What other Austin food trucks do you know that offer discount passwords like “Vivanta Hotel” or “Sydney Opera House”? At first, the architectural references may seem out of character for a purveyor of ice cream sandwiches. But dig a bit deeper into the story of Coolhaus and it should start to make sense.
Founders Natasha and Freya met through a mutual friend at Cornell University. The two fast friends had something in common that not everyone does: a passion for architecture. Natasha was a student of the art who wanted to make architecture “fun and accessible.” Freya had a background in real estate and construction. Both women saw the principles they cared about being devalued, due to the recession.
A company wittily named Farchitecture (Food + Architecture) grew out of their passion. Farchitecture is now the parent company of Coolhaus, a delicious and unique food truck on your doorstep in Austin, TX.
Coolhaus in Austin
There are two Coolhaus trucks in Austin, though one is currently sick at a mechanic’s shop – a constant challenge to food truck owners everywhere. E. 6th St. and Waller is where you’ll normally find a truck, though what you’ll normally find is far from normal.
Service with a smile!
We first visited Coolhaus during their partnership with the Austin Food & Wine Festival in April 2012. We noticed two main things:
- The customer service was super.
- The ice cream flavors were bizarre. In a good way.
Our palettes were treated to one of a kind ice cream flavors, including Amber Tequila Blackberry Mojito and Chocolate Chipotle with Espresso BBQ Sauce Swirl, featuring sauce from Franklin’s BBQ.
Sea Salt Caramel on Red Velvet cookies = delish
For all visitors, a large scoop of gourmet ice cream is served between two thick cookies of your choice. As with all impressive menus, the hardest part is making your selection. The good news is that the scoopers at Coolhaus are always helpful and patient. Ask them for recommendations and I’m sure they’ll guide you in the right direction.
For your convenience, we went to the top to get some recommendations. Austin manager Caitlin Close’s favorite sandwich is Sea Salt Caramel on Snickerdoodle cookies. Coolhaus co-founder Natasha Case’s combinations of choice are Dirty Mint Chip on Double Chocolate Chip cookies, Fried Chicken & Waffles on on Snickerdoodle, and Sea Salt Caramel on Snickerdoodle.
Given these ladies’ level of expertise, I’d say that any of their recommendations are good bets!
How You Can Get Your Coolhaus On
Coolhaus has various hours of operation during the week. Here are their summer hours in Austin:
- Monday: Closed
- Tuesday/Wednesday: 12-10 PM
- Thursday: 12 PM-12 AM
- Friday/Saturday: 12 PM-1 AM
- Sunday: 12-8 PM
Coolhaus is working on getting into Whole Foods in Austin, which would be awesome because you could enjoy their tasty treats from the comfort of your home at any time! Coolhaus offers franchise opportunities and even has a brick and mortar store in Culver City, CA. But there are no plans right now to open a permanent storefront in Austin.
Did we mention that the sandwich wrappers are edible?
One of the beautiful things about food trucks is that they are flexible and available to serve their yumminess on many occasions. For example, Coolhaus loves to cater weddings.
They’ve found that brides and grooms enjoy celebrating over a small cake, and then letting their guests loose on the Coolhaus truck. The gluten free, dairy free and vegan options offered by Coolhaus can be a favorable alternative to cake, when so many guests have special dietary requests and needs.
Left to right: Austinot Brittany, Scooper Collin and Manager Caitlin
Coolhaus can also be commissioned to create custom ice cream flavors. Jessica Goryl in Los Angeles works her special magic to come up with flavors as diverse as Cuban Cigar!
Twitter is a great way to find out Coolhaus’ daily flavors and stay in the loop on discount passwords and last-minute changes. Follow them at @CoolhausATX. You can also find them on Facebook and Tumblr.
@QuasiBrit asks:
If you could have Coolhaus create a custom flavor for you, what would it be?
If I totally let my imagination run totally wild and created the most indulgent, irresponsible flavor ever, I still wouldn’t be able to beat their “Austin Breakfast” – Jameson and Lucky Charms ice cream. Their flavors cycle out but that’s the best one I’ve had so far, followed by candied bacon ice cream on butterscotch+potato chip cookie.
Love it! I want Lucky Charms ice cream! Guess I need to keep my eye on the Twitter feed…they’re really good about posting their daily flavors. And potato chip cookie? I haven’t had that one yet.
Thanks for driving my tastebuds crazy. Need to go find some food. Unfortunately, Coolhaus isn’t open at 9:30 in the morning. 🙂