Food Trailer Friday: Odd Duck Farm to Trailer

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What do you get when you mix two of the best food trends: trailer food and locally sourced ingredients? A truly special enterprise with a great name to boot: Odd Duck Farm to Trailer. Odd Duck is the brain child of Bryce Gillmore, a chef with cooking in his blood (he’s the son of Jack Gillmore of Z’Tejas fame who is now at the helm of the new Jack Allen’s Kitchen) training from the California Culinary Academy, and a pedigree that features great restaurants in the Hill Country and in San Francisco. The trailer is focused on highlighting the best of local and seasonal ingredients, and Bryce cooks his fresh finds over a wood burning grill and using sous vide techniques. In short – this isn’t your ordinary food trailer.

The Odd Duck menu changes regularly to reflect the best of what’s in season so every trip will be a new adventure. You’ll also have a chance to sample the wares of local food producers, many of whom also have booths at the farmers markets around town. A visit to Odd Duck isn’t just a tasty treat, it’s a great way to expand you local horizons and support the local food producing community.

The Food Bloggers Descend

Recently I gathered at Odd Duck with fellow Austin food bloggers Marshall Wright of Eat This Lens, Kristy Willis of Austin Farm to Table, Jenny Chen of MisoHungry, Kay Marley-Dilworth of the Austin Restaurant Examiner, and Stephanie McClenny of The Cosmic Cowgirl for a weekday lunch. Little did we know at the time that it would be one of the trailer’s last lunch services – Bryce has ended lunch service to focus on dinner. On that chilly January day the menu featured grilled romaine salad, creamed broccoli, local lamb over polenta, cauliflower soup, duck quesadillas, and a pork loin sandwich. The portions at Odd Duck are relatively small, which I like because I can taste more without filling up. Among the six of us we ordered everything on the menu and enjoyed every bite.

I had the Grilled Romaine with Ricotta and a Poached Farm Egg and the Polenta with Coffee Porter Braised Lamb. Happily my selections allowed me to enjoy the fruits of both the wood grill and the sous vide machine. The ricotta was lightly charred to create a depth of flavor you don’t usually expect from greens. The creamy ricotta and poached duck egg rounded out the flavor profiles and the textures. A simple drizzle of olive oil was the perfect finish.

The polenta with lamb was a lovely rendition of one of my favorite comfort food combinations. Tender pieces of lightly spiced lamb from local producer Loncito Cartwright were nestled on exceptionally creamy polenta. Each bite was like standing in my grandmother’s kitchen on a chilly and rainy day, warming me from the inside-out.

Word on the Street

Odd Duck has had some nice coverage since it opened:

• Mike Sutter of the Statesman calls Odd Duck “Trailer Treasure”. His assessment that “…this isn’t big-appetite food” is fair, but that’s one of the things I like most about Bryce’s food. You can try one or two things and walk away satisfied by not stuffed.
• Foodie is the New Forty put together yet another beautiful post about her experience at Odd Duck. My favorite quote from her post is “…Bryce’s focus on locally-sourced, seasonal ingredients guarantees that everything is fresh and good for your soul, too.” I couldn’t agree more. We seem to be shadowing each other on our trailer visits these days which only goes to prove that we both have excellent taste!
• Annie P from the Keeper Collection team put together a really nice run down of her experience at Odd Duck. She went in the evening on the same day I visited with my food blogger friends and only two items were left (see the Know Before You Go section for how to avoid having this happen to you).
• The Grilled Romain, Ricotta, and Poached Farm Egg salad I had is the first Odd Duck dish to be reviewed on Dishola and it scores a 10.
• The Austin Yelpers have an overall favorable impression of Odd Duck.

Know Before You Go

• You’ll find the trailer at 1219 S. Lamar Blvd. It shares space with two other trailers: Austin Brevita and Gourghdough’s.
• As of January 26 Odd Duck will no longer be open for lunch. They will open daily at 5 to focus on dinner service. Their currently listed hours are Tuesday – Thursday 5pm – 10pm and Saturday & Sunday 5pm – midnight.
• When the trailer is out of a menu item they cross it off and that’s that. Go earlier rather than later if you want to choose from the full menu.
• As with all trailers, Odd Duck may occasionally have odd hours or other happenings. While they aren’t on twitter yet, you can join the rest of us and become a fan on Facebook.
• Odd Duck does take credit cards, but because they are a small business with menu items at low price points, consider taking cash so Bryce can keep all of his hard-earned income instead of paying a percentage to the credit card processors and continue serving up fresh, local dishes.