Beef tips and rice, fried chicken, catfish and collard greens. Surprisingly, that’s not the menu for your grandmother’s famous Sunday dinner. On September 30th Austin, Texas kicked off their first ever Soul Food Truck Festival. With grub from a variety of the city’s best soul food trucks, event goers made their way the Freedom Plaza at the Carver Museum to get their fill of #itis.

This year’s food trucks included Down South Texas BBQ, My Granny’s Kitchen, Krab Kingz, Khandie’s Shaved Ice, The Hashburg and Krack of Dawn Donuts. Each location had their fair share of lengthy lines, but appetites seemed especially enthused by the Rolling Rooster. While their collard green samples were delicious, it was the catfish, shrimp, and fried chicken and waffle plates that made their mark on my belly and many others. Wings were large, seasoned and fried accordingly, while the waffle was the ideal balance of soft, buttery, sweet light crispness. The kind of waffles that leave you wanting more. Being a sucker for fries of all kind, I couldn’t resist their waffle fries. Waffle fries are magical anyway. Add a little seasoning, and serve them with a pile of crispy fried catfish and shrimp and you have a customer in me forever.

But, the most intriguing bite came from Emoji’s Grilled Cheese. Known for serving up unique grilled cheese sandwiches, they kept up the intrigue with their grilled cheese jambalaya sanwich. Savory, crispy and filled with plenty of cheese, shrimp, chicken and sausage, it’s the marriage you never thought was possible, but somehow they work beautifully together. Another tasty surprise came from Soul Popped Gourmet. Specializing in soul food inspired flavors such as chicken and waffles, banana pudding, and sweet potato soufflé.

From 12 PM – till a little after 5 PM, the Soul Food Truck Fest was the epitome of a giant family cookout. Though the lines were extra long, and it was a tad on the hot side outdoors, no one was angry. No one was a stranger. Beautiful people came together to support one another, have fun and surrender to itis. Here’s to the next round. TXmb