The boom of food trucks in Austin has witnessed some successful mobile eateries move into permanent locations. This month, Austin saw two significant developments—Saigon Le Vendeur is launching a traditional restaurant in East Austin, while Kevin Truong and Rosie Mina-Truong, owners of popular food truck Fil N' Viet, returned with a pop-up concept called East Meets Wings.
The Vietnamese food truck Saigon Le Vendeur has turned into a restaurant at 2601 East Seventh Street, Unit 101 in Austin's Holly neighborhood from Monday, November 20, as per Eater Austin Report. The food truck was closed upon the restaurant's opening, to make way for the new venture. The menu retains most traditional Vietnamese dishes but adds new seasonal specialties and new offerings like curry ramen and ube tiramisu.
Trish Nguyen of Saigon Le Vendeur told Eater that opening the new restaurant accomplished a long-held dream of running a traditional establishment near the original trailer, commenting, "it's been a challenging two years for this project," as stated in Eater Austin. Owner and chef, Tebi Nguyen, originally launched Saigon, then expanded with another restaurant, Le Bleu, in North Shoal Creek in April 2018.
Creators of Filipino-Vietnamese food truck Fil N’ Viet are also opening a new venture, East Meets Wings, at Austin's restaurant incubator called Playground ATX, located in the North Loop neighborhood, as per the Inquirer report. The pop-up will feature chicken wings infused with pan-Asian flavors, extending the flavor line-up of Fil N’ Viet. Besides wings, the menu will include a fried chicken sandwich, boneless chicken thighs, vegetarian crispy rice cakes, and desserts.
Playground ATX, frequented by East Meets Wings, regularly hosts a changeable line-up of restaurants. The endeavor also encourages community involvement through food and drink events, pop-ups, chef dinners, and fundraisers.
