You're going to see a lot more of Bluebonnet Barbecue around the streets of Melbourne and beyond, because pitmaster Chris Terlikar and his team have finally finished fixing up a vintage 1970s laundry delivery truck into an operating food truck.
You know Bluebonnet Barbecue as the wizards turning out beautifully smoked meats at Loretta's – winner of Time Out 2016 Best New Bar award. Terlikar found the truck, lovingly named Mabel by its previous owners, neglected in an open paddock when he was on the hunt for recycled hardwood for his Fitzroy North bar. It's taken more than six months to bring her back to life from her rusted state.
The food truck is equipped with a mobile smoker that can be attached to the back of the truck so that they can serve Bluebonnet favourites like their Black Angus Brisket and Berkshire pulled pork on soft buns with their delicious potato egg salad and red cabbage 'slaw anywhere in the city.
You can meet Mabel at the Four Pillars Gin Distillery in Healesville this weekend, from Fri Apr 7 for dinner until Sunday lunch. The Bluebonnet pitmasters will be making pulled pork using Four Pillars' homegrown gin pigs – Berkshires that have been fed on gin botanicals for nine months. Can't make it this weekend? Mabel will also pop into Welcome to Thornbury on Wed Apr 19.