Egg Roll Nostalgia
Today, out of nowhere at all, I suddenly got this unbelievable urge for egg rolls. Not just any egg rolls, mind you. But, the vegetarian egg rolls and sauce that used to be sold by a vendor on the Drag in Austin. There was a cart set up in front of the Co-Op (before it moved down the Drag, or it might have been something else), right next to the pedestrian crossing to the Texas Union, and every time I was down there in the late ’80s and very early ’90s, we would grab two egg rolls for lunch. They were huge, flaky, greasy, and delicious. I have never had their equal. Unfortunately, the stands (were there two?) were gone by the time I started at UT in ’93. So, that means I probably haven’t had one–or even thought about them–in somewhere between 16 and 18 years.
Why the sudden urge? Who knows? But, damn, those were good egg rolls.
helmet of mambrino 
20 March 08 at 11:09 am
Sometimes I miss the taco cart that was set up near Littlefield Fountain in the mornings. Those were some awesome breakfast tacos. I had no idea what the meat was in them, though, and I had some dark suspicions. But then I realized that I really didn’t care.
21 March 08 at 8:43 am
Ah, yes, the roach coach. Their breakfast tacos were pretty good, too. I lived on them for a while. Then I started spending my mornings in Einstein’s Bagels, which cost a bit more, but they had tables.
15 December 10 at 12:29 pm
The owners of one chain of roach coaches were all arrested and shut down in 2000 or so for dealing in stolen property. They were a Vietnamese family and operated maybe a handful of stands along the perimeter of the campus. I remember one near RLM, one on the Drag at West Mall entrance, and one near Dobie. They had been there since at least the early 1980’s, if not earlier. I think I remember talking to old timers who said they saw them there as Freshmen in 1981.