Tumble 22 joined the Austin food truck scene earlier this year, and I’ve been meaning to stop by for months now… And I finally went there for a lunch date with my friend Kiera a few weeks ago!
Harold Marmulstein, chef at Salty Sow (one of my favorites restaurants in in ATX for their happy hour) started the Nashville hot chicken truck as a side project. It took basically ZERO time for lines to start forming, and now there’s a regular lunch crowd every day at the food truck’s permanent W. 6th St location.
If you’ve been reading this blog for very long at all, you know that I’m a spicy food wimp… I want to be the type of person who can handle spicy food, but then my tongue is burning and my forehead is sweating and I’m thinking I AM NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME AT ALL.
Then I coat whatever I’m eating in yogurt sauce. Repeat.
Tumble 22 has four levels of heat available on their fried chicken:
- Wimpy
- Hot
- DANG Hot!
- FIRE IN THE HOLE!!
I’m proud to say that I tried the “hot” and “DANG HOT” seasoning, and I was only moderately uncomfortable. 😉 Haha.
the “HOT” was pretty tasty…totally my level of heat. The “DANG hot” was too hot for me!
If you try the “FIRE IN THE HOLE” you might regret it the next day. Rumor has it that the heat on this one come from ghost peppers… That’s all I’m saying about that. 😉
Spiciness aside, how was the chicken?
DELICIOUS.
The chicken meat was juicy and soft to bit into, and the coating was crispy/crunchy and well seasoned with chef Marmulstein’s secret seasoning.
I loved the dipping sauces, too! The Sweet Chili Yogurt was perfect for diluting the spiciness, and the Cilantro Mint Ranch was just a fun flavor to add to the chicken sandwich.
Potato chips are made in-house at Salty Sow in East Austin. Tumble 22 used to make shoestring fries, but customers complained about them being too small. So, potatoes are now served in the form of crunchy chips!
Tumble 22 Hot Chicken
Austin, TX 78701
** Photos by Kiera Jane of France Photographers
Hey girl at least you’re not level wimpy haha. And your photography skills are seriously good to make potato chips looks that amazing. We actually have a work happy hour at Salty Sow tomorrow but sadly I have to miss it! But only bc I’ll be home while we get new floors in the house so I can’t be too sad about it 🙂
Well just noticed the photo cred at the bottom after posting my comment so I guess Kiera’s skills are what I should be complimenting! Btw clicked on her site and that first photo in her slider was literally mesmerizing! :0
Kiera is AMAZING! I wish I had 1/10 of the photography skills that she does!!
Food trucks have definitely become more of a thing in my city in the last few years, but we really don’t have a solid chicken truck. I want wings and fried chicken and ALL THE CHICKEN THINGS! Tacos and burgers are great, but we definitely need a little more variety out here.
Seems like every city is getting more and more of them….I’m sure it’s just a matter of time!!