Everybody Loves Sandwiches: Drift Mobile Eatery

This guest post was written by Mack, an Edmonton-based geek who fancies himself a part-time foodie. You can find him online at his blog, and on Twitter.

There is a distinct lack of good, interesting eateries between Sharon’s office and my office, so it takes something pretty special for us to get together for lunch. Like today’s launch of Drift Mobile Eatery, for instance! This morning we saw the tweet we had long been waiting for, and decided to walk over to 108 Street just south of Jasper Avenue to check it out. First a quick disclosure – we know Kara and Nevin, the duo behind Drift, and they volunteered for us at What The Truck?! last month. It’s safe to say that we have been looking forward to their truck for quite some time now, and as huge fans of the local food truck scene, we hope they succeed.

We arrived right around noon and saw a good lineup of people eager to try the sandwiches. The truck, built by Pizza Trucks of Canada, looks great with its teal green color scheme and big bold lettering. I love that they use 100% biodegradable packaging and had a recycle box next to the garbage can. Their menu was displayed on a chalk board complete with three little plants, as if to reinforce the green aspect of the truck!

They had two lineups going, one for orders (cash only) and one for pickups. We waited a few minutes while previous orders were fulfilled and then placed our order. I chose the Back Bacon sandwich, which features brie cheese, roasted apple & cucumber, and of course delicious bacon. Sharon went with the Duck Confit, which features port soaked cranberries and cabbage. All their sandwiches come on ciabatta buns and cost $7.50. We also ordered the spiced drift style fries with house tomato sauce ($3.00).

It took about ten minutes to get our order which, all things considered, is pretty good for the first day. They’ll try to cut that down by at least half as they streamline things. A couple of napkins inside the bag would have been good too.

So, how did it taste?

I am a big fan of sandwiches, and I was definitely pleased with mine. The bacon (from Irvings) was delicious as expected, and I like the choice of ciabatta. But really, how can you go wrong with bacon and cheese? Sharon loved that they are served warm, and as she and Jerry said while we were waiting, where else can you get duck from a truck? She thought there was a nice range of textures, and commented that the sweetness of the cranberries balanced it well. The sandwich choices (there are currently 9) all seem pretty healthy, so I was a little surprised to see fries on the menu. They were good, but I must admit I was not a fan of the fennel seed. The house tomato sauce was delicious, however.

Back Bacon

Duck Confit

Drift’s location downtown is a good one in terms of access to customers, but it would be nice if they were located next a seating area (not their fault…they’ve discovered the “joy” of working with the City). Just walk by Beaver Hills House Park at lunch time – if there are seats available, people will come out of the office towers to use them. It’s ridiculous that only one vendor at a time can be at a location like that park. That’s where we went to enjoy our sandwiches.

Congrats to Kara and Nevin on bringing another unique food truck to Edmonton! If you’re looking for something new to try for lunch, go check out Drift Mobile Eatery! You can follow them on Twitter and Facebook for updates. You can see a few more pictures here.