Convoy

On a muggy Saturday morning, I headed down to the Distillery District to sample the food at Food Truck Eats, an event organized by Suresh Dosh of Spotlight City. The event was meant to highlight that there is a demand for better "street food" in Toronto and that the terrible bureaucratic approach of the failed A La Carte program is the wrong approach.

There were 5 food trucks Marcuz Burger (which for technical reasons did not sell any food), El Castronomo Vagabundo, Baker Street Bakery, Bonfire Catering (which has a pizza oven in the truck!), and The Cupcake Diner. There were also tables set up for other vendors including Cava, Marben, Gorilla Cheese, Simple Eats Fish and Chips, among others. The official start was supposed to be at 11 am, but some sellers jumped the gun (I'm looking you Cupcake Diner) and started selling early. So at around 10:40, I lined up for my first taste of Food Truck Eats.

From Simple Eats, I got the Wasabi Lobster Slider ($4) and the Cajun Catfish Taco ($4). The slider was tasty, with just a hint of heat from the wasabi. Except for the first bite, I couldn't taste much of the catfish over the sauce. Then I went over to Gorilla Cheese for a grill cheese sandwich. Here was the first indication of the under-preparedness of the vendors. The lines were starting to form and they had trouble getting the food out. Although it only took me about 3 minutes to get my order in, I waited more than 5 minutes to get my Canadian Lumber Jack ($5). In any case, it was much too greasy and large for a quick finger-food. I couldn't taste the maple syrup, but the bacon and apple slices were a nice combination. I think the Gorilla Sarducci would have made a lighter snack.

As I pondered my next move, I picked Cava because it had the shortest line (0 people). I settled on the Yucan Shrimp Tamales wrapped in banana leaves ($5). The corn-based shell was gritty, a bit heavy, and didn't pick up much flavour from the wrap, but the 2 large shrimps inside had great chewiness. I don't remember where I got the choripan ($4), Chorizo in a half bun, but it doesn't matter as the dish was just average. I finished up at 12 pm with a mango/coriander popsicle ($3) from Augie's Gourmet Ice Pop. I would have sampled more food but the average line-up was 20-30 people with Vagabundo having at least 100 people waiting for their Korean chicken wings and pork belly steamed buns.

On the whole, I would be glad to have of these types of food around Toronto streets, but I wouldn't line up for an hour for it (as people who came after 11:30 am found out). The organizers and vendors obviously underestimated the thousands of people who did show up. The trucks and tables were located much too close and awkwardly positioned. For example, some of the trucks faced the tables, thus reducing the available space for people to line-up for either sellers. This lead to lines that meandered, crossing each other, and bunching up.

The sellers themselves committed mistakes that would get them booted off Top Chef. Some had the cashier standing at another table right-angle to the server. This meant that you had to order your food, walk around to the cash to pay for it, and then come back to pick up your food. Why not reverse cashier and server, or trust that people won't run off without paying? Some, like Gorilla Cheese, miscalculated their food preparation time. If you have 30 people in line, and your food takes 5 minutes to make, you've got to think of ways to speed things up. For example, when they had messed up an order here or there (no one was waiting on it), some people in line who had gotten fed up of waiting simply paid for that unclaimed sandwich. That could be one approach; just start making your dishes and trust that someone will want it. Finally, some just made rookie mistakes. El Vagabundo had the longest line but it was quite slow too; it seemed counter-intuitive considering they only had 3 dishes, with the BBQ chicken wings already to go. Go figure. Part of the slowness was due to the fact that you couldn't order until you were at the front, even though there was a server dedicated to taking orders. So while the food was being made, the server simply stood there. With 100+ people in line, you should start walking down it 5-10 people at a time and start taking orders and collecting money. This would not only speed up the cash processing, but a full queue of orders allow the cooks to re-organize and maximize their schedule. A total of 10 tacos: ok! We already have 25 wings, get 'em out! (I don't think the people waiting in line would mind getting the wings and cucumber lemonade first while waiting on the tacos). Pre-orders is standard practice at any take-out place or fast-food outlet in food courts.

I also couldn't help but notice that with all the gourmet beef briskets, home-made kulfis, and boutique tacos, none of the people who had sunk tens of thousands of dollars into those city-mandated food carts were invited to take part. Now that the A La Carte program has been canceled, I'm sure they wouldn't mind making back some small fraction of their losses. And not being there meant that they were also not available to offer up their own thoughts to the media that was covering the event.

The next 2 Food Truck Eats will take place August 20th and October 1st.