Interview with Billy Ross of Taste Buds Express

11. Do you have a set location or do you move around a lot?

Right now, on Tuesdays we're downtown at Main and Forsyth from 11am – 1:30pm. Wednesdays and Thursdays we're at the Jax Federal Credit Union on Park Street. We’ve been fortunate to have come to an agreement with Metro Entertainment Complex. We pull right up to the club’s patio every Friday from 8pm until 1 am and Saturday from 9 pm until 1 am for seated dinner service with full bar access. They have cold beer, fresh fruit margaritas and daiquiris. We call it the Metro Cantina and Patio. We also do charity events and little things here and there. People are hearing about us through word of mouth and asking us to come out for special events and fundraisers. It's been wonderful.

12. What can you recommend to someone who's eating with you for the first time?

For the first timers, I always offer them our original tacos al carbon - then I point out a couple of other choices they may be interested in. People have been very open to our suggestions.



13. What can you recommend that's a little different?

One of our customers suggested I offer poutine. I thought "poutine?!" I'd never heard of poutine.  I found out that it's a French Canadian dish which is basically brown gravy over french fries with cheese curds. It's a very popular dish in Canada so I started looking at different recipes and I thought I'd put a Southwest twist on it. So I braised a brisket with cilantro, tomatoes, peppers and spices then served it over our french fries with chipotle sour cream sauce and cheddar cheese. It's about 4 or 5  pounds of food and it’s been quite popular. In fact, we’ve seen over the last few months that a few brick and mortar restaurants have placed versions of poutine on their own menus.

We also make hand rolled egg rolls on the truck. We started off with this item being something else and it kind of merged into our Southwest Egg Rolls which is a spicy rice mixture with vegetables, rolled and deep fried. We serve it with our famous, top secret Green Sauce. The flavor is really interesting and the heat is not so hot that it kills you but your mouth knows you ate something spicy and yummy!



14. Do you make all the sauces?

Oh yes, we make everything! Our Green Sauce is very popular. We’ve had customers buy it by the pint and quart to cook with or for parties. At some point we’ll bottle it.