[REVIEW] Bacon Maple Doughnut / Gourdough’s / Austin, TX We flew Continental to Texas and during the Transatlantic part, when we were at our most bored, Mrs D and I watched one of the random TV shows they had on the seatback video system things. Flying Continental to Texas is great by the way: all the stewardesses look like the Mum or Aunts from the first two Home Alone movies. Anyway, we’ve seen all the movies so we’ve moved on to this show about foodtrucks. Some Travel Channel thingy. Very on topic. In Austin there was a piece about Gourdough’s, and we watched it open-mouthed. They make the biggest, most incredible looking doughnuts you’ve ever seen. There was this one with bacon on it. Once in Austin, and having realised the usual Gourdough’s spot was too far away from downtown to get there, we resigned ourselves to not visiting. But because SXSW was happening, those savvy Manhattanites Squarespace had hired their own foodtruck, with a different local foodtruck providing free food each day, just round the corner from the Convention Center. And, lo, we did see that Gourdough’s were there, and that they were serving up the famous bacon maple doughnuts we’d seen on the plane. And they were free and they were called ‘The Flying Pig’. God bless the internet. On picking up the box, the first surprise is how light it is. The Gourdough’s doughnut looks like something that could destroy you from the inside out, but the batter is deceptively light and fluffy, and delicately fried. The maple butter and crispy bacon give a perfect salty crunch to each bite. If your doughnut experience doesn’t extend beyond Gregg’s and those slightly cold, stale Krispy Kremes that all get made in Essex, then Gourdough’s will be otherworldly in its goodness. Absolutely a must-visit if you love doughnuts. We’ll be going back for the proper truck experience next time. Simon.
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[REVIEW] Bacon Maple Doughnut / Gourdough’s / Austin, TX

We flew Continental to Texas and during the Transatlantic part, when we were at our most bored, Mrs D and I watched one of the random TV shows they had on the seatback video system things. Flying Continental to Texas is great by the way: all the stewardesses look like the Mum or Aunts from the first two Home Alone movies.

Anyway, we’ve seen all the movies so we’ve moved on to this show about foodtrucks. Some Travel Channel thingy. Very on topic. In Austin there was a piece about Gourdough’s, and we watched it open-mouthed. They make the biggest, most incredible looking doughnuts you’ve ever seen. There was this one with bacon on it.

Once in Austin, and having realised the usual Gourdough’s spot was too far away from downtown to get there, we resigned ourselves to not visiting. But because SXSW was happening, those savvy Manhattanites Squarespace had hired their own foodtruck, with a different local foodtruck providing free food each day, just round the corner from the Convention Center.

And, lo, we did see that Gourdough’s were there, and that they were serving up the famous bacon maple doughnuts we’d seen on the plane. And they were free and they were called ‘The Flying Pig’. God bless the internet.

On picking up the box, the first surprise is how light it is. The Gourdough’s doughnut looks like something that could destroy you from the inside out, but the batter is deceptively light and fluffy, and delicately fried. The maple butter and crispy bacon give a perfect salty crunch to each bite.

If your doughnut experience doesn’t extend beyond Gregg’s and those slightly cold, stale Krispy Kremes that all get made in Essex, then Gourdough’s will be otherworldly in its goodness.

Absolutely a must-visit if you love doughnuts. We’ll be going back for the proper truck experience next time.

  • Simon.

Gourdough's on Urbanspoon


★[FOODTRUCK] Fast Fresh Burger Company / London / The Difficult Second Album

So the second thing. A burger van. They’re pretty hot right now. Should be a slam dunk, right?

Small queue is small

It’s not immediately clear that FFBCo is a new venture by the lovely Joel of Daddy Donkey fame.

But it is. It’s his burger van, and it’s about thirty yards away from DD on Leather Lane in Clerkenwell.

We continue to be big fans of the Double D. I still think they sling the most consistent, generously portioned, fastidiously put together burritos in London. They were here long before any of the bricks ‘n mortar chains like Chilango and Tortilla started aggressively commercialising it, and they’ve matured tastefully.

There hasn’t been the same rabid board-room driven expansion (let’s forget the brief foray into Brick Lane) and there’s been a series of upgrades to the DD truck. It’s got bigger, more colourful, the menu has widened a bit (totopos looks like a direct response to Chilango) and it’s still as popular as ever, despite the ever-increasing competition.

And DD is still very, very good. It holds a special place in the hearts of lunch-seeking Holborners everywhere.

So the second at. A burger van. They’re pretty hot right now. Should be a slam dunk, right?

Joel’s already proven that he can do good branding, great customer service and most importantly good consistent food with Daddy Donkey. What could possibly go wrong?

Simple menu

Well let’s start with the name. Fast and Fresh. It’s neither. Logistically it’s very hard to take the production line experience of a burrito truck and transfer it to burgers. Burgers need to be cooked to order. So the burgers aren’t fast, because they’re reheated on a flat-top while the (sesame shop-bought) buns toast a bit. So that means they’re pre-cooked. So they’re far from fresh.

You can always tell a pre-cooked and reheated burger. They retain a sickly grey pallor on the inside, and the reheating makes it dry and overly crisp on the outside. It also changes the flavour of the beef significantly, a bit like letting a cup of coffee go cold and then desperately microwaving it. It’s not the same.

So the burgers are neither fast, nor fresh. The other oddity is how they’re packaged. There is no cheeseburger option without going custom. Since that’s my default choice that’s what I went for. I was mildly horrified when the dude started ladeling lukewarm liquid nacho cheese all over the crispy reheated patty. I love nacho cheese. On nachos. This yellow goo should be part of the DD offering, not being slopped all over burgers.

NACHO CHEESE

Having settled down to sink into my saucy option, the cheese sauce actually did the burger a favour by masking all the flavour of the dry patty with thick, gelatinous, salty, fake cheese. I kinda liked it, but won’t be going back. I can’t support reheating. The glory days of the Meatwagon queue were all about the wait and watching it being cooked from scratch. I don’t think these guys have twigged that yet, and as a lunchtime market offering, this is just a bit too poorly conceived and ‘me too-ist’.

We expect more the daddy of the donkey, and looking at the sparse queue on any given lunchtime compared to the burrito, this could do with going back to the drawing board.

Stick with what you know. Get a burrito.

  • Simon.

[ON TOUR] Kobe Beef + Pulled Pork Sliders / Slammin’ Sliders Truck / Los Angeles, CA

“I guess I expected more from something with ‘Kobe’ in the title…”

Sadly, the story of where I had to go to find this truck is *far* more interesting than the food that came from it: I found myself on USC’s Fraternity Row during some mental party night. Not only did I feel like a weird, peckish paedophile - trying not to look at any of the scantily clad sorority girls walking from frat house to frat house. But simultaneously, I felt like I was in some irreverent college film, so familiar did the surroundings feel to my moviephile self. Odd.

The beef sliders were distinctly unimpressive.

Uncondimented.

After adding some ketchup to them they tasted almost identical to McDonald’s cheeseburgers, just with slightly better meat - not necessarily a bad thing, I like the way they taste, but I guess I expected more from something with ‘Kobe’ in the title.

The pork sliders looked great, but the pork was really dry, with no BBQ sauce to accompany it. The slaw, whilst a colourful spectacle, tasted like crunchy-but-watery mayo and failed to moisten the pork.

In their defence, I did catch the place just as it was about to close, so maybe I didn’t get the freshest peak-time fare, but it turned me off going back there, and left me thinking that a good slider is always hard to find, even in the States.

slamminsliders.com

  • Rob.

Slammin Sliders Gourmet Food Truck on Urbanspoon

And one more from @eatstreet. The off-menu Big Pole from family fave Big Apple Hot Dogs. Monumental.
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And one more from @eatstreet.

The off-menu Big Pole from family fave Big Apple Hot Dogs.

Monumental.

[FOODTRUCK REVIEW] Anna Mae’s II / Eat Street

Finally, I get my hands on Anna Mae’s Pork ‘n Beans.

The pork is as good as you’d expect it to be, and the portions are generous for the price.

What sets them out though is the quality of the homemade BBQ sauce. Thankfully it’s not too sugared and has enough heat to it. And they’re sensible enough to have Frank’s Extra Hot on hand if needs be.

Be sure to check out Rob’s thoughts on the Mac ‘n Cheese, and if you’re anywhere near King’s Cross on a Thursday or Friday lunchtime, then get your ass down to Eat Street.

They’re doing sterling work for street food in London.

[ON TOUR] - Cheesy Mac ‘n Rib Sandwich / Grilled Cheese Truck / Los Angeles “Like Grilled Heaven Excess” Rob.
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[ON TOUR] - Cheesy Mac ‘n Rib Sandwich / Grilled Cheese Truck / Los Angeles

“Like Grilled Heaven Excess”

  • Rob.