A few months ago, I spoke to Paul Qui in New York and he told me that East Side King, his Austin food truck empire, was taking that first step into their first real kitchen by taking over the back space of The Hole in the Wall, Austin's famous bar in the University of Texas' West Campus. Once the papers had been signed and the place had been painted, Paul asked me to make a short film about the opening of ESK's first brick and mortar establishment.
Hole in the Wall opened in 1974 and quickly became a hot spot for musical acts like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Emmylou Harris. The fact that it's so close to the UT campus makes it an obvious hang out for students. "Anyone who's gone to UT in the past 40 years has probably got a drink here, because the drinks are really, really cheap." says Paul with a laugh.
The Hole in the Wall location will feature a "greatest hits" menu, pulling the most popular dishes from all of the other food trucks, including the famous pork buns, fried brussel sprouts, beet fries and more. In addition to their greatest hits, Paul and Moto will also be serving their own, non-traditional take on ramen, cooking up Chicken Tortilla Tom Yum ramen, Squid Ink Curry ramen and other flavors that will rotate when ever they come up with something new.
For more of my food films, visit Food Narrative.