Samuel C.
Yelp
What is the most important aspect of a food truck?
Location, location, location.
Actually, it is the food, the food, the food.
Never mind if the truck is next to a sixteen lane highway.
But in Cenizo's case, it is location, location, location.
The coffee is first rate though.
They do an excellent espresso that is both bitter and muddy ... two of my favorite flavors in espresso.
Too many coffee trucks are wannabe Starbucks counting on dumping enough milk and stupid flavorings into your cup that you won't notice that the actual coffee is insipid.
Cenizo's coffee in contrast is the real deal.
* * *
That said, let's get back to location, location, location which is the headline story here.
Cenizo is in Easton Park.
Easton Park is Austin's newest answer to Levitown - a vast soulless high density suburb.
Houses are packed together with maybe six feet of yard separating each residence.
The developers want to get the maximum real estate sale dollar out of every square millimeter of acreage in the complex.
So the houses for sale extend to infinity - north, east, south and west. The only thing that varies is whether the houses are one story or two stories and how pointy the roofs are. There are hills so you get some texture.
The complex has running trails, playgrounds and the prerequisite elementary school.
There is no retail.
Never mind no coffee.
No grocery store. No restaurant. No Walmart. No nothing.
If you need anything, you will be going next door to your neighbor to ask to borrow a cup of sugar or a hammer.
You sure as hell can't go to the store to buy it.
Fortunately, the neighbors house is only sixty inches from yours ... so it won't take you very long to get there.
* * *
Then Cenizo appears as an island of paradise in this desert.
A somewhat artistic homeowner with a plot of land right next to Easton Park refused to sell out when Easton Park management tried to buy her out.
Her land was full of trees and natural beauty.
She decided to create an oasis in Easton Park and set up a very artistically designed food court.
Never mind thinking of this as a food court.
Think of it as a garden.
Right now, the garden has Cenizo, a barbecue truck and a Mexican truck.
I have no doubt more trucks will follow.
There is a treehouse that both kids and adults can climb into.
It has a spiral staircase leading up.
There are crazy antiques and random sculptures.
There are circles of comfy chairs set up to promote conversation.
There is a play-yard with outdoor toys for the kids.
There is a performance space with the word LOVE serving as a backdrop.
There are multiple eating areas for people who want shade or sun respectively.
Levitown II has not built up the land immediately around the garden.
So all you see is trees, fields and nature, with the houses being off in the distance someplace.
Apparently the landowner intends to add new features to this garden of pleasures. What the new treats will be remains to be seen.
The landowner turned down a massive cash payment so that she could keep her land and create this wonderful outdoor art and coffee heaven.
Every resident of Easton Park and the neighboring areas owes this woman massive thanks.
She is an artistic hero.
Add to this you can drink really good coffee here and enjoy the wonders of the outdoors with a croissant of choice?
Life doesn't get better than this.
Keep Austin Weird.
Even if your house is a shoebox surrounded by 8499 other shoeboxes exactly like your own.