entry »

• The Chronicle’s Hot Sauce Festival is this Sunday August 24

Its that time of year again.  The music is better (Heathens, Black Joe Lewis, etc), the judges are qualified (Robb Walsh, Tyson Cole) and the food vendors are tasty (Curra’s, Oaxacan Tamaleo, etc) For those wanting to compete – The rules have changed a bit- possibly because of the pepper scare (see below) – basically, you must have your salsa made in a commerical kitchen if you want the public to have a taste- but its NOT mandatory for the judging portion…that should cut the lines down considerably for the tasting tents.  It should be HOT too, so come prepared/ <More info> <Louis Black’s Diatribe>

• Be Careful…

…where you buy those fresh jalapeno’s for your salsa making projects this weekend- Mexican-grown peppers are the likely cause of the latest salmonella outbreak- and many smaller stores & restaurants are still serving them, according to reports…Cabeza has been eating copious amount of mexican peppers in order to build an immunity… <USA TODAY: Mexican peppers posing salmonella risk still being sold>

• Over-Hyped but Under-Sold?

Our doppelgangers at Taco Journalism recently did a piece on Austin’s most over-hyped tacos.  While I applaud their excellent use of “no mames” (and am aware of the very real dangers of hipster hype), I should also point out that “over-hyped” doesn’t necessarily mean bad food.  Notorious hipster havens  Torchy’s & El Chilito actually DO have some of the best and most adventurous tacos in this town. AND I for one refuse to let hype, price, or hipsters OR Yuppies stand in my way of a good taco.  Alas, i’ve always scratched my head about taco shack’s breakfast taco (especially the chorizo= dogfood)…i guess its the safe, gringo gateway drug into the sleazier (and more rewarding) side of tacos.  yuppy-gringo hype….I DO like their crispy beef tacos, though.

-cabeza