November 6th, 2010 marked the date of Austin’s first Gypsy Picnic, an event that was billed as an eclectic day of food, music, and fun. Austinites were certainly excited about the event – the Austin-American Statesman estimates that 15,000 people attended the event and at the time of publication, Gypsy Picnic had 8,099 Likes on it’s Facebook page.

However, as is the case with many Austin Festivals, Gypsy Picnic’s first year was not without its challenges.

There certainly were lots of food trailers and music so that part was good, but the lines were ridiculous and reminiscent of me waiting in line for an hour in line for a hot dog at the very first Austin City Limits Music Festival.

The food, when we did get it was very tasty. I really enjoyed the Middle Eastern spiced beef and potato dish at the Flying Carpet (despite the fact that it was a woefully small “sample”) and I will be visiting them in the future.

The crawfish Étouffée at Turf and Surf Po Boys was really nice and well flavored – there might have been a bit too much bread there but they had a nice assortment of slaw, onions, and field greens in there. I would eat there again but I don’t think I’ll go out of my way to seek them out.

I dissapointed myself at the Jalopy though and broke one of my golden rules of eating… namely be wary of eating Asian food at American restaurants. I think my judgement was impaired by the waiting and by them preferences of my non foodie friends.

Jalopy’s Asian inspired Son Hong sandwich was a bit of a bust to me but the Brie w/ apple sandwich was refreshing with nice, complimentary flavors.

• This is kind of what I felt like for waiting over an hour for a sandwich at the Jalopy

In any case, I’m sure the Gypsy Picnic will be better next year… they just need about twice the space that they had at Auditorium Shores, 3 times the number of vendors, and I wouldn’t mind if they cut out the music altogether to cut down on costs.

I heard a rumor that there was a rather high entrance fee for food trucks that wanted to participate so perhaps cutting out the music would significantly reduce that entrance fee, resulting in more participation and and profits for vendors.

Here’s hoping for Happy tasting for you,
Peter