AwesTRUCK 2014 Preview VIP Hour

If there is one food trend I love, it is food trucks! I often find that the most creative and unique dishes do not come out of the standard brick and mortar restaurant but from tiny kitchens on top of four moving wheels. For any food truck enthusiasts like me you are in luck as one of the largest food truck festivals is returning to Ontario: The 3rd Annual Food Truck Awards, AwesTRUCK 2014! This year it is being held at Celebration Square in Mississauga on September 5th and 6th, 2014.

For people who don’t know what AwesTruck is all about, it is a premier food event in the city where 30 Food Trucks will continue on the tradition of recognizing the best and brightest of local curbside cuisine. This year for the first time Spotlight City Events will be collaborating with this food truck festival that will not only bring some of the best street food this city has ever seen, but it will also bring the annual food truck awards ceremony at 6PM on September 6th. Seven awards will be handed out this year in the following categories:

• Best Menu Item
• Best Graphics
• Best New Truck
• Best Concept
• Best Pop-up
• Road Warrior
• People’s Choice

Last Saturday I was invited to take part in the AwesTRUCK 2014 Preview VIP Hour where selected media were able to get a sneak-peak into this food truck rally a full week before the actual event would take place in Mississauga. With the help from Matt Dean Pettit (of Rock Lobster and Boots & Bourbon) and Samuel Adams Brewery, they hosted a preview of this event at the parking lot of 495 Wellington Street West in Toronto that featured many of the contenders for this year’s awards along with past winners as well. This preview was great for the people who live in Toronto but would not be able to make it all the way down to Mississauga for the event since in the previous years this event was held at Fort York. I was able to get a private taste from three of the food trucks before the preview opened up to the general public along with downing some award winning beer at the very same time.

During the event I had the pleasure of meeting Matt Dean Pettit who would be hosting this preview. Matt is the owner and chef of one of the busiest restaurants in Toronto, Rock Lobster Food Co and also recently opened up a country themed restaurant filled with great music, line dancing, and even bull riding (yes, there’s actually a mechanical bull in this restaurant!) called Boots & Bourbon Saloon. He can also add author now to his credentials as his very first cookbook will be coming out this October called The Great Lobster Cookbook. The cookbook will include his favourite lobster recipes from lobster rolls, lobster eggs benny, lobster poutine, and even vanilla bean lobster ice cream. Although the cookbook will be sold in stores nationwide next month, you can already pre-order a copy today here. 

We started off with some craft beer samples from one of the sponsors and hosts Samuel Adams Brewery where we got to taste their Boston Lager and Latitude 48. The Boston Lager was awarded the Best Beer at the Great American Beer Festival, and has gone on to win more awards than any other brewery in the world. They were kind enough to always fill up our glasses as soon as they were empty while we walked around merrily eating and drinking away. We all certainly felt like VIP with a #Saminhand!

The first food truck we visited was Caribbean Provisions On Da Go Inc and they prepared for us the Jerk Chicken Wrap. Their secret sauce added a great flavour and heat to the wrap and the inclusion of plantain added a unique texture and crunch to it that makes it stand out from just your ordinary wrap. We were all transported to Jamaica just for a little bit while we indulged in some delicious jerk chicken.

Jerk Chicken, Rice, Beans, Plantains

Moving on to the second food truck, a “Corn Star” was waiting for us from Cornehcopia who prepared first their Mexican Elote Corn on the Cob. I have never experienced eating corn on the cob this way before so it was such a treat to try with all these flavours from the cojita cheese and zesty mayo exploding in my mouth. This certainly seemed like a fan favourite from all the media who attended.

Grilled Corn, Mexican Mayonnaise, Freshly Grated Cojita Cheese, Butter, Chilli, Lime

One of the downfalls that many people think of when eating corn on the cob is just how messy it is to eat it. Cornehcopia has literally solved this problem by creating a bowl form of their corn on the cob so the exact same dish pictured above where you would have to eat with your hands is now accessible cleanly with a spoon. Move over froyo, corn in a bowl with all the fixings could just be the next big thing!

Grilled Grated Corn in a Bowl, Mexican Mayonnaise, Freshly Grated Cojita Cheese, Butter, Chilli, Lime

Canadian Maple Corn in a Bowl, Maple Syrup, Dijon Mustard, Maple Butter

The third and last food truck we tried before the VIP hour was over was Curbalicious, a new food truck that started just a year ago. One of my favourite comfort foods (mac n’ cheese) were being served up here called the Cheezy Jalapeno Bites in the most unique and delicious way in bite size pieces of deep fried heaven!

Jalapeno Mac N’ Cheese Squares Breaded, then Deep Fried

They also did their own spin on nachos, but instead of using tortilla chips they used naan bread instead creating an Indian flare which was cleverly named as “Nanchos.”

Naan Bread topped with Butter Chicken, Cheese, Mango Lime Sauce, Crema, Cilantro

If you are free on these two days, I highly recommend you drop by Mississauga’s Celebration Square to indulge in what will be the biggest food truck festival this province or even country has ever seen. In the past years people who wanted to attend this festival had to pay an entrance fee but for the first time admission is absolutely free for everyone! When the festival first started 2 years ago, VIP tickets were $60 but as a thank you for the outpouring support from the hungry crowds who have attended this event, AwesTRUCK 2014 will allow you to enjoy all the food these vendors have to offer without letting you worry about what’s left in your wallet. Please remember that this is a cash only event with the exception of the food trucks using the Tab Payments app. This is one food event you do not want to miss!

Some more pictures below from the VIP Hour. Photo Credit to Mauricio Jose Calero courtesy of Samuel Adams.

AwesTRUCK 2014 Event Details

Date:  September 5th – 6th, 2014

Time:  5PM – 11PM, September 5th

6PM – 11PM, September 6th (Awards Ceremony)

Location:  Celebration Square, Mississauga

Ticket Price:  FREE

Special Thanks

Spotlight City Events

Samuel Adams Brewery

Matt Dean Pettit of Rock Lobster and Boots & Bourbon

Aimee Cook of Branding and Buzzing

Caribbean Provisions On Da Go Inc. Food Truck

Cornehcopia Food Truck

Curbalicious Food Truck

¡A HUEVO! POP UP BRUNCH

About a month ago I was invited by Alexander Stanojevic who is currently a 4th year student at Ryerson University in the Hospitality and Tourism Management program to his pop up brunch he was hosting at the Atlantic. This was the second event of its kind as he held the first one back in March. After spending the morning down at The Taste of the Danforth, I headed on over to check out some of his tacos and cocktails he was serving up this time. It’s great to see more local events like this popping up in our city, especially from just a guy following his passion for food, bartending, and event planning. I’m sure this won’t be the last we see from him!

“As Greedy As A Pig” Taco - Ancho braised pulled pork, grilled pineapples, fresh cheese, chicharones, salsa verde, arbol chile crema

Cocktail - Watermelon grapefruit lemonade, lime juice, tromba tequila, lemon ficks, topped off with tecate (Mexican lager)

Special Thanks:

Alexander Stanojevic

TASTE OF TORONTO 2014

The “World’s Greatest Restaurant Festival” finally arrived in our beautiful city of Toronto where a foodie wonderland was created for 4 days inside the historic walls of Fort York that ran from July 24th to July 27th. What started out as a small show 10 years ago in London, England, Taste has rapidly expanded to become the premier restaurant festival worldwide covering now 21 cities around the world including Amsterdam, Sydney, Dubai, Helsinki, Mumbai, Cape Town, Stockholm, and many more. Toronto is a world class city in the food industry, filled with the top chefs and restaurants alike scattered across this bustling metropolis so it is no surprise that Taste chose Toronto to make its North American debut.

Taste of Toronto operates much like a restaurant with both lunch and dinner services so it is literally a gourmet feast for the entire day. 26 of Toronto’s greatest and hottest restaurants served up their signature dishes that are currently on their actual menus in a tapa sized form to the hungry masses. Not only were there Toronto’s best and trendiest restaurants here serving scrumptious food, but there were also over 50 artisan stalls showcasing their products that provided a bountiful food and beverage market as well.

Tickets can be bought online in advance or directly on site the day of ranging from anywhere between $15 to $120 per day depending on the package you select. I was fortunate enough that Taste of Toronto put me on their media list and offered me two free press passes that gave me and a friend unlimited access to the festival for the entire four days. An opportunity that I just could not pass up!

Much like the previous event I went to last month at the Royal Ontario Museum, Taste of Toronto also has its very own currency called “Crowns.” This festival takes it to a whole new level though as their currency is in a credit card form that can be easily topped up when funds are running low at the various Crown Banks around the venue. 1 Crown is equivalent to 1 CAD. No restaurant, food or beverage vendor will accept cash or your real credit card. The only acceptable form of payment is through this piece of plastic pictured above. This allows the festival to run as smoothly as it does since customers do not have to rummage through their own bills and coins to pay or enter in a PIN code through a merchant terminal holding up the line. A simple tap on a machine will do the trick anywhere you go.

When I arrived I sort of had a game plan in my mind on some of the restaurants and dishes I had to try. The menu for this festival is uploaded online weeks before it even opens so it’s a good suggestion to plan ahead on where you want to eat so you know exactly which line up to tackle. Most of the restaurants will have a line up and the longest one it seemed here were the restaurants owned by Chef Mark McEwan. With that being said, the longest I waited in line was only about 10 minutes so I definitely applaud all of the restaurants and organizers for being so well prepared and organized considering the amount of people they had to feed. Everything ran like clock work and they even bestow on you a cardboard hand held table to eat on! Mobile dining at its finest.

The first restaurant I went to was Patria which is an authentic Spanish tapas eatery on King Street. What caught everyone’s eye in this booth was the sheer size of their giant wok cooking their Seafood Paella which is a Spanish rice dish mixed in with a plethora of seafood goodness. It was marketing genius on their part as this giant wok generated a lot of buzz for their stall since most of the other restaurants were cooking their food behind the scenes. 

Seafood Paella - Bacalao Mussels, Shrimp, Bay Scallops, Fish, Peas, and Crispy Serrano. Cost - 10 Crowns

What some of you know as my favourite restaurant in Toronto, Richmond Station was the next stop. Co-owned my Top Chef Canada’s winner Chef Carl Heinrich, one of the best burgers this city has to offer was being served up right here. If anyone is on the prowl for an amazing burger to eat in town, the Station Burger is it and I definitely recommend it.

Station Burger - Milk Bun, OKA Sliced Cheese, Beet Chutney. Cost - 10 Crowns

One of the most popular dishes here that also caused the biggest line up was the very famous Lobster Poutine served up at Chef Mark McEwan’s ByMark restaurant. Not only are there real pieces of lobster mixed in the poutine, but it’s also served on a lobster tail itself. It doesn’t get more gourmet than this for one of Canada’s most loved dish.

Lobster Poutine - Braised in Butter with Crisp Frites, Classic Bearnaise. Cost - 10 Crowns

As I said earlier, there were a few restaurants I knew I wanted to try from the get-go and Ja Bistro was one of them. It’s owned by the same owner’s as Guu Izakaya (who also owns the very popular Kinton Ramen), and if anyone remembered my review on Guu, you would know that I really loved every aspect of it. I was hoping that my enjoyment with Guu would translate over to here and it most certainly did. They even kept up with all the shouting and party atmosphere every time someone placed an order. Not to mention they were serving up sushi that were going to be blow torched, a Ja Bistro trade mark.

Oshizushi - Blow Torched and Pressed Sushi with Shrimp, Mackerel, Salmon. Cost - 10 Crowns

My final stop of the evening was at The Harbord Room and THR &Co which were the other restaurants I knew I had to try as I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about them as well. They are two different restaurants that are literally side by side in Toronto and owned by the same man Cory Vitiello. The two restaurants were showcasing 3 joint dishes at the festival and I had the opportunity to try 2 of them.

Griddled Crab & Prawn Roll -  Spicy Pickled Cucumber, Avocado, Crispy Bacon, Old Bay Chips. Cost 10 Crowns

Pistachio and Olive Oil Cake - Preserved Ontario Strawberries, Strawberry Ice Cream, Crumbled Meringue. Cost - 8 Crowns

The great thing about this food festival is that it goes beyond just eating. It also incorporates several learning opportunities for the Everyday Foodies to take part in. If you are lucky enough and one of the first people to sign up, you can take part in the Metro Masterclass where the owner’s and chefs of these various restaurants will hold an interactive workshop for free. They will teach the lucky group on how to create a dish from start to finish, while learning the latest cooking methods and skills using induction technology from these masterclass chefs. All the ingredients are supplied by the grocery chain Metro (hence the name) and the classes run for 30 minutes. Unfortunately by the time I arrived all the classes were fully booked.

If you are unable to make it to one of the Metro Masterclasses (most of you will fall into this category), you can always enjoy the Electrolux Taste Theatre where live cooking demonstrations from Toronto’s best chefs are also held. No sign up is needed for this and each live cooking demonstration held on stage also lasts for 30 minutes. I was able to catch the last session of the night where the co-owner of Richmond Station (Ryan Donovan) did a lesson and live demonstration on charcuterie which is the branch of cooking devoted to preparing and preserving meat products.

Overall I thought the Taste of Toronto was a smashing success in terms of the food and events it put forth. It certainly showcased the foods of Toronto in a very positive light and I believe it just enforces even more that Toronto should be seen as a foodie mecca on the international stage. Considering this was the very first time this festival has graced itself here, I am sure when the Taste of Toronto is back the following year it will be even bigger and better with more restaurants and activities to partake in. Hope to see you all there in 2015!

Chef Mark McEwan

Special Thanks

Taste of Toronto

Rock - It - Promotions, Inc

FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE AT THE ROM

In my previous years on Friday the 13th, I’ve had the worst possible luck. One year I got into my first car accident and in another while driving to work on the 401 my car did a complete 360 on the highway from the snow and black ice (luckily I hit nothing and nothing hit me). Lets just say you do not want to be in my car on Friday the 13th. Three brave souls however last night took a risk and accompanied me to my media event at Friday Night Live at the ROM or in hashtag lingo #FNLROM!

A few weeks ago, John T. Stevenson (the Founder of Electric City Events) found me on my Instagram page and invited me to come down on one of the Friday nights this summer at the ROM. For anyone who has ever been to Friday Night Live already, you have then already taken part in of the premier events that Electric City has planned and organized. For two months in May and June, the Royal Ontario Museum opens up its doors after hours to this weekly event where drinks, food, dancing, live performances, and interactive exhibits are to be had. You also get late night access to the museum and exhibits itself and are free to roam around literally anywhere you would like on each and every floor. It is definitely a more sophisticated crowd and ambiance than your typical “club-like” atmosphere and as there is alcohol served here you do need to be 19 years or older to get in.

You’re able to get the early bird online tickets off of the ROM website or you can line up when the doors open at 7PM to get the tickets. I would recommend to arrive early as space is limited and you will need to bring photo ID at the door to prove your age.

When I arrived after work at around 8:45PM, I was told by JT to enter through the main doors on Bloor and ask for the Media Check - In. Fortunately enough I was able to bypass the line and the security guard escorted me and my three friends on my guest list to the Media/VIP check - in to grab our tickets that were free of charge!

The atmosphere is literally electric when you walk in and the museum really comes alive with the live music, dancing, and food in just around every corner. The big focal point of the giant dinosaur skeleton near the entrance puts it all in perspective that this is not just your ordinary event and that yes, you really are partying it up inside a full scale museum. Every Friday night is focused on a theme and on Friday the 13th, the theme was Indigenous Now celebrating contemporary Indigenous Arts in partnership with the Association For Native Development In The Performing And Visual Arts (ANDPVA). But of course as The Everyday Foodie, a lot of my focus were turned to the many, many food stations that were served up by a variety of food vendors there.

The event is so unique that it has its own currency, ROM Bucks! The Canadian dollar is not accepted here when you want to buy a beer or some food. You will have to exchange your Canadian dollar at one of the ROM Buck stands where 1 ROM Buck is equivalent to 6 dollars. Most vendors will charge you 1 ROM Buck for their food or drink, however some may charge 2 ROM Bucks depending on what you get with them. These ROM Bucks are non-refundable so make sure you use them all or you will have to just come back again!

After me and my friends got our ROM Bucks we went straight for the food considering it was around 9PM and we still did not have dinner yet. My first stop was The Saucy Pierogi. The vendor suggested I try their FNL Special - Roasted Chicken with Chicken Gravy and Pickle. I loved the chicken gravy over the pierogies as the sauce was definitely a stand out in the dish. People don’t normally have gravy with their pierogies but after eating it you will soon realize how well they actually go together. Though the filling was chicken so gravy did make complete sense in this case.

The next vendor I went off to was Kanto by Tita Fl!ps that specializes in Filipino cuisine. This became my favourite food vendor of the night as it offered me the best dish that I tried there (and also one of the most filling). The Sisig Fries definitely won me over and was great comfort food. Offal meat (pig’s ears and snout… ok to be honest I didn’t even realize I ate pig’s ears and snout last night until I researched it just now to write this, but it tasted damn good!), has been boiled, grilled and chopped into fine pieces, and then topped with Lechon Kawali (pork belly) on a bed of crispy fries. Delicious!

Below is the Lumpia Shanghai. Ground meat and vegetables are rolled into tiny spring rolls with sweet chilli sauce. Great finger food to be eating at this kind of event when you don’t want to be eating something too messy.

We went up to the second floor and saw a huge line up for Roti so we thought it should be something we should try if everyone seems to like it. The vendor was Randy’s Roti Food Truck and the dish that I got was their Chicken Roti. The line up to get our food in all the other vendors I went to was about 3 minutes or less. We waited in line for over 30 minutes here and it was by far the worst tasting dish here we had. The roti was too soggy and they wrapped too many layers of roti with the amount of filling they had inside. There was a little spice to it but overall it was also quite tasteless and just the overall presentation of it was not appealing. It is also extremely hard to eat this in this kind of atmosphere where you most likely will be standing so for anyone thinking of getting this one, I strongly suggest to save your ROM buck and use it somewhere else.

Even at an event like this you can’t end the night off with no dessert. My final station I went to was Sweet Sammies Ice Cream Sandwich Company. By the time we got here it was almost 11PM so most of the food vendors and exhibits were closing down. There were three options available here but two of them were all sold out so we got what was remaining which was The Classic (two rich fudge brownie cookies aka. “crownies” with vanilla bean ice cream). It was the perfect, savoury dessert to end off a fun-filled, exhausting night.

I had such a great experience at Friday Night Live at the ROM and Electric City Events pulled off a great night. With the sheer volume of people there from party goers to the vendors, everything ran like clock work and there was ample space to move around without feeling anyone invading your personal bubble. Not every event of this magnitude can be run so smoothly (Joylister I’m looking at you) so for anyone interested in attending this event later on, I would strongly recommend it.

For this year there are only 2 more Friday nights remaining so grab your tickets quickly! Click here to order them online!

Ticket Prices:

Adult (19+) - $12

Student (19 to 25) - $10

Senior (65+) - $10

June 20th, 2014 - Sun Burn themed

June 27th, 2014 - ROM Proud (An evening of celebration in honour of World Pride, 2014 taking place in Toronto)

Special Thanks:

John T. Stevenson

Electric City Events

Royal Ontario Museum

My three amigos who accompanied me to the event (Vithiya; Andrew & Clayton of Honey We’re Homme)

GASTROPOST’S 100th MISSION CELEBRATION

This past Wednesday night I was able to attend Gastropost’s 100th Mission Celebration hosted inside a 123 year old historic house where the Italian restaurant Osteria Dei Ganzi currently resides. 100 tickets were given out and I was lucky to be one of the ticket holders. It was a free event to celebrate the 100th mission idea in the history of Gastropost.

For those who are unfamiliar with Gastropost, they put out weekly food missions on their website surrounding a food theme for fellow Gastroposters to take pictures of and post online through various social media outlets. Gastropost works in conjunction with the newspaper National Post and every Saturday they also run a page in the paper showcasing some of that week’s top food pictures. Gastropost is a large food community across the country with outlets now expanding from Toronto into other major Canadian cities such as Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary as well.

The party started at 7PM and parking was a nightmare for me to say the least. To sum it up quickly, a parking enforcer was about to write me a parking ticket before I luckily ran over to stop him. My credit card did not work in the public parking lot in front of the restaurant which meant I couldn’t leave my car there so I ended up driving around the area in circles until I finally found a spot with a parking metre in the surrounding area. Glad that part was over!

I checked in and immediately got their Gin Caesar at the bar to start off. Throughout the night there would be servers walking around the venue with appetizers and horderves fresh out of the kitchen for the guests to try. I did my best to grab as many as I could and the things I managed to get were delicious.

Miniature Pizzas - Asparagus & Mushroom; Margarita

Crab Salad on Enddive

They also had a special guest come to the event which was Chef Corbin from Food Network Canada. Some of the shows people may be familiar with him in include Dinner Party Wars, Restaurant Takeover, and Crash My Kitchen. I had the chance to speak with him for about 20 minutes where I found out about his charity event that he is a part of later on this year called Cook for the Cure. A very stand up guy! 

The night ended off with the giveaway of door prizes. The most notable prizes were a brand new Nokia smart phone and a $3 000 kitchen appliance. Unfortunately I was not one of the lucky winners in that area but I still had a great time at my second food event of the year. I saw an old friend, made some new ones, networked with a celebrity chef, and had some good food and drinks. It was an awesome night and looking forward to whatever the next food event may bring.

Special Thanks:

Gastropost

Osteria Dei Ganzi

Steam Whistle

Nokia

Foodie Pages

General Electric