Street Food for Lunch: Truck Stop

This afternoon, from 11am-2pm, we hosted our inaugural Truck Stop, a smaller offshoot of What the Truck?! at Churchill Square.

At this point, we’ve resigned to the fact that the weather won’t be on our side. We recognize that it could have been much worse – the rain held off until the very end – but after three events in less than ideal weather, we don’t know what we have to do to get some sunshine on our side!

Anyway, set-up this morning was seamless – 102A Avenue in front of City Hall has been closed to vehicular traffic for a few years now, and as we found with What the Truck?! 2, curbside is the best way to go with food trucks. By 11am, all five vendors were ready to go – but would Edmontonians brave the elements for street food?

Ready to go

Of course they would! The crowds didn’t swarm in droves as they did for WTT, but we didn’t expect them to, given the lack of notice and the inherently smaller nature of the event. We had pulled some of the colourful bistro tables from the centre of the Square to create a more inviting space, and were happy to see the slight chill didn’t deter people from al fresco dining.

Lunch time!

Smokehouse BBQ, with its wafting aromas of wood smoke, had a pretty solid line up during the noon hour lunch rush. They tweeted later that it was indeed a good day – they sold more today than they would have over four days in their usual spot in Nisku! So fans of Southern BBQ – if you give them a reason to come back – they will!

The line at Smokehouse

Mack and I had been looking forward to trying Smokehouse BBQ ourselves – and they didn’t disappoint! The three rib mac and cheese was my definite favourite – the meat just slid off the bone! And the creamy mac and cheese was especially comforting in the cold.

The bacon bomb and the three rib mac and cheese

But the beauty of food truck gatherings is the variety – and it was great to see groups of diners arriving together, but ultimately choosing the truck that would best fit their craving, whether it was from Bo Thai, Drift, Fat Franks or Eva Sweet.

Jill enjoys her pork belly sandwich from Drift (and tries not to look cold!)

At noon, a zumba class on the Square definitely enlivened the atmosphere. Mack and I weren’t sure that the dance class would go forward with the numbers that were anticipated, but boy, were we wrong. Upwards of forty people joined the instructor for an up-tempo work out right in Churchill! Unfortunately, this was the last zumba class of the year, but given its success, it sounds like programmers will want to continue it next year.

Zumba on the Square!

Halfway through the event, we noticed some fire pits and heat lamps on the Square. It’s too bad we couldn’t have put them into use today – I’m sure it would have encouraged more people to stick around to have lunch outdoors – if places like Earls and Joey’s can extend their patio season with heat lamps, why couldn’t food trucks?

Chris and Brit are content with al fresco dining

Thanks to everyone who came out to Truck Stop today – you helped us prove that food trucks aren’t just a warm weather phenomenon! Thanks to the City for helping us to make this happen. And a big thanks to the vendors who stuck with us through the rain – we couldn’t have done it without you!

Mack and I don’t have plans for any more food truck extravaganzas this year, but that doesn’t mean food trucks are disappearing from Edmonton streets. Drift, Molly’s Eats and Bo Thai will be out at the Movies on the Square on Friday, and Bo Thai will continue to serve in Churchill Square on weekdays until October 21. For the whereabouts of Eva Sweet, Drift and Smokehouse, be sure to follow them on Twitter!

You can see Mack’s photoset here.

Truck Stop, presented by What the Truck?!

Although food trucks in our city are likely to be associated only with warm weather, there’s no time like the present to change that! What the Truck?! 2 on September 16, 2011 brought out a sizable crowd in spite of the overcast and breezy conditions, and we’ve been told by some vendors that they will continue to operate as long as patrons are game to dine.

So, inspired by the pods of Portland, Mack and I are organizing Truck Stop, presented by What the Truck?!

Date: October 6, 2011
Time: 11am-2pm
Location: 102A Avenue, in front of City Hall

Truck Stop is a gathering of a smaller number of food trucks, with the goal of highlighting the idea that trucks can complement one another. Besides offering diners the beauty of savoury choices, the availability of dessert vendors also mean that a meal can be capped off with a sweet treat as well!

We are aware that a number of trucks already vend on 102A Avenue on a regular basis, and we want to build on their presence. So in addition to Bo Thai, Eva Sweet, Fat Franks and Drift, we are happy to welcome Smokehouse BBQ, a barbecue truck usually found only in Nisku, to the streets of Edmonton. Smokehouse BBQ is the brainchild of the couple behind La Pisana in Leduc, and offers pulled pork, barbecued beef, sausages and their signature “bacon bomb” sandwich. Given the general dearth of good barbecue in Edmonton, it’s great to have a mobile vendor specializing in this!

Smokehouse BBQ (thanks to Tanis for the photo!)

As with the previous events, there is no admission fee, but come hungry! Hope to see you there on Thursday!

You can RSVP to the Facebook event here.

More Food, More Trucks: What the Truck?! 2

In the time since the last What the Truck?! in June, two more trucks joined Edmonton’s mobile food scene, and a third was serving up worldly flavours at farmers’ markets in Sherwood Park and St. Albert. The time was ripe for another food truck extravaganza.

Planning for the second WTT, Mack and I knew we wanted the event to be bigger and better. The addition of Drift, Nomad and Molly’s Eats (bringing the total number of trucks to nine) meant Beaver Hills House Park was no longer an option. So instead of fighting with a similarly challenging space that would require trucks to jump the curb, we approached the City about closing 102 Street, just south of Jasper. It is adjacent to Abbey Lane Park, a lovely, often-overlooked green space downtown.

Road closed

The fee for the street closure was not inexpensive, due in part to the need to re-route several buses. But thanks to Responsible Hospitality Edmonton, the fee was taken care of. Moving forward, it is likely the City won’t pick up such a large tab again; sponsors for future curbside events will be essential.

Mack and I were perhaps too confident that the two of us alone could handle ushering in the trucks as well as setting up the park space that afternoon. Luckily, a last minute tweet for some help was answered by Sandra, Walter and Brittney, who graciously helped us move some tables in anticipation of the crowds.

Sandra, Walter and Brittney to the rescue!

Felicia and Jeff made use of the tables

Though the weather could have been much worse, we couldn’t believe that WTT happened to fall on a Friday that was bookended by two gloriously hot summer days. That said, thankfully, the overcast and windy conditions didn’t seem to deter hearty, hungry patrons at all.

The crowds

It’s difficult to know how many people attended WTT 2, but the number was at least double the first event. We did know, however, that the line-ups were rampant and long – up to an hour at some trucks. We thank everyone for their patience that day, and for demonstrating to us that Edmonton indeed has an appetite for food trucks!

There was lots of photo sharing that day – Jessica takes a picture of her prized Drift sandwiches

It was so gratifying for both of us to see the wide range of people at WTT – particularly the families that brought their children to the event. Given that Abbey Lane Park is typically empty in the evenings, it was fantastic to see children making use of the green space.

Linda made sure Zoe was well fed!

In an effort to try to improve the event, we did our best to incorporate the feedback we received after the first WTT. More recycle receptacles were made available, and we ensured that lines were distributed throughout the space instead of concentrating the crowds in one area. It seemed to work well overall, though I know the fence along the park did restrict a few of the lines.

Drift had one intense line

We know some people were frustrated with the length of the lines, or with some of the trucks running out of food, but we hope this might encourage you to give the truck a try the next time you see them.

We really appreciated that several of the trucks crafted dishes specifically for WTT. It definitely made it easier to market!

Bamir brought the bacon…literally

It was our own fault, but Mack and I actually didn’t end up eating much that day. We really should have made more of an effort to attack the trucks at the beginning! Anyway, I did get to sample one of the dishes I was looking forward to – the Hong Kong-style wonton noodle soup from The Lingnan. The soup did much to warm me up from the chilly breeze.

HK-style wonton noodle soup

Mack and I also couldn’t pass up Eva Sweet’s bacon waffle! Bamir definitely didn’t skimp on the crispy bacon, but call me old fashioned – I have to say I actually prefer the sweet waffle.

Mack and Sharon

Waffles! (photo courtesy of Brittney Le Blanc)

As a whole, we were also able to garner much more media attention this time around. The Journal, AOL and CBC previewed the event while Global, CTV and the Sun covered WTT on the day of. We’re hoping many more people in the city are aware of this phenomenon now!

Mack being interviewed by Global

In addition to raising awareness about food trucks, Mack and I were happy to learn that we also accomplished our second goal of encouraging a vibrant downtown. Two separate business owners reported that they benefited from the spillover of WTT patrons into their establishments: Tres Carnales had one of their best days that Friday; and Credo was packed that evening, contrary to typical Friday nights. It was great to hear concrete examples of the neighbourhood directly benefitting from increased foot traffic – what other things could we do to animate downtown after 5?

Hungry for food!

There is no doubt that What the Truck?! would not have happened without the support of many people. Thanks to our sponsors Responsible Hospitality Edmonton, the Downtown Edmonton Community League, Eat St., Edmonton Economic Development Corporation and Yelp. Thanks to all nine of our vendors, who worked tirelessly that night and continue to work every day to raise the bar of street food in Edmonton. And a special thanks to Thomas Scott and Marc Carnes (aka the Urban Monks DJs) for earning their badges in “extreme dj-ing” by battling the wind tunnel-like conditions to provide us with the perfect beats to dine by!

DJs Thomas and Marc

We don’t yet know when WTT may again rear its tasty head again, but if you’d like to see more of such events, let us know! Thanks to everyone for coming out!

You can read Mack’s post about WTT here, and see his photoset here.

Road Trip: The Quest for YYCFoodTrucks

In the name of “research”, Mack and I packed an overnight bag and headed to Calgary on Friday morning, with the intention of eating from as many YYCFoodTrucks as possible over the course of two days.

Those who have been following the development of the food truck culture down south will know that Mayor Nenshi, recognizing the potential of trucks to bring life to the street, initiated a pilot project that opened up most of Calgary’s public property to vending. In June, Taste the Trucks event showcased just how ready the city was for this shift – a crowd three thousand strong filled Stephen Avenue for a sample of street cuisine. Excitement for food trucks was in the air, and that appetite hasn’t slowed down since – follow the Twitter feeds of any of the half dozen mobile eateries that debuted this year, and you will find them feeding the lunch crowds during the day, bar hoppers in the evening, festival-goers on weekends, and almost everything in between.

Mack and I are learning more about their pilot in order to see what if any changes we might implement in Edmonton’s street food program to facilitate the kind of success they’ve had, but of course, that will take time. It’s not difficult to see, however, that if the City chooses to remain with the status quo, the promise of food trucks – their mobility, self-contained nature and ability to heighten foot traffic – will never be fulfilled.

Blam!Wich

On the drive over, I was glued to Twitter, looking at the feeds of the various food trucks to determine where we’d be having lunch that day (yes, we had a very car-centric trip through Calgary). It was not our lucky day: Alley Burger and JoJo’s BBQ were out of commission for the weekend and Perogy Boyz, Fiasco Gelato and Fries and Dolls were MIA, given they had worked a few hours earlier for a feature on Breakfast Television that morning. Luckily, we found one operational truck: Blam!Wich, which would be parked that afternoon at Central Memorial Park.

Central Memorial Park

A half dozen people were gathered at the truck awaiting their orders. Blam!Wich had four options that day (all $8) written in chalk on the sandwich board. It would have been helpful if the ingredients of each sandwich were elaborated on the board – I’m sure it would have eliminated the verbal repetition from the staff person who was asked the same question by every new customer.

Blam!Wich

It didn’t take long for our order at all – Mack and I had both decided on the baconstorm, with lettuce, tomato, maple-cured bacon, Canadian bacon and a bacon-infused aioli. It was more of a sub than sandwich, and was tasty enough.

Baconstorm (can’t help but think of @ZoomJer, of course)

It’s worth noting that Central Memorial Park itself is a lovely place to have lunch – lots of trees for shade, benches to sit on, and water features and flowers to admire. Even better, for those who didn’t bring their lunch, or for those who prefer a more formal meal, the park was also home to a small restaurant with a lovely patio.

Boxwood restaurant

Los Compadres and Fiasco Gelato

Thankfully, taco truck Los Compadres tweeted on Friday evening that they would be out for lunch on Saturday, which allowed us to plan a little bit. We intended to hit up two farmers’ markets after brunch, then hoped to still have time to make it out for a late lunch.

Parked on private property in Deerfoot Meadows (a complex similar to South Edmonton Common), when we pulled up, we were delighted to find not one, but two food trucks! Fiasco Gelato had joined Los Compadres to provide shoppers with the option of dessert (a welcome one on that sunny day).

Trucks x 2!

We wondered how patrons would cope with the lack of seating, but people made do with what was available – setting up on the curb, or our favourite method: on the flatbed!

Curbside cuisine

Food…truck?

Los Compadres had already sold out of most of its menu items, so we ended up ordering the adobada($7.50), which the staff person said was close to carnitas. In addition to tacos, the truck also served tortas.

Los Compadres

The tacos were delicious. The meat was tender and juicy, and eaten curbside, required some acrobatic moves to prevent spillage – just the way tacos should be!

Adobada tacos

We capped off lunch with a scoop of gelato each ($4.50). It was difficult to choose from the half dozen flavours (among them, maple bacon). My raspberry sorbetto was nice and fruity, and held up surprisingly well in the sun. Mack enjoyed his strawberries and cream, light and not too sweet.

Love the “Tasty Beverages” taps

Gelato

An hour later, Los Compadres tweeted that they were sold out, and on the radio(!), we heard that Fiasco had picked up and parked at Marda Loop, across from the popular Phil & Sebastian café in that neighbourhood. That’s the beauty of food trucks – they can (and should be able to) go where the people are, especially on warm weather days.

Mack’s heart was set on trying Perogy Boyz, the vibrant red truck serving up perogies of all sorts, but they didn’t tweet their location on Saturday until after we’d departed the city limits. But given we weren’t sure we’d even get to one, let alone three trucks, we chalked it up to be a successful YYCFoodTruck road trip all the same. Until next time…

What the Truck?!: The Location

Leading up to the second What the Truck?! taking place on September 16, 2011, we will be posting about some of the stumbling blocks we faced in organizing the first event. Today, I will discuss how the location of What the Truck?! came to be.

The ideal venue for What the Truck?! in our minds was a parking lot. What better way to repurpose those single-use eyesores than to fill them with people, animating an otherwise empty space downtown? After some scouting, we identified two lots that we thought would work, both in terms of location and size.

Option one already had precedence for alternative uses – the Melcor-owned lot on 104 Street, between the Great West Saddlery Building and the Armstrong Block had been used for Al Fresco events. Given Melcor’s enthusiasm for Todd Babiak’s Interventions project involving the beautification of a parkade wall, we thought they might be more than open to our idea. When we met with a Melcor staff person, however, because we weren’t attached to a charity, the answer was no. The lot was leased out to monthly parking pass holders, and in order to justify taking away that paid privilege, they needed a good excuse. We were aghast, if only because we live on the street, and know that the lot sits completely empty most nights (we should mention that for What the Truck?! 2, Melcor has allowed us to use their privately owned park).

Option two, a lot between the Jasper 105 Dental building and building that houses Pub 1905, had a similar feel to the Melcor lot because it was also enclosed on two sides, and was equally accessible. We contacted Precise Park Link who manages the lot, and on our behalf, they asked the owners of the lot (who happened to be the same dental folks) whether or not they would be amenable to What the Truck?! renting out the space for the evening. They said no. The kicker was the fact that the dental office is closed on Friday afternoons anyway – so they really had no good reason to turn us down.

At that point, we decided to consider public, City-owned spaces. Although Churchill Square is the “natural” fit for a food-related event, we wanted to buck the trend. Everything happens in Churchill Square, to the point where it is almost cliché. Besides, we felt Churchill Square was much too big and impersonal for What the Truck?!

We first considered Centennial Square, the tumbleweed-inducing concrete pad behind the Stanley Milner Library. Equipped with a stage and easy access, we remembered the space being used as a part of the Grey Cup festivities back in November. Liaising with the Civic Events office, we found out that because of the parkade underneath, the surface wasn’t structurally sound to support the weight of vehicles. For the Grey Cup tents, we were told, the event planners had to work with engineers to distribute the weight safely. Well, without engineers on our non-existent payroll (and for an event all about trucks), we were out of luck.

Last on our list was Beaver Hills House Park, on 105 Street and Jasper Avenue. It’s in a great location, accessible by public transit and highly visible, both for those passing by on foot and in vehicles. It’s also framed by both residential and commercial towers (which would be a boon for attendance on a Friday evening), and had built-in seating in the form of grassy knolls and park benches. It’s definitely an underutilized space, and with the talk about the need for more green space in the core (with another park development in the works for 105 Street and 102 Avenue) we thought What the Truck?! would be a great way for people to realize one of the fantastic assets that already exists in the core.

In spite of some logistical difficulties we faced loading the trucks into Beaver Hills, it ended up being a great location for the first event. For What the Truck?! 2, we again looked for a location downtown, but this time, wanted to avoid the issues with a raised concrete pad. That meant closing a street for curbside cuisine!

Announcing: What the Truck?! 2

Our biggest regret in organizing the first What the Truck?! back in June was not being able to accommodate more vendors. In the days leading up to the event, we heard about several more trucks, but unfortunately, Beaver Hills House Park was already bursting at the seams. So when we were planning for the next What the Truck?!, we knew we would have to relocate to a larger space. And since trucks are meant to hit the road anyway, why not close a street?

What the Truck?! 2 will be taking place on September 16, 2011, from 4-8pm on 102 Street, just south of Jasper Avenue. The street will be closed to food truck traffic only(!), and we will be parking picnic tables in the adjacent Abbey Lane park. Thomas and Marc, of the Urban Monks DJs, will be back spinning tunes for us that night!

To be colonized with food trucks

We are also happy to announce that all seven vendors from the first What the Truck?! are back, but we are thrilled to welcome three new trucks to the event: Drift, Nomad and Molly’s Eats. Check out the full truck roster here.

In the next few weeks leading up to the event, Mack and I will be posting more about some of the challenges we faced in planning the first What the Truck?!, and more importantly, what we learned about Edmonton’s street vending program. But in the meantime, please RSVP to the event on Facebook – we hope to see you on September 16 for more eats and beats in the heart of the city!

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.

Introducing…What the Truck?!

I love travelling for many reasons – the escape, the exposure, the experiences. But sometimes, what we encounter can become the inspiration for events back home.

While we were in San Francisco in the fall, Mack and I stumbled upon Off the Grid, a happening gathering of food trucks at Fort Mason. It really felt like fate had brought us to that festival – not only was it the very first incarnation of that event, but the sole reason we were even in the neighbourhood was because our bus had unexpectedly terminated at that particular pier.

Food truck haven

The energy at Off the Grid was fantastic – people were so excited about the food! It was such a great alternative to a sit-down meal, being able to sample different cuisines from two dozen trucks while basking in the late evening sun.

The draw of food trucks

Although the food truck culture is inherent in San Francisco, Mack and I started to think – why couldn’t such an event happen in Edmonton? Our city has a burgeoning food truck scene, so a version of Off the Grid wasn’t out of the question.

After several weeks of planning, we’re happy to finally announce the details of What the Truck?! Edmonton’s food truck extravaganza!

What: What the Truck?!
When: Friday, June 24, 2011, 4-8pm
Where: Beaver Hills House Park, 105 Street & Jasper Avenue

We are thrilled that 7 vendors have agreed to support our event, offering a wide range of savoury and sweet options. Carnival Cravings, Eva Sweet, Fat Franks, Filistix, the Fork and Spoon Brigade, Funky Pickle and The Lingnan will be on hand that night.

I should also mention that Urban Monks DJ’s Marc Carnes and Thomas Scott will be spinning for us, helping us set the tone for the evening.

If you’re planning on attending, please RSVP on our Facebook page – it’ll give us an idea of how many people to expect. Our hope is that this can be an ongoing event, but of course, it will depend on how this first occasion goes.

We hope to see you out at What the Truck?!

Gabe Wong deserves special mention for the logo he designed. We think he captured our whimsical sentiment perfectly!

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