We stopped by the inaugural Food Truck Eats and found a revolution in the making
Saturday marked the inaugural staging of Food Truck Eats, a street food event organized by Suresh Doss, publisher of Spotlight Toronto, which saw four street trucks and 10 vendors gather at the historic Distillery District. Although a conservative turnout of 500 was expected, more than 3,000 showed up for the long-weekend event (which ended up trending on Twitter). Despite the heat and long lineups, the crowd was abuzz—a sure indication of the city’s readiness for more liberal street food rules. We caught up with the various vendors—Cava, Geoff Hopgood, El Gastrónomo Vagabundo and more—to check out their wares and find out what they made of the day’s success. We also spoke to Doss, who gave us the heads-up on the next two events, which will take place at the on Aug. 20 at the Distillery and Oct. 1 at a new location to be announced, and will feature some surprise guests.
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The snaking lineups at 11:50 a.m., less than one hour into the event.
El Gastrónomo Vagabundo
Clockwise from top right: Australian chef Adam Hynam-Smith and his Canadian partner Tamara Jensen (both of Peapod Cuisine and owners of El Gastrónomo Vagabundo, a St. Catharines–based truck) with Melissa Burgess Moser and Robbie Moser. Smith and Jensen were surprised by the two-hour lineup that formed at their takeout window. Making everything to order, the team quickly learned that limiting the number of orders per customer was the best way to get their line moving. “I think today’s event was awesome,” Jensen said. “Everyone was still in good spirits—just hot and hungry.” Besides Korean barbecue chicken wings and gluten-free tacos, the most talked-about dish at this gourmet truck was the Buddha belly, a slice of five-spice pork belly served in fresh steamed buns with chili jam, cucumber and coriander.
Handcrafted pies from Baker Street Bakery.
Bonfire Catering
Bonfire Catering’s newborn truck hit the streets a little over a month ago, serving up made-to-order wood oven–baked pizzas. While the 10-inch pies were sold by the half, owner Yvonne Deveaux noted that one of the lessons she learned from this event was to make larger pizzas to divvy up at the next event. Deveaux also enthused that the event drew increased interest in the mobile truck’s catering services for private functions.
Cupcake Diner
Hamilton’s Natalie Ravoi stocked her new Cupcake Diner truck with a wide variety of cupcakes (from classic vanilla to caramel apple pie) and sold all 1,000 within the first hour and a half. Noting that the event was a great opportunity for people with a common interest in food trucks to gather, Ravoi hoped the day would show city decision makers how interested Torontonians are in food trucks and how much character it gave to gourmet food. Although the Cupcake Diner has only been curbside for five weeks, she told us that a second truck is in the works for Toronto—if the city allows it.
Buster Rhino’s Southern BBQ
Summer is synonymous with barbecue, so weren’t shocked to find that one of the first booths to sell out was Whitby’s Buster Rhino’s Southern BBQ. In less than two hours, hungry attendees gobbled up all 516 pulled pork and beef brisket sandwiches. Humbled by the reception, owner Darryl Koster (right; pictured here with Scott MacDonald) dropped the news that their popular southern barbecue will be available in Toronto by the end of the year. Fans who normally drive out to Whitby and might have missed out on the sandwiches at Food Truck Eats should stay tuned for an upcoming location announcement.
The Buster Rhino’s folks put up this sign after they sold out of their wares.
Supicucu
Effervescent chef Rossy Earle of Supicucu was joined by her son at the event. Earle sold beef empanadas, Panamanian tamales with braised and pulled chicken and pork, a fantastic Latin-style chorizo with butter-poached onions and chimichurri on a bun and mini bottles of her salsa del fuego. That last item had many attendees buzzing with delight, prompting us to wonder why we didn’t pick up seconds.
Cava
Cava’s Chef Chris McDonald (centre) was joined by Joel Rousell and Alysa King (of Xococava) to serve the hungry crowd Acapulco-style kingfish ceviche and two types of tamales: mushroom with fresh corn and Yucatan-style shrimp in a banana leaf. For sweets, McDonald offered fresh fried star anise–canela churros paired with vanilla frozen yogurt and Ontario strawberry sauce. One lesson McDonald drew from the event: vendors should probably meet up in advance to share menu ideas, allowing for more variety and less overlap.
Gorilla Cheese
Long lines were everywhere, but there was particularly lengthy wait at Hamilton’s Gorilla Cheese, where the queue snaked from the vendor’s location by Stone House Walk past the event’s main stage and down Trinity Street. Susan Austin noted that the last orders were sold to folks who had been in line for over two hours. “We were so grateful that they would wait that long. Everybody was so positive and so excited and enjoyed the food….That was what was important for us here. The number one question we got was: are you going to be in Toronto? So it just shows that the city of Toronto is dying to have something like us around.”
Although their food truck wasn’t ready in time for the event, Gorilla Cheese owners Graeme Smith and Scott Austin and their team put together more than 600 grilled cheese sandwiches under a tent, sandwiching thick slices of white or multigrain bread with oozy Jensen’s cheese. The Canadian lumberjack (bacon, apple slices, maple syrup and aged cheddar) was the first to go, followed by vegetarian-friendly Gorilla sarducci (balsamic drizzled tomatoes with basil, onion and mozzarella) and sweet Neapolitan (hazelnut spread, strawberries and marshmallow) on grilled raisin bread.
Marben
Marben’s baby-faced executive chef Carl Heinrich and head butcher Ryan Donovan take a quick break with some of the lemonade they sold. On offer that day were 300 of the restaurant’s double-chocolate ice cream sandwiches. The pair got involved with the event because they were good friends with Doss, but also noted that the challenge of making affordable and simple food that can be eaten with your hands is a lot like what they do at the restaurant. “When you’re a cook,” said Donovan, “you want to feed people. You want to meet people and host. So events like this are fantastic because you can get out of your element a little bit—but you might meet a thousand more people.”
Simple Fish and Chips
Although Shawn Hartwell from Stratford’s Simple Fish and Chips brought a thousand portions of his wasabi lobster sliders and Cajun catfish tacos, he sold out around 1:30 p.m. Hartwell tells us that the overwhelming response indicates a demand for this type of creative food. “We wanted to bring a gourmet feeling to the streets, because it’s not about French fries and sausages anymore. I think Suresh [Doss] has done an amazing job. It’s all about letting people know we can do this outside—and in food carts. If this was more accessible for us to do it, I would definitely do a food truck, but right now the bylaws don’t allow us to do it.”
Geoffrey Hopgood
In addition to a refreshing rose-petal rhubarb slushie (doled out by chef Guy Rawlings), chef Geoffrey Hopgood served a playful take on a smoked chicken pot pie, only breaded, deep-fried and bite-sized. The crispy Timbit-sized fritters were topped with a sweet-and-sour gastrique, hot sauce, Japanese kewpie mayonnaise, slivered radishes, green onions and jalapeño. When we asked whether this dish was a preview of things to come, Hopgood’s only answer was a cheeky smile.
Augie’s Gourmet Ice Pops
Recent media darling Augie’s Gourmet Ice Pops offered 10 crowd-pleasing flavours ranging from fresh Ontario strawberries with lemon, basil and balsamic vinegar to mango with vanilla yogurt, coconut milk, lime and coriander. Janet Dimond (pictured here with her husband), owner of the all-natural fruit-based ice pop business, told us her business has taken off exponentially in recent weeks. In fact, she’d like to take it mobile on some level. “It’s easier to transport stuff and be at locations all around town,” she said.
Joshna Maharaj
Toronto chef and foodie-about-town Joshna Maharaj, who has recently taken on the task of revitalizing the food at the Scarborough Hospital, joined the chorus of vendors arguing that the huge turnout shows Toronto is ready for street food and food trucks. She also told us that she’s wanted to bring kulfi—a frozen, condensed, milk-based dessert—to the market here. Along with her brother Ajay Maharaj and Melissa Yu, Maharaj served 300 cups of cardamom kulfi with fresh Ontario strawberry compote.
Besides a host of filled bellies, one of the things most attendees took home was the sense of community that was built by all the vendors present. Some of the gestures of good will included El Gastrónomo Vagabundo’s lending some freezer space for Marben’s ice cream sandwiches and a much-needed kitchen knife to Gorilla Cheese.
Suresh Doss
The response to Food Truck Eats went way beyond the expectations of event organizer Suresh Doss. Next time around, he told us, patrons should expect changes in food truck and vendor layout in order to ensure smoothly flowing lineups. There will be more trucks (including Caplansky’s), which translates to more food—twice and then three times as much for the second and third events, respectively. Doss also promised a few surprises, including guest chefs “you would never expect to come out,” like, for example, “a certain Top Chef Canada contestant in a pimped-out truck” and representatives from city hall (perhaps even Mayor Rob Ford).
August 20 is circled on my calendar.
“the most talked-about dish” at El Gastronomo Vagabundo, (the “Buddha Belly”) is a hopeless knock-off of David Chang’s Momofuku pork buns from New York City…
Actually our buns are different from Chang’s in a few ways: Chang’s recipe is a play on peking duck (hence his use of hoisin); We use a homemade Thai chili jam, not store bought hoisin and sriracha; and we use homemade five spice on our pork belly.
Hope to see you at Food Truck Eats part 2!
I completely agree with ndK…
Tamara, although your comment is a sweet attempt to list why your Buddha Belly is NOT a knock-off, I have to say that you have SO obviously copied David Chang’s idea that it is almost embarassing.
Your dish is great… don’t get me wrong. So tasty and you did a great job.
However, it is a stolen idea and the best move for you is to admit that. No one is going to get upset when you present them with your wonderfully tasty dish, but it is exactly the same idea and that is what the “wrong” being pointed out is. Kind of lame to justify by saying you use a different twist on it. Much better to just admit that you were “inspired” by it.
Good luck, though… just hope David Chang doesn’t come-a-knockin’ to Foof Truck Eats part 2 ;)
Of course we’re inspired by Chang and many other chefs – I didn’t say we weren’t :) I was just trying to explain how our buns are different. Glad you enjoyed them, despite your embarrassment.
We’re not the only food truck that does steamed pork buns, either. Chairman Bao (in SF) has a whole menu centered around them, and Canada’s own Roaming Dragon does their version as well. David Chang is an accomplished and respected chef, but he isn’t the inventor of steamed buns, nor is he the only chef to make them. If he does come to Food Truck Eats part 2, we would be thrilled to serve him our own variation of a pork steamed bun.
Cheers!
Well that’s as absurd as saying the Big Mac is a knock off from the Whopper!
There is no such thing as originality anyway.
Dear elgastro:
I hope you know that your food is excellent, creative, and powerfully appreciated by throngs of supportive (and happily fed!) people. Your Thai-inspired cuisine and your rigorous and enviable work ethic is what has earned you (and will continue to earn you) so many devoted followers. Elgastro, Suresh Doss, and all of the hard-working vendors and organizers who brought Food Truck Eats to Toronto deserve far more encouragement and praise.
It really is shameful that a few boo-birds with misfired and empty accusations accomplish nothing but spreading hurt and offense. Whatever their reason or intention, such comments only display as silly, unproductive, and individualistic nitpicking. If they truly mean well, then they would do well (for others and for themselves) to remember that a lot of people (vendors and foodies) came to and left from the Food Truck Eats event with uplifting positivity.
Elgastro and other vendors: focus on the multitude of comments now spreading that say: ‘The overwhelming response to Food Truck Eats shows how much TO needs to work to reform and regulate these wonderful vendors for which there is screamingly obvious demand’. Time to tune out the boo-birds, and just keep serving them the delicious food they line up for.
Everyone–vendors and foodies alike–should be congratulated who came out and brought passion to the event. A well deserved ‘well-done’!
If only every dish on the planet was truly authentic and never copied.
Some of these comments really show how immature the Toronto palate can be sometimes. I can think of at least 3 restaurants in the city that have a variation of the pork bun on their menu right now. Anyone been to 416 snack bar lately?
Secondly, there are numerous food trucks in the U.S. that serve these pork buns. But clearly the complaints are coming from citizens of a city that have little to no exposure to these trucks.
I suggest you guys venture out a bit and try some of the food thats out there.
I agree with Tamara and Nikki – pork buns weren’t invented by David Chang, though he does make a mean one!
Having been fortunate enough to have sampled both Chang’s and elgastro’s pork buns I can say they are different enough to make any impending lawsuits unnecessary. Personally, I like elgastro’s bun to filling ratio a little better.
Congrats on all your success! You make me want to move to St. Kitt’s!
I’m going to allow David Chang to weigh in on this. Here’s a direct quote (page 79 of the Momofuku cookbook):
“If Momofuku is famous for something it’s these steamed pork buns. Are they good? They are. Are they something that sprang from our collective imagination like Athena out of Zeus’ forehead? Hell no. They’re just our take on a pretty common Asian food formula: steamed bread + tasty meat = good eating”
Let’s shift the focus back to how EGV and friends are fighting the good fight. Awesome work guys!
It’s just a pork bun.
Go to the French Laundry, see how many food items there are “original.”
Have fun.
Every dishes in this world have it’s beginning from somewhere.
By the way ndk and all the knock offs, our great great…etc ancestors have been been eating buns with belly meat since buddha was born.
Who cares as long as the food is good…get a life!
Well ndK aren’t you just a little pill. As a trained chef myself, I can say that we all take inspiration from the great ones within the industry. Whether it’s Chang, Gushue, Keller, Achatz or Adrià – culinary masters are best lauded by having others make versions of their dishes.
Because of Chuck Hughes I know add beets to my mirepoix for braised short ribs and because of Jonathan Gushue I now make lettuce soup (not half as good as his). But I don’t go walking around with a sandwich board around my neck advertising the fact. Real foodies can spot the origin of the idea and the polite ones don’t get all accusatory and mean-spirited on comment boards. Why can’t you just be pleased with the accomplishment of a hard-working individual?
At the end of the day it’s all about access – giving the masses the ability to have something similar in their own backyard, at a price that they can afford. Just in case you didn’t know ndK, not everyone can afford to Porter into NYC in order to eat at Momofuku.
Tamara, I don’t know you, but you’re definitely an inspiration to young chefs and I hope that EGV continues to be a success.
Wow, BB=KO, no need for the over-the-top condescension. It seems really odd to imply that a chef would bite into something somewhat similar to what he makes at his own establishment and… What? Sue? Call the police? The whole statement makes no sense. Especially considering steamed pork buns are made all over.
Just came back from NYC, where they have an event like this called Smorgasburg in Williamsburg, Brooklyn held every Saturday. It really is a great way to sample some of the best of New York’s food offerings. Originally I wanted to try out the famed Red Hook Ball Field vendors, but it was a bit out of the way with the closest subway station being closed. But some of the vendors were on hand at this event, as well as Momofuku Milk Bar. I really hope this sort of thing catches on in Toronto. Best of luck to all the vendors and keep doing what you do!
Wow!! Thanks, ladies and gentleman, for all the responses that I received, by just simply posting a personal comment on this topic.
(Next thing I know, I will be labelled as a “troll”, or attention seeker…)
As far as I concern, we still practise free speech in this country, and if I may remind you, the heading of this section is… “Comments”.
If we can only post our praises or “channel our positive energy” or send our well wishes to whoever mentioned here in this publication, this may as well be renamed as “North Korea Life”, but not “Toronto Life”…
The fact is, I’m not trying to diminish the efforts put in by Doss and everyone else who made this event happen, and I was actually there for a good 4 hours, enjoying everything offered by this wonderful function.
However, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, and I totally acknowledge the hard work that Tamara and Adam devoted in this industry. Right after my initial post, (and the one by “BB=KO”), Tamara did reply that the dish by Chang is indeed part of her inspiration for hers. I do not understand why we cannot just leave it like that.
For the “…as absurd as saying the Big Mac is a knock off from the Whopper” comment, clearly you haven’t visited Chang’s Noodle Bar, Ssam Bar or Ma Peche, because the similarities of his and EGV’s creations are quite obvious.
I believe as someone who is involved in this business, we should have an open mind to listen and accept comments and criticisms, both “positive” and “negative”, and understand that there are always “rooms for improvement” for everything. (Which, in this case, was clearly demonstrated by Tamara’s positive attitude.)
And, Tsk Tsk, thanks for mentioning my name multiple times in your post. Take a breath and calm down, the mood of a chef will certainly affect the outcome of the dish as well. By the way, I can see that you know your stuffs too, so , keep up the good work!
Well, that’s it for now, thanks for reading, and,
Fellow visitors of this site, thank you, and have a great afternoon.
Peace
Seriously? You’ve never altered a recipe? I suppose you give credit to the “inventor” of everything you’ve copied in your kitchen too.
Chang STOLE the idea of pork buns from China! Then he stole the idea of putting meat meat in bread – it’s called a SANDWICH HELLO! He also stole the idea of using other ingredients! INGREDIENT HE DIDN’T EVEN INVENT!
Someone call the Fooderal Bureau of Investigation on this guy!
those that can’t do- bitch
Food is a dialogue between chefs and eaters, back and forth. It changes and everyone adds their ‘take’ to the dialogue by changing the food or talking about it – what they like or dislike.
ndK… I’ve never seen a food enthusiast who is so quick to stifle dialogue as you.
“Fooderal Bureau of Investigation”…Awesome. Be careful the Food Network doesn’t steal that idea from you Chillax. Their first case should involve why anyone would care about an event featuring food trends that are old news (cupcakes, grilled cheese). Toronto’s food scene is like a movie theatre in a small town, showing last year’s big hits.
whats with all the haters! Toronto needs this type of thing, unless you guys luv your hotdogs, burgers, and chips that much!!
ndK:do not think your “freedom of speech” can justify making such remarks without creating a stir. The tone of your remark “hopeless knock-off” implies undue disrespect of people who are incredibly hard-working and passionate about what they do. I sincerely hope you take into consideration the consequences of your words.
I hate how on this site the inflammatory or negative comments made by a few is then translated into “Torontonians suck” – since of COURSE we’re all the same. (last time I checked I was part of an extremely diverse city)
ndK, knock-off and inspired-by mean different things. A knock-off is an exact copy of an item. Inspired-by means you take an idea or an element and put your own twist on it. The ElGastro buns are definitely not a knock-off.
Can we go back to the event itself? I went with a group of people on Saturday and we left in less than half an hour. It looked like a disorganized mess. Where were the trucks? We witnessed people in various line ups for up to an hour waiting to get one small bun or a lemon tea beer. I don’t think some were even sure of what awaited them at the end of the line. Not my idea of fun. Maybe the events in the future will be better organized.
I must say as a chef myself, it is fine for someone to use an idea and make it their own dish… Now – having said that if someone is going to use a dish from an established chef like David Chang and put it on display for 1000’s of people they should make sure the product and final dish is tight (and appeared like the one in question was) also – a little shout out to your inspiration isn’t always a bad idea. If someone were to do a very close interpretation of a dish from a famous chef or restaurant and completely butcher it – it is only themselves they would embarrass. Unless your name is Escoffier there is a good chance each and ever dish you ever cook will in one way or another be a take on someone else’s dish.
Cava’s Kingfish ceviche was the worst ceviche I have ever tasted. it looked and tasted nothing like ceviche which was very dissapointing considering it was made by such a great chef.
TORONTO CHINATOWN HAS LOTS OF PORK BUNS …AND ALL CHINATOWNS IN CANADA HAVE PORK BUNS..ENJOY CANADIAN CHINATOWN PORK BUNS …MMM..GOOD..
Great idea, wrong venue. I don’t know what time these photos were taken but the lineups were absolute mayhem when we arrived at 1:00. Really, Truck Eats and the Jazzfest event on the same day?
Two couples went with us, none of us will be there for part 2.
As my cousin put it – Momofuku charges $12 for gua bao you can get as good or better for $2 in Flushing. To each his own. BTW steam buns with fillings et al are quite common street food in Asia – so kudos to Toronto chefs for bringing new flavours to the masses. Can’t say I can get anything close to this in Ottawa :(
This comment stream is hilarious… all over pork buns! You have to be kidding me! Thanks for the entertaining read though. Glad to hear some people are well travelled and culinarily cultured etc. (you know who you are). Personally I didn’t make it out to this event but will be sure to do it up next time. Until then, guess I’ll have to get me some of these craze inducing pork buns and see whats up!
What ever happened to our world that we cannot just grin from ear to ear with a mouthful of whatever we call deliciousness and celebrate what it is to be alive, to have the money to be eating, and to share our joy . Thank you to all the chefs and the bakers and the butchers and the growers and the farmers and the trucks and the recipe makers and the thinkers and the resto owners and the animals and vegetables who have brought joy to my table and let me share it . Thank you for making food music for my soul and body.
Dramaqueen….so aptly named. It’s just food.
@ dramaqueen
My thoughts exactly.
The trolls from Chowhound have found a new spot to complain!
So many hilarious comments… I’m glad there are food trucks coming to Toronto. I’ve said to my chef friends to open up a food truck for the last 5 years. Did I think it was an original idea? Nope Went to LA and NYC and saw it worked really well. Clearly it can work in Toronto too. Now we need to open up regulation and get those stupid food stalls removed.
Who cares if it was copied? And who do you give credit to if I sold a bowl of steamed rice? The Earth who was the inventor of rice?
As long as it tastes good should it matter? Did Mr.Chang copyright his recipes or try to patent his method of prep?
…just be happy and thankful we have an abundance of food.
Wow….can’t believe the cattiness from the original poster….but I was very impressed with the young lady’s response. Both she and her partner seem like a wonderful, hard-working couple…and their food looks DELICIOUS. Makes me feel like travelling to St. Catherine’s just to try it.