Food Truck Eats #2 - Breakfast Edition August 19

This was really a spur of the moment.  I got an email from Second Harvest to volunteer for the morning Food Truck Eats and I pounced on it.  Now I'm not just here for the food! The Second Harvest team I heard was already there even before 6am!

Finally arriving at the front gates I had to take a picture with as many trucks in a line up as I could.

It was a nice and leisurely morning with the humming trucks revving up my appetite.  The trucks themselves are just as unique as the food they serve.  Here is a sample of the many colorful trucks on display.

Walking around the area I hear that some vendors were giving out free stuff so I had to investigate. The unmistakable aroma of sausages cooking in the air led me first to Olliffe Grill.  These sausage crepes was a great way to start the morning.  My stomach wanted more after the first bite of the sausage with the tangy berry sauce.  It was a nice combination of sweet, salty and sourness.

Smoke's Poutinerie wasn't very far away so I figured I wanted to stop by and them about the promotion they did the day before.  Their truck was right outside the Rogers Centre (a.k.a Skydome) and was offering free poutine with every donation to the Daily Bread Food Bank.  That day had a steady stream of people lining up for contributions and the freebies.  Now they are back for this event and they are still collecting donations for their charity.  At the end of the great conversation they graciously asked me if I wanted to try one but I had to decline since it was still pretty early in the day.  I promised that I would return later and take them up on their offer.

Quite a few vendors had special breakfast menus which was a pleasant surprise.  There was no way I was going to sample everything and then come back tomorrow for the main event. 

By this time I really wanted a drink and wasn't in the mood caffeine so the pineapple juice was just what I wanted.  The pyramid shape reminds me of the freezies that I had in my childhood.  Seeing my curios look, the vendor chided in that this is imported from the Middle East and it is very popular there.  Tasting this I noticed that it didn't have that processed taste and that it was not as sweet as others that I have tried.

Keep in my I still want to save some room to return to the Smoke's Poutine Truck.  When I saw this I had to ask what was this new creation?  This isn't your old fashioned soft service cone.  Why hasn't anyone thought of this before? It has the consistency of a soft serve but has ingredients inside like a gelato or other frozen desserts.

Now I see that Breakfast Television is going from truck to truck interviewing each vendor.  After those interviews they came to our group and we even got some air time.  My thirty seconds of fame on air although I don't think many friends would be awake at that time.  Near the end of the broadcast they started to gather all the vendors together as well as all the food for one final group shot.

After my little expedition to explore the area I return to see that my group got a "Smeggy" compliments of the Caplansky's truck.   This sandwich was a beauty with all the vivid colors from the eggs, tomatoes and marbled cheese as well as the warm toasted english muffin.  Meanwhile I have kept my word and returned for the Chili Poutine.

T&T Asian Night Market

One of my friends that went with me to Japan said we should the famous Asian night markets in Taiwan.  If really want good food cheap then we should make that our next Asian destination.  This is the feeling I believe T&T wanted to try to capture and bring to the masses.  The weather was cooperating for the first day of the event as it sure felt like the descriptions of the weather in Taipei.  That day could have been the hottest day of the summer.  The choice was either to go at that and hope there would be less people or wait for tomorrow to cooldown and have a larger crowd. My decision was already made since I'm so close to the event.  No lake shore breeze was going to tell you otherwise.  Leaving the gym after 9pm, trying to adhere to my policy of no food also after 9pm and the stagnant swelter spelled doom for any appetite I may have had to indulge.

Food was plentiful there and whether or not some of them were Taiwanese I wouldn't have a clue at all.  Much of the vendors present reminded me of the Taste of Asia near Pacific Mall a few weeks back.  A few familiar food stands showed themselves again that night.

This event was better represented by other Asian cuisines such as Filipino, and Vietnamese.

 In terms of uniqueness, this event wins over 'Taste of Asia".  So many of these are very intriguing to my tastebuds.  If bacon couldn't get me salivating then there was no hope for my stomach that night.

T&T themselves occupied a large portion of the grounds almost akin to an island.  Here are some shots to show you their heavy presence.

It was not all about food here. There was a stage with a band, street art, and even a corner with tuner cars and other vehicles.

At the end of the night it was a long wait for the TTC as I melted on the sidewalk.  Chatting up with a stranger also waiting for the bus helped ease the boredom.  As it turns out he is one of the vendor there. We talked about his business and the entrance fees to join the event are high and that some vendors don't even make any profits at all.  That definitely gave me something to think about.

This night was still enjoyable and I would return here for next year.  Can't wait for my pufferfish bacon dog!  (Really I'm kidding. )

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Sorry for the delays!  I will be having a review of a sit down place called Spoon and Fork Etobicoke soon.  Summers are so busy with alot of good events happening all over town.
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Jan 03, 2012
It's the new year and I'm embarrased to see that I still haven't put that up yet.  This will be rectified after I post up my visit to Banh Mi Boys!

Salsa on the St.Clair

I'd have to say this won't be much of a food bog this time.  My main reason was to go and see the great performers and the music there.  Some friends at the gym are great dancers and they had really light a fire in me with dancing when I joined the gym.  It had always been there as a dim flicker of interest before the gym.   Latin / Ballroom and Hip Hop has been two of my favorites.  There are just so many dance / talent reality shows now that it is starting to feel saturated for me.  I still try to catch Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) and America's Best Dance Crew (ABDC) as much as I can on my pvr.  The So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) series I still to keep up but there isn't enough time in the day to do so.  It has always been something I wanted to do after seeing the original "Shall We Dance" from Japan and not the Richard Gere & J Lo remake.

Many vendors and booths were not setup at the starting time when I arrived.  Later on I will be attending a friend's barbeque so I had to save some space for that as well.  There was alot of great food but I couldn't resist The Stockyard's buttermilk fried chicken with hot sauce! It was really moist and had a light crisp batter.  All that was missing now was waffles.  Apparently they serve it in their brunch menu on sundays.  Here is the blog posting on the brunch. Go and visit her great blog too!

 Here are a few more pictures and then I will get to the real reason of this post.

Speaking to some new acquaintances at the gym that there is an even bigger event with even more dancing.  I just can't remember they said it was in Ottawa or Montreal.  They said this one had too much food.  This time I couldn't agree with them more.