Back in Business
I intended to limit my online activities during Rosh Hashana (I’ve tweeted less?), but instead of reflecting, meditating or napping yesterday afternoon & evening I wrote three blog entries to be posted in the next few days and watched three episodes of Dr. Who, season 5 along with some other shows. I’m surprised I didn’t dream about weeping angels.
It’s a whole Food Truck Eats weekend!
Already out for Nuit Blanche? Then come down to the Distillery District and fuel up with some fantastic street grub. 8pm onwards.
The trucks are a movin’ from The Distillery District to just north of Liberty Village.
Couldn’t make it to the Mississauga or the Distillery Food Truck Eats Events, haven’t had your fill of amazing Street Food or just need to recover from Nuit Blanche? We have the solution, The Food Truck Eats Hangover Brunch.
Featuring a range of gourmet food trucks and wine pairings.
Confirmed Trucks:
Vendors:
Food Truck Eats has you covered this weekend. I hope that trucks do a switch in staff or take turns napping on Saturday/Sunday. That’s going to be a loooong couple of days.
Eat well.
The success of the inaugural event wildly surpassed expectation and lines began to form before the event began. See my blog posts about July’s event:
Thought not required, RSVPing on Facebook will give the organizers and idea of how many people to expect (though in my experience, Facebook is actually a bad gauge for event attendance).
Get there early, divide and conquer. Bring cash.
Eat well, be well.
You’ve read about the Food Truck Eats event here. It happened on Saturday, on a busy weekend that included Canada Day and the Pride Parade, at a venue that was hosting a Jazz festival.
The forecast “risk of thunderstorms” did not deter crowds. The weather was beautiful and by 10am the space was filling with people.
I worked at the Buster Rhino’s BBQ station, sharing a tent with SupiCucu next to the stage where the live music was. I managed to yoink one of their chorizo sausages (hold the bun) and part of a broken empanada. I wish I’d taken the whole thing.
Our first customers arrived around 15 minutes before Food Truck Eats officially opened at 11. By 1:30 we were sold out, serving 516 sandwiches. We were so busy. Around 10:50 I started a tweet about how we were doing brisk business even though we hadn’t officially opened yet. I attempted to finish it numerous times but kept getting customers and people to greet.
Lineups were long for every food station. I figure that with ours, locals were so excited that Buster Rhinos was coming to them rather than them having to go to Buster Rhinos in a city 45 minutes away. One of my friends who lives in Whitby and has unlimited access to Buster Rhino’s gave up his spot in line to someone who’d never had it before. My friends are nice people. At the time I thought it odd that people were buying 5 or more at the time, then I learned that people had taken the “divide and conquer” approach that I’ve taken at food events before: Get a group together, each person stands in a different line to get food for the group.
Organizer Suresh Doss anticipated 500 people to turn out to the event. Instead, estimated attendance was closer to 3500. The potential effect of this event: Policy change. More food trucks in Toronto. Read Jennifer Bain’s article “Red tape stalls gourmet food trucks” from last September for more information about Toronto’s food truck revolution.
(I’m glad that I had breakfast at Wychwood Barns farmer’s market, a galette made with serviceberries from an on-site tree and sour cherries from a tree one block away. An iced Americano from Balzac’s got me going too.)
I managed to eat a little food from outside our tent. After handling money for an hour my blood sugar had plunged and my brain was having trouble calculating change. I got myself a lobster slider from Simple Eats. After we sold out I got a strawberry ice pop from Augie’s, made with fresh Ontario strawberries, lemon juice and zest, basil, lemon thyme, balsamic vinegar and local honey. I will be seeking Augie’s out again. I also tried the kulfi that Joshna Maharaj was serving, topped with strawberries (and was caught on camera by BlogTO). Kulfi is an Indian dish similar to ice cream. So delicious, so rich, hard to finish. I almost tried the chicken croquettes from Hopgood but didn’t want an entire serving. Their presentation was beautiful.
Some more of my tweets from the day:
Just before noon, Suresh tweeted the following pic with the caption “This is #FoodTruckEats at 11:50. I think toronto likes food trucks”:
(…To see captions, click on the slide show, which will take you to Flickr, then click on individual photos. You can also click on “slideshow” there and choose “show info” to show the slideshow with captions.)
Also see Sid Friedman’s photos on Flickr.
Other articles about the event:
More links will be added as I become aware of them via Twitter and Google. Tweet me at @cdnfoodiegirl, tweet with the hashtag #FoodTruckEats or post a comment below if you’ve posted a wrap up. Best yet, do all three.
Want to see healthier street food options made available on public property in Toronto? Sign this petition.
The second Food Truck Eats event is on August 20, with the third in October. Buster Rhino’s won’t be at the next one (he can’t make it) but I hear that Caplansky’s will along with even more food trucks and providers. El Gastronomo Vagabundo, Bonfire Catering, The Cupcake Diner and Gorilla Cheese are all confirmed to return. RSVP at the Facebook page if you’d like, though it’s not required.
Eat well, be well.
(Originally posted June 27, updated, June 29.)
(Poster designed by Catherine Mangosing)
Celebrate the diversity and quality of food available from gourmet food trucks and other food providors in and around Toronto! Food Truck Eats will showcase food truck food in the Distillery District (back parking lot). Vendors without trucks will be set up in tents.
Participants from outside the city include Niagara’s El Gastronomo Vagabundo, Hamilton’s The Cupcake Diner and Gorilla Cheese, Newmarket’s Bonfire Catering, Stratford’s Ocean Wise certified Simple Fish and Chips, Prince Edward County’s Buddha Dog, Whitby’s Buster Rhino’s Southern BBQ (whom I’ll be helping), and chef Rossy Earle of SupiCucu.
Vendors from Toronto: Augie’s Gourmet Ice Pops, Brick Street Bakery, Cava, Marben, Tiffinday (with a dosa stand), Joshna Maharaj, Geoff Hopgood (formerly of the Black Hoof), Steamwhistle Brewery.
Two more Food Truck Eats events will happen different locations in September and October respectively.
Updates can be found on #FoodTruckEats on Twitter.
All menu selections are $5 or less. Come hungry!
Read more about it:
Toronto Life
Post City
Toronto Star (Note to Suresh: LOVE the photo.)
The Grid
Good Food Revolution interviews organizer Suresh Doss (June 30, 2011)
