- Wait, this is the appetizer?
- Everything's bigger in Texas.
- Being a private chef has me cooking
for clients all over the place
but when I'm working, I'm super busy so
I don't get a chance to see the cities the
way that I want to.
Now, Thrillist is sending me around the country
to meet up with the real ones, who know
their city as well as I know mine.
I'm Ashley Jonique and this is Gatekeepers.
Austin, Texas is known for being weird
but all the locals I talked to say it's lost its edge.
Probably because of all the new money
that's rolled into town.
Thrillist has linked me up three ambitious Gatekeepers
who are working hard to keep their city weird
and show me what Austin is really about.
Shout out to our friends at Acura
for helping us keep it weird.
First, I'm heading off to meet Brett, a local bartender.
He's here with DJ Mel.
He's a legend in Austin.
We're about to go and grab some dinner and meet Deepa.
She's a fellow female chef.
She's gonna tell us all about the Austin food scene.
- How are you doing?
- Good to see you again!
- I'm Ashley.
- Nice to meet you.
- How you doing?
- I'm glad y'all could join me.
Cheers, y'all!
- Ashley, welcome to Austin.
- Thank you!
- Welcome to Austin!
- Salud y'all.
- What is so special about this place?
- This is kind of a mecca for everyone
that line cooks in restaurants
or if you've basically had a long shift,
everybody comes to Justine's.
Are y'all okay with me kinda ordering for the table?
- Absolutely.
- Yeah!
- Do your thing!
- We have to get the pork chop.
The crab salad is a must.
And the octopus salad.
What do you feel about the duck-stuffed quail?
- Hell yes.
Hell yes.
- Hello!
- It's so cute!
- Duck-stuffed quail.
- This looks so good!
You can tell that he seasoned everything separate,
but it was mildly done so when everything was together
it wasn't overwhelming and I like that a lot.
- That crab salad is awesome.
- The crab salad
- It's good.
- It's been on the menu forever.
- That's my favorite, out of everything so far.
- It's amazing, right?
- And this, I love the flavors,
but I think I'm used to a grilled octopus.
- My first restaurant jobs
when I was stogging in Dallas was,
was actually beating octopus tentacles until
- Hold on, hold on.
So, what's the proper way to beat an octopus?
- Hold back your tears and beat the (beep) out of it.
- Alright Mel, you mentioned the record collection here
earlier when we were at the saloon.
What's that all about?
- They have a Technics 1200 behind the bar,
with like a shelve of records.
You kinda can get a feel of what the restaurant's all about
the minute you walk in and you hear what's being played.
- Absolutely.
- There's that warm sound that you get
from listening to vinyl.
I know that sounds kind of corny.
- It's nostalgia.
It's that feel.
- It's gotta be the first thing you notice walking
in to any place,
with that being what you do for a living you know?
- Absolutely.
- And immediately, blessing or a curse but.
- And not only classic music, but the volume.
- You ready for the next stop?
- Absolutely.
- Absolutely, yeah.
- Alright perfect, I got this.
Let's go grab some spirits over at my place,
Whisler's, down the road,
and we'll end the night on a high note.
- Damn bro!
- I know, right?
- I'm telling you, just wait.
- It's the real deal.
- Welcome to the Mezcaleria guys, above Whisler's.
- Wow, so this is a vibe.
- No mixers, no bull (beep) here.
- So, we've got about a 180, 185 different mezcals.
Are you guys familiar with mezcal at all?
- Um I would love for you to explain it.
- Yes, please explain it, I don't know...
- You're the expert.
- Agave distilled spirit.
- Oh, okay.
- You guys like tequila?
- Yes.
- You've already had it.
It's a bit different.
All tequila is mezcal, not the other way around.
So, without further ado.
Biggest thing, probably the most important thing
with mezcal is you wanna take at least two sips always.
First sips gonna be a little bit shocking to the palette.
Second, third sip is gonna be far more enjoyable.
- Salud.
I think I have hair on my chest.
- Alcoholy.
- Alcoholy, that's perfect.
- Mezcal's very much like wine,
in the sense that it's all incredibly different.
Very terroir-driven.
A week, and I could put the same exact agave vile
in front of you, ten of em,
and they're all gonna taste entirely different.
Got stuff up here that tastes like
buttered movie popcorn and bleu cheese.
- I love popcorn.
- You should give that a smell.
Being chefs, y'all probably recognize that smell.
I mean, I smell nothing but bleu cheese.
- I was about to say, definitely cheesy.
- Which is super funky.
That might be one of the weirdest spirits I've ever had.
I don't even like
- You got any wings up here?
- I know, right?
- I don't even like bleu cheese,
and I can get down on that all day.
I wanna cut you guys up a little Sal de Gusano,
some worm salt.
- Worm, worm salt?
- Yes, like actual.
Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like, baby.
- What? I'm gonna start hallucinating or what yo?
- Nah, nah no. It's just a perfect pairing
of citrus and salt, in my opinion.
- I'm down.
- This stuffs like crack to me, I'm tryin'
not to eat all of it during a shift.
- Thank you.
- I'm tired as hell.
Thankfully my ride is here
because I gotta go to bed.
It's so hot out here,
where are these guys?
- You're like the Austin guy.
- Well, good morning.
- Hello!
- So, what is this place?
- We're gonna explore Dee Dee's which is
my favorite trailer
- Okay.
- in the entire world.
So, how much do ya'll know about Thai food?
- Come on, I'm brown.
- This is true.
- I know that it's spicy so, other than that.
- We're talking about Northern Thai food so,
it's gonna be a little bit more like Laotian.
It's gonna be just amazing.
- Let's do it.
- Make it happen.
- Sorry.
- Oh my gosh, I'm so excited.
- Should we open these things up?
- Hell yeah, we bought to bust this down.
- Come on.
Alright so we gotta start with the pad ka pow.
That's got that Thai fried egg.
- So how the hell did they fry this egg?
- They basically crack that egg in the hot oil
and then baste it in the oil.
- What?
- It's really delicious.
I like to mix that rice up completely.
- My eyes are eating right now.
- Can you smell that?
- Yes.
- That's insane right?
- I want it.
That's really good.
- Oh, this is great.
- And it's spicy but it's not overly spicy.
- Mmm hmm. You can actually do lower spice levels but
- No don't tell me, don't, I don't
- You don't really wanna.
Let's move on to the salad.
Now, this is no ordinary salad.
This is the som tom.
What I like about this is green papaya so,
it's a little bit more raw.
- Mm hmm.
- Fresh.
- Green.
- I love this. And I eat salads like everyday of my life.
So, this is like right up my alley.
And it's something that I will recreate
when I get home, definitely.
- I'm ready to see the Ashley version of all this.
- Hell yeah.
- Do it.
- Alright let's do it. Ta da.
- Oh yeah.
- What?
- Charry, porky goodness.
This is moo ping.
- Please.
- Just use your hand.
- Well that was barbaric. You gobbed it.
It kinda tastes barbecue-y,
with no barbecue sauce, which I love.
- It reminds me of my mom's barbecue.
Kind of sweet, you know? No sauce.
- That's the Austin that you're gonna see today.
Barbecue-y with no barbecue sauce.
- This is probably my favorite out of everything.
- Alright, are we ready for dessert?
- Damn all, okay. Can I save this?
- Okay, so what is this called?
- This is gonna to be the mango sticky rice.
- Mango sticky rice.
- So coconut milk, fresh mango
- Mm hmm.
- Showstopper, right?
- Yeah, it's great.
All this stuff is solid and yeah,
I feel pretty stupid for sleeping on this trailer.
- Wake up, Mel.
- Finished, all of that.
- Oh, now I'm about to go into a coma.
- That sounds like
- Is that an ambulance?
- Yeah.
- What's up, you guys?
I just ate at Dee Dee's food truck.
It was so, so, so amazing.
I'm not well-versed in Thai food
so I thought it was going to be overly spicy
but everything was really really good.
Next, we're going to a watering hole.
A swimming hole, or something like that.
I don't know, these people have me doing all kind of stuff.
See y'all at the next location.
- It's the springs baby, Barton Springs.
And one of your biggest attractions here
if you're in from out of town.
Even if you live here.
- Yeah, it's a great place to exercise and relax.
Definitely the crown jewel of Austin, Texas.
This place kind of started as like,
many many many years ago,
this body of water where Tonkawa Indians
would do their purification rituals.
And here we are in 2019 where it's like this, swimming hole.
- So, I'm not trying to get my hair wet,
is there another option?
- Yeah yeah, Barking Springs next door is sweet.
A bunch of dogs, it's free.
It's not as deep.
You don't have to get your hair wet.
- Barking Springs.
Ha ha that's cute.
- Yeah, but before we head over there,
I'm gonna pop in.
I mean, we came all the way down here.
Might as well bring my donut out, right?
- That's a big (beep) donut.
- That's right.
- Yo, Brett.
- Yo
- Can we go over here?
- Oh, hell yeah.
- I'mma fish you out.
Man, that's cold.
Yo, Mel.
Wait, so we just, climb down the rocks I guess.
- Yeah, yeah watch your step.
- Out here in Barkin' Springs is really, really beautiful.
Once I look over this fence and I seen these dogs
just playing and we crossed over,
the scenery was so dope.
It was really like, majestic.
So, if I did come and I had to pick one of them,
I would definitely choose Barkin' Springs with the dogs.
So, I guess I could check this off my bucket list.
- I mean you're well on your way to becoming
an official Austinite
for sure.
- Alright y'all. I hate being the party pooper
but Deepa is like preparing an amazing dinner party for us
so let's go home,
get cleaned up and head over to Deepa's
- Hungry? Let's go.
- Now, I get to see Deepa in her element.
We connected, really really good.
And I've been stalking her Instagram all day.
So I know that she has some great things in store
for us and I'm ready for my going away party in Austin.
- Alright guys, we're about to meet up with Deepa here.
- Welcome!
- Hey!
- To my party!
- Hello, hello.
- This is super cute!
- This is what we call supper club season, come through.
- This is beautiful, like
- This looks incredible, for sure.
- We're excited.
- What's up, man?
- Hi, Gianni, nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, as well.
- I'm with Thrillist. I am, I'm our Austin editor here.
I hear you've been up to some fun stuff.
What have you been doing?
- We went to his bar, Whisler's.
- Mezcaleria to the loft.
- Did you go upstairs?
- Upstairs, yeah a little private mezcal tasting, for sure.
- Not too much?
- It was recovery.
- Bringing some food here.
- Oh damn, what the hell?
- This is brisket.
- This is not like the brisket at Franklin's barbecue.
- No, it is not.
- This is fancy.
- So, we got about 40 pounds of Texas brisket
from Frontier Farms.
- Small amount.
- We get the smoker out there and then we
- I smell it.
- slowly smoke it for about 16 hours or so.
Right on top is a Gremolata of honeycomb, goat bone marrow.
And then it's sliced up for y'all.
- This is special.
You told me you were gonna flex,
but I didn't know you was gonna flex on me this hard.
I'm excited.
- You want to see this party happen.
- Oh man, wait.
- Wow.
- What do we think?
- This right here
- It's awesome.
- Did I do good, y'all?
- Hell yeah.
- You done good.
- This is so good.
- This brisket's really good.
- Yeah, it does not suck.
- It's (mumbles)
- I don't know what to tell you,
it's like melting in my mouth right now.
- Wait, this is the appetizer?
- Everything's bigger in Texas.
- Here we go.
This is our take on potato salad
but it's with ripe plantains.
- Oh.
- Because we're gonna go a little bit Caribbean/Indian.
- Everything.
- Last one on the shelf, goat water.
- Yeah.
- Goat water?
- What?
- So, goat water was actually inspired by Cooper.
- Hey, Cooper.
- He's our winemaker here.
- Like Anderson Cooper but,
- That is his name.
- Oh, goat water is,
I don't know if y'all are familiar with
like, it's kinda like what gumbo is.
You find something, you know, this and that.
You can make it into a stew,
you can pour it over some rice,
you can have it as a soup or anything like that.
- Real talk though, this is some of
the better food I've had in Austin in like, months.
- The food was really good.
- Your brisket like, you could build like a prison
out of it and I will eat my way out of it.
- I don't even give a (beep).
We're in a male-dominated field (beep),
you crushing it.
- That's what I wanted to hear.
- I didn't have to add anything
- Hey!
Before we have dessert,
we're gonna have some of Cooper's house made vermouth,
this is his baby and he's been working super hard on it.
We're the first to taste it.
- Oh really?
- Yeah, absolutely.
- So can I do a toast?
- Absolutely.
- So, coming into Austin,
I didn't really know what to expect,
other than food trucks
cause that's what I hear about all the time.
But I learned so much, and I'm so happy that you guys
were the ones showing me around.
Here is to Austin.
- Cheers.
- I had a great time y'all.
- Thanks for coming.
- Thanks for having us.
- I'll be back.
Deepa's dinner party was the perfect
outro for my Austin trip.
Austin is definitely still weird.
You guys showed me a great time but I'm exhausted,
and thankfully my ride is here.
I have to get ready for my next stop, Miami.
Thank you guys for watching this episode of Gatekeepers.
If you really liked what you saw,
make sure you "like," share, comment and subscribe.
And if you wanna see more,
make sure you check out last episode in Atlanta.
Peace y'all, I gotta go.