Rollin Smoke
It’s officially my 3rd day in Austin and so far, I’ve been to 2 Texas BBQ places and to 2 different Asian places, so I guess it’s now time for some tacos. Smoking Barbecue is a form of art here in Texas that everyone takes very seriously and at Rollin Smoke it’s an art form.
Located on 1501 E 6th Street in Central East Austin district this taco spot is a crowd favorite. Open 5 days a week from Wednesday to Sunday from 11 am to 9 pm or until supplies last which in most cases is between 6 to 7 pm daily. As I arrived in the food truck parking lot I could already smell the meat getting smoked and I knew that I was ready for some tacos.
As I was taking photos of the food truck, I saw Harvey the pit master working on the smoker, so I came by to talk to him. He was super cool in letting me in the smoker and allowing me to take some photos of the smoked meats inside the chamber but most importantly I was able to get a whiff of the wonderful aroma inside the smoker. There were some pork ribs slowly cooking and getting ready for dinner service and some chicken quarters as well for the combo special. My interest today was solely in tacos and Harvey said that he had a full menu for me to try this morning and that was music to my ears as I hadn’t had any breakfast yet.
The first taco I tried was the beef brisket taco which I thought would come chopped up but no it was a full slice of brisket on the homemade tortilla. This was so good and prepped me up for my second taco which was the smoked carnitas in a hard taco shell and served with a bone broth consommé a la Birria.
This is the 3rd ever Birria styled taco I’ve ever had (previous encounters were mentioned in past essays as well) but this by far was the best. The broth had the right amount of spiciness and the carnitas was nicely smoked. The third taco was the silky pulled pork taco which was my favorite so far among the 3 and compared to the 2 other pulled pork’s I’ve tried the day prior. Their pulled pork was not shredded but more diced so in turn carried more flavor and was not too dry.
Lastly was the spicy beef sausage taco which was very flavorful, and the barbecue sauce was perfect with it. After consuming all 4 I was so full and ready to take a nap from the warm heat as well but let’s not forget about the sides. The smoked mac and cheese was probably my favorite companion for the tacos though the spicy coleslaw was quite tasty in itself. What stole the show was the bread pudding, a Texas classic as well and this was my first for this trip and man was it good
Thank you Rollin Smoke and Harvey for an amazing lunch and for our next #KULINARYATRAVELS we are off to an Asian/Texan styled BBQ with LORO EATS…