Street Food Block Party recap: a night of food trucks, lobster rolls and very enthusiastic eaters

By Caroline Aksich | May 7, 2012

By Caroline Aksich | 05/07/2012

(Image: Caroline Aksich)

In a line that snaked around the Evergreen Brick Works, well over 3,000 street food enthusiasts waited patiently for the first ever mash-up of Food Truck Eats and the Toronto Underground Market: the Street Food Block Party. The keeners at the front of the line counted down, and at five on the nose they raced into the venue trying to hit crowd favourites such as La Carnita, which has been known to draw lines with hour-long waits. By 7 p.m., the venue was stuffed tighter than a tin of sardines, but despite the tangled, weaving lineups, there was nary a disgruntled face to be seen as people danced to live music and enjoyed the Cinco de Mayo–themed goodies (read: tons of tacos) the 20 food vendors and 11 food trucks provided. To make sure the party roared well into the night, there were two menus: an early bird menu from 5 to 8 and a late night menu from 9 to 12. Take a tour of the festivities, in our gallery »

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Cinco de Mayo–themed dessert nachos (dark chocolate sauce, dulce de leche, mezcal-infused whipped cream) from Lauren Mozer’s Elle Cuisine

Nights and Weekends got the crowd grooving

You may know Bluebird from its annual fundraiser, which marries food and art in an effort to support the Toronto Daily Bread Food Bank. Here, they dished up smoked chicken and charred sweet corn grilled cheeses with Mexican-spiced compound butter, homemade mole ketchup (made with 30 ingredients!) and cilantro garnish. This year’s event: June 2

Oxala’s Mexican dog, the El Perro: chorizo sausage, jalapeño, corn jam and cilantro mayo. The Portuguese option, La Perra: piri-piri chicken sausage, roasted pepper and onion salad, lemon parsley mayo and crispy chicken skin. Both $5

Portuguese-Canadian Andrew Assuncao isn’t a professional chef, but he is an ambitious chef at home (and he has worked his fair share of grocery stores). His new Mexican-Portuguese pop-up, Oxala, will be appearing in the Junction later this summer at La Revolución

La Carnita’s deep-fried squid tacos with a spicy-sweet mango habanero sauce. People waited almost an hour to taste one of these morsels

Andrew Richmond of La Carnita usually dishes out well over a thousand tacos at a typical TUM event. He’s excited for the projected June opening of his honest-to-goodness restaurant at 501 College Street

Resident red tape nudger Suresh Doss has become the de facto face of the Toronto food truck scene. Doss is the man behind Food Truck Eats and was one of the Block Party organizers. (Thanks Suresh!)

Rosewood Estates’ Krystina Roman recommended pairing Comida del Pueblo’s grilled cheese with her family winery’s Sussreserve Riesling. Spot on

An Indonesian family affair: Babi and Co. owner Cindy Arman recruited a mighty crew of friends and family to help her out for the event. Here we have the grill masters preparing pork satay, which was served with pickled cucumbers ($5) and grilled Padang-style yellow curry chicken wings ($5)

Some Cairo street eats—kushari and meatballs with hibiscus iced tea—from Sim Sim’s

Fidel Gastro was churning out sloppy $5 Josés: brisket, home-style baked beans and roasted corn aïoli. Pictured here is the El Capitan’s Belly: pork belly and tomato cabbage “slawsa”

A TUM veteran, Liora Ipsum of The Picnic Society, was offering two thirst-quenchers: brown-sugar vanilla lemonade and watermelon limeade

Jane’s Party, one of the bands on the bill, kept the block party vibe going

Esé’s torta ahogada ($3) (literally “drowned sandwich”), made with cochinita pibil and escabeche, with a honey chipotle glaze finished with a torch

Dough by Rachelle was serving three doughnut varieties at $3 per deep-fried ring: triple chocolate with salted corn nuts, chili crullers and the margarita, which was made with lime curd, tequila icing and salt

Sullivan and Bleeker’s owner and cupcake crafter, Elyse Wahle, right. We loved her playful vanilla cupcake accented with a Lucky Charms marshmallow bit

The kalua pig tacos (made with braised pork shoulder in bulgogi sauce) from Big E’s Hawaiian Grind

Big E’s Hawaiian Grind was riding the taco train, with plates of kalua pig tacos (made with braised pork shoulder in bulgogi sauce) and huli huli chicken tacos (made with marinated chicken in a Hawaiian sweet soya and chili sauce). Both tacos were topped with guacamole and caramelized onions and accompanied by a Hawaiian macaroni salad

The Lunch Room’s corn, mint and bourbon crème brûlée, torched to order ($6)

The Lunch Room’s aptly themed Mexican cannoli ($6 for a triplet) were brought south of the border with canella and pepita

Wheelie Sweet’s bite-sized mango paradises

Karen Fleischer-Sheffer served Wheelie Sweet’s allergy-friendly goodies

El Gastrónomo Vagabundo’s pescado picante taco ($4)

El Gastrónomo Vagabundo—headed by Australian chef Adam Hynam-Smith and his Canadian partner, Tamara Jensen—offered treats from across the globe

Hamilton’s Gorilla Cheese served up six different Mexican-inspired sandwiches ($5–$8.50), as well as a spicy tomato soup ($2)

Buster’s fish tacos ($4 each): hand-battered basa, cabbage, salsa verde, pico de gallo and sour cream on a corn tortilla

Buster’s Sea Cove, who had both fish tacos and lobster rolls on offer, nailed the two biggest Street Food Block Party trends

Ken Dubien of Etobicoke’s new craft brewery, Hogtown Brewers, pulls a Hogtown Ale pint

Paese’s pepperoni and smoked mozzarella arancini with salsa verde were tasty enough on their own, but particularly good when paired with some Tromba tequila (on offer a few booths away)

The Paese team, headed by executive chef Christopher Palik (centre), celebrated Cinco de Mayo by serving an Italian-Mexican flavour mash-up

Paese’s Italian and Mexican chopped salad ($3) was a whimsical mix of flavours, with fennel, escarole, red kale, radicchio, carrots, radishes, jicama, coriander, avocados, pumpkin seeds, chayote, calabaza, cucumber, pickled eggs, tomatoes, black beans, chickpeas, queso fresco and crisp julienned tortillas (phew!)

Bestia was serving up two types of fried pizza (margherita and porchetta) as well as medaglia del maiale (pictured here): fried risotto medallions with pork ragoût and buffalo ricotta (all $5)

Bestia—an Italian street food truck in the works—is helmed by Craig Ovenstone (formerly, amazingly, of both Pizzeria Libretto and Queen Margherita Pizza), pictured here with Bestia’s boar mascot, Hugo, who looked dashing with a marguerite behind his ear

Comida del Pueblo’s sinfully good grilled cheese on homemade jalapeño cornbread, topped with guacamole and sour cream

The Rock Lobster team was also dishing up lobster poutine, made with sustainably caught Canadian lobster. Next up for them: a crustacean-centric food truck (we can’t wait)

Rock Lobster Food Co. quickly attracted a long line of patrons for its East Coast lobster mini-rolls ($5 for two)

19 thoughts on “Street Food Block Party recap: a night of food trucks, lobster rolls and very enthusiastic eaters”

bob says:

May 7, 2012 at 2:08 pm

cool
Liz.C. says:

May 7, 2012 at 2:25 pm

How did I miss out on this !?!?!?!?!!!
Sheri says:

May 7, 2012 at 2:32 pm

Suresh Doss for mayor! Here’s a man who can get things done — and things that Toronto WANTS.
ka says:

May 7, 2012 at 2:54 pm

was it advertised???
Toronto Life Staff says:

May 7, 2012 at 3:03 pm

@Liz.C. and ka:

We posted a story when the tickets went on sale, but they did sell out in a few hours:

http://www.torontolife.com/daily/daily-dish/foodie-follies/2012/04/12/street-food-block-party/
June says:

May 7, 2012 at 3:07 pm

Just imagine if we could get this kind of grub from street vendors…………omg!
Lauren says:

May 7, 2012 at 6:29 pm

Wish you’d stopped by the Elle Cuisine booth! We were serving pulled pork nachos and smoked chicken & charred corn grilled cheese with mole ketchup! Maybe next time :) P.S. Great photos!!
Toronto Life Staff says:

May 8, 2012 at 10:43 am

Hey Lauren,

We just added a pic of your nachos to the end of the slideshow!
mj says:

May 8, 2012 at 12:39 pm

i saw the girl with the bangs. she was really rude to the people in line in front of her.complaining someone “butted”, made a huge deal about it to the food truck. what are you in grade 4? i observed that the person had other friends in line and stepped away for a moment. honestly toronto life staffers should be a bit more cautious of how they act in public as its a reflection on the magaine. it was an event with lots of messy line-ups. dont be a cry baby next time. it was embarrasing for you and for Toronto Life.
MH says:

May 8, 2012 at 2:11 pm

I happen to know the author of this article very well and the incident you’re talking about simply did not occur, at least not involving her. If there was some “girl with the bangs” who made a fuss in line, it certainly wasn’t her; she never even waited in line, she was only there to do interviews. Maybe you’re confusing someone “with bangs” wearing a Toronto Life T-shirt with someone who actually works for Toronto Life.
Lauren says:

May 8, 2012 at 3:29 pm

Hi Caroline,

Thanks so much for uploading the photo!

Those were actually our Cinco de Mayo themed Dessert Nachos (with chile infused dark chocolate sauce, homemade dulce de lecce, homemade tortilla chips dusted with cinnamon sugar, Mescal infused whipped cream).

Thanks again!!

Lauren
Stephka says:

May 9, 2012 at 10:50 am

What an event. Seriously wow. The great food trucks ( from far as Ottawa and Buffalo) to the fantastic selection of wine and beer (all local), just wow.
rather peckish says:

May 9, 2012 at 10:04 pm

it was a fun time, i have some photos from the event here, http://ratherpeckish.blogspot.ca/2012/05/street-food-block-party.html

enjoy

rp
KP says:

May 10, 2012 at 9:25 am

When is the next one? Where can I sign up?
Had To Go says:

May 11, 2012 at 10:04 am

Food was great; event fun. However, one drawback was the THREE security guys stationed in front of the men’s washroom to keep women out because one of the security guards found it “personally morally offensive” women would refuse to wait in a 30 minute line-up at the women’s washroom and were instead using the men’s where there was no line-up. The security resources that went into that…
mmm says:

May 17, 2012 at 2:24 am

What on earth is a “sustainably caught” lobster?? Was it handled with greater care before being cooked alive than some regular lobster, or is this just another catchy buzzphrase / disclaimer used so people don’t have to feel bad for eating a living thing?
mmm says:

May 17, 2012 at 2:29 am

I hope that boar head in image 4/41 isn’t real and if it is, hopefully it was “sustainably caught”.
Waiting says:

May 17, 2012 at 1:07 pm

I loved the event, and I have been 2 other times. The insanity of the parking and the line ups were unlike any other time I have gone. Is there a way to fix this? I found it took away from the experience.
T says:

June 5, 2012 at 8:18 am

Should do this again but at an outdoor park or venue, so more ppl can join. I tried buying tickets on the first day it was available and it was sold out. So disappointed.

Comments are closed.

Street Food Block Party recap: a night of food trucks, lobster rolls and very enthusiastic eaters

19 thoughts on “Street Food Block Party recap: a night of food trucks, lobster rolls and very enthusiastic eaters”

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