Vintage Airstreams and school buses rolled into Auditorium Shores on Saturday for the 2011 Gypsy Picnic Trailer Food Festival. Full and satisfied foodies rolled out.

In its second year, Gypsy Picnic improved greatly from its 2010 debut. Festivalgoers were more than happy to see much shorter lines than last year. The longest wait times were just over five minutes at popular food trucks like Kebabalicious and The Jalopy. Overall, the festival was better organized, with more space to meander around over 30 Austin food trailers.

Space was lacking in attendees’ bellies, though. The $3 sample menus offered by most trailers turned out to be full entrées—a great deal, obviously, but a problem for those who wanted to truly sample each trailer but ended up being full after trying one or two.

Another issue was that some of the well-known trailers ran out of food before the day’s end. Curious customers and fans of East Side King who arrived somewhat late in the day were disappointed to see a completely sold-out menu. Clearly, there was money in the banana stand when best-selling Bananarchy closed up shop three hours early.

On such a windy day, most people didn’t mind a little dirt in their food when they tried menu items like the Flying Pig from Gourdough’s, a bacon donut with maple syrup icing or the Banh Mi Dog from Man Bites Dog, a Vietnamese-style hot dog with pork sausage, cucumbers, carrots, jalapeños, cilantro and peanut sauce. Crawfish cornbread from Juju’s Kaboose tasted homemade, the slightly burned ends and warmness giving it that hot, just-out-of-the-oven feel.

Some samplers seemed promising but needed something to give it that extra kick. The bacon-fried rice from Be More Pacific was woefully lacking in bacon and needed just a touch of Sriracha to make up for the bland taste of the rice. While the bread was warm and just the right amount of sweet in the Zubikhouse’s caprese kolache, there was not enough mozzarella to balance out the rest of the ingredients.  

New Belgium and Kona Brewing were just a couple of the brewing companies to present their craft beers at Gypsy Picnic. Unfortunately, little to none local or Texas breweries were featured at the festival, and favorites like Shock Top’s raspberry wheat tapped out in a hurry. Another setback was that samples at the craft beer tent were $2 for 3 ounces, and a full 16-ounce beer was $7—a little pricey considering the selections were those that can easily be found at your local H.E.B.

Hopefully next year, Gypsy Picnic will expand even more in size and work out all of its kinks. Despite the minor blunders, the festival is great fun for those who love to eat.