Rolling hunger: Belgian fries, bigger-than-life barbecue and other downtown trailer treasures

If you're visiting from Los Angeles or New York for South by Southwest, street food is just another day on the dirty boulevard for you. But for so many others - including the native population - the movable feast of walk-up food is an urban expedition with the flavors of Belgium, India, Turkey, Korea and the American provinces. Here are seven meals on wheels you're likely to walk past (or that might be worth tracking down) while you chase day parties and reunion rumors.

- Mike Sutter

Bar-B-Que Heaven

Seventh and Red River streets. 945-8970. SXSW hours: 8 a.m. to 4 a.m. daily.

Glenn and Darrell Sims are unofficial downtown greeters, jovial men, two brothers who remind you of somebody famous, but you can't quite think who. An R&B star from the '50s? Charles Dutton in 'Rudy'? They're also serious men of barbecue, smoking ribs, brisket, sausage and pork chops in the shed just behind their wood-sided blue trailer, the one with cords of oak stacked to one side. Order a pork chop sandwich for $4 and get ready for smoky meat as big as a Motown single, bone and all, the bun almost too embarrassed to hold it together. Walk-around food? No, unless you're wearing a hoodie made of butcher paper. For the less-committed in your crew, there's chopped beef in sweet barbecue sauce ($3). Plates with potato salad and beans run $6 to $9.50. If a three-chord show at Emo's awakens your primal side, show it with a $5 turkey leg.

The brothers opened their trailer about a year ago, picking up a fast lesson in the economics of SXSW. "In three days, we made (enough to buy a couple thousand turkey legs)," Darrell Simms said. This year, they'll add early-morning breakfast tacos and lunchtime hours, delegating parking spots and holding court on their corner at the Red River gateway to Stubb's, the Red Eyed Fly and Club de Ville. Everybody gets some love. "It's my birthday," a down-at-the heels old gent announced on a Thursday night. A few minutes later, he had a big arm around his shoulder and a sandwich in his hand. "It's his birthday every day," Glenn Simms said.

- M.S.

The Best Wurst

Two locations. Sixth Street at San Jacinto Boulevard and at Sixth and Red River streets. www.thebestwurst.com . SXSW hours: Daily from 11:30 a.m. to 3 a.m. (or whenever when they run out of sausage).

The aroma of grilling onions, sizzling and golden, is the first thing that hits you as you approach the trailer. The brats, Italian and jalapeno sausages are lined up, ready to be cooked. The bratwurst bun was a hefty chunk of bread, substantial and not soggy. Curry ketchup added a special kick. The $4 price tag is fair considering how big it is.

- Emily Macrander

Chi'Lantro

Locations vary. One afternoon at Second Street and Congress Avenue, another day down by the University of Texas. Late nights at Fifth and Colorado Streets over by Antone's. Who knows? Maybe the trailer's outside the club you're in right now. Check daily at twitter.com/ChilantroBBQ .

This is an idea that sounds good on paper: Mexican food with a Korean streak, a kimchee-and-cilantro mix-tape. In reality, it comes off more like everyday tacos and wraps with a little sesame and ginger. In a town awash in real-life al pastor palaces, Chi'Lantro hardly makes a wave. This is not to overlook the good parts: the window service is friendly, the food is made fresh on a grill right there in the trailer, a high-fructose rainbow of drinks radiates from a bin of crushed ice in front, and the price is right for a quick fill-up. A $2 chicken taco with Korean chili soy vinaigrette and crisp greens made the best impression, more creative than its starchy $5 burrito-wrap cousins with rice and a choice of beef, pork or chicken. I thoroughly enjoyed a burger made with tender sliced beef and cheese topped with spicy red sauce, served as a $6 special with crisp, hot fries dusted with spice. A $5 quesadilla with beef and a thick layer of cheese was missing the caramelized kimchee mentioned on the menu, which encourages you to "Spice it up!" by adding the fermented cabbage to anything Chi'Lantro sells. Speak up. It might make the difference between middle-Mex and real Seoul food.