Soursop Asian Trailer

Despite the fact that my friend Jennie blogged about Soursop's soft opening back in early November, word seems to be trickling out slowly about this outstanding trailer serving Asian fusion goodness (only four reviews on Yelp at the time of this post). I promise you that it is not because Soursop is in any way lacking in the quality department - everything I tried there last week was unique and exceptionally delicious.

I got to try them recently thanks to a little gathering of friends we attended at St. Elmo's Brewing. We were hungry, so we wandered over to Soursop (which is nestled on St. Elmo's patio) and ordered a few things to try. Word to the wise: if you're there on a busy night, it might take a reallllllllllllllllllly long time to get your food. I didn't look at the clock when we ordered, but I am quite sure it took over an hour before our meals came out. Others who ordered much earlier and much later than we did got their food quite a bit more quickly, though, so we must have just hit it at a particularly busy time.

It was worth the wait, though. I ordered the panang curry ($10) with a side of jasmine rice ($3). The curry was vegetarian - loaded with eggplant bathing in an impossibly creamy panang curry sauce and garnished with Thai basil and peanuts. The curry was so luscious that it almost felt like eating dessert, only it was appropriately savory with just enough kick to remind you that no, this was most decidedly not dessert.

I also stole a bite (or two) of my husband's fried chicken sandwich ($8.50), which eschewed banality by incorporating green curry, fermented green tomato, and burnt scallion aioli.

Our meals were plentiful even despite our hunger level by the time we arrived, so our order of fries ($8) was sort of superfluous. They got eaten anyway, though (oops)! I thought these were nicely seasoned, but a teeny bit less crispy than I prefer. Again, however, they kicked up the interesting factor by serving these with a side of banana ketchup.

My favorite carb of the evening had to be the roti, though. This flaky fried bread reminded me of really good scallion pancakes from a texture perspective. They serve this with curry dipping sauce, but it's flavorful enough to be eaten plain, too.

No need to go thirsty - St. Elmo's has you covered with a nice selection of beer. I washed down my food with a wonderful hefe-barley called Dampf that paired beautifully with the Asian flavors at Soursop.

Given the relative dearth of interesting Asian food down in south Austin, Soursop has every reason to take off. Add in the fact that you can enjoy a great brew with your meal, and it's worth going out of your way for a visit.

Soursop Austin

440 E. St. Elmo Rd, Bldg G-2 (patio of St. Elmo's Brewing)

Austin, TX 78745

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Bad Seed Chili Granola

One reason I write this blog is that when I get excited about something, I want to tell everyyyyybody about it. I become a broken record, enthusiastically extolling the virtues of such-and-such product or such-and-such restaurant and repeatedly suggesting it to everyone within earshot.

So, just in case you're not planning to be within earshot of me in the next couple of weeks, here's my latest mantra: you have to buy yourself some Chili Granola.

Full disclosure: my friend Penny is involved with this company. She brought me a jar of it to sample. It sat on my kitchen counter for a couple of weeks, because I wasn't quite sure what to do with it - then finally yesterday I opened it up and plopped a generous dollop of it on top of a bowl of Bulgarian yogurt. And my mind. was. blown.

Imagine the most flavorful Asian chili oil you've ever tasted (and trust me, I've tasted a lot of Asian chili oil) mixed up with some yummy, crunchy, slightly-sweet-and-spicy bits - that's the best I can come to describing it. I loved it on yogurt. For lunch the day I opened the jar, I fixed myself a bowl of rice with broccoli and a fried egg on top and added a spoonful of Chili Granola - DIVINE. I texted Penny excitedly, and she told me that it's amazing in fried rice, on popcorn, and on breakfast tacos. The folks over at Mouth added it to brussels sprouts. I truly think the question should be, how shouldn't I use it? It's really that good. Like, "where has this been my whole life?" good.

Apparently, they make this stuff all by hand, so you can't mosey on over to your local grocery store and get it (unless you live in Brooklyn, in which case, no fair!). It's also available at Mouth, Farm to People, and Uncommon Goods. Hot tip: Farm to People offers free shipping over $100; just 8 bottles will get you there. Get your friends together and go in on a joint order...or, if you're like me, just buy 8 bottles and tell your spouse you're going to give them away and then end up secretly hoarding them because you really do not want to run out.

For real, though, try it. If you don't love it, I'll buy it from you and add it to my stash.

More info and pretty pictures on the Bad Seed Chili Granola website.

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