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2 years ago

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Surly Mermaid

Surly Mermaid

(1 review)

Surly Mermaid is the follow-on food truck from the folks behind Ad Astra, the Flint Hills…read morerestaurant that got crushed when the New York Times wrote an article about their food and their popularity exploded. I'm not entirely sure where Flint Hills is, but I know it must be north of here because the food truck spends more time in Emporia and Hutchinson. Every once in a while it makes its way down to Wichita, though, and I've been able to visit it a few times. The menu changes, but there's usually a couple of burgers on the menu. Surly Mermaid uses local Creekstone beef, which I like, but between a fairly high internal temperature and being covered by a lot of condiments, the burger ends up being a little too messy for my tastes. The burger is still mostly successful, unlike the pork belly burger I tried on another occasion: the pork belly was sliced thick, turned on its side, and inserted into a sandwich. It wasn't cooked nearly enough to crisp the meat, so taking a bite of this burger and you meat a lot of resistance from the pork and an unsatisfying chew that made it tough to get through. It doesn't look like it's offered very often, so maybe they've moved on. Another stalwart of Surly Mermaid's menu is their fried brussel sprout salad, and it's an absolute home run: tender pieces of brussels sprout, cabbage, broccoli, lentils, carrots, and jalapeno make for a very tasty and healthy side option that beats fries by a mile. From my experiences with Surly Mermaid I would like a little bit more creativity in the menu planning, since a good portion of the menu is always a burger and the things that go along with burgers, but there's usually a couple of things on there to pique my interest. Food trucks are all about exploration and trying new things; there was a lot of goodness here to make another stop to see what's on the menu next time.

The Haystack - burgers - Updated May 2026

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