Food Truck Frenzy!

Mike and I had pleasure of enjoying some fantastic food truck dishes this weekend and I got the idea, why can’t we enjoy this type of food on a regular weeknight at home?

Here is an idea of what we had while we were there:

(I will use a 5 star system for ratings)

 Our first stop was the unique sausages from Stuft. Your first step is to choose a type of sausage, then your sauce and finish with any sides.

Mike chose the Pineapple Fennel sausage with a chipotle BBQ sauce while I had the Spinach and Feta sausage with a wasabi dijon mustard dressing.

For this food truck’s debut at the Food Truck Frenzy at the CNE, I give it 4 stars. The flavor of the sausages was amazing, however the buns were not the freshest. When we got the sausage, it was out at the top of the bun which we realized by the end of your sausage, the bun was only cut half way down.

So how can you make this at home? I would reduce the difficulty by making sausage patties instead of stuffing it into casing which can be the most difficult task without the correct tools. Now you just need ground meat, spices, and your specific other ingredients to get the desired flavours. It is important to make sure everything is combined well in either a meat grinder (preferred) or in my case we will be using a food processor to make sure it is well mixed.

 Our second stop was some delicious meat creations from Hogtown Smoke. Just pick your meat and pick your sides. 

Mike and I shared the Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese with a trio of sides complete with homemade coleslaw, root beer baked beans and some delicious corn bread.

Because Hogtown Smoke was taping its debut on the Food Network’s Eat Street, some of its normal options of being able to deep fry anything on their menu were not available and the service was a little slow. That being said, the food definitely won me over! Now I like pulled pork and if you know Mike he is what you might call a pulled pork connoisseur. Cover that in melted cheese and dip it in BBQ sauce...truly amazing. The coleslaw and corn bread were a great addition to the meal however the baked beans did not have much flavor that would differentiate them from the other guy. Overall I would give it another 4 stars.

This one is easy to make it at home. Next time you make your batch of pulled pork save some of the extras for a delicious lunch the next day. I would suggest a mild cheddar cheese, a provolone cheese and you could even add a spicy monterey jack cheese for a little kick.

Our third dish was from the gluten free menu at the Gourmet Bitches food truck where we sampled flavor-packed tacos.

Mike chose the Bitchin' BBQ Mandarin chicken taco and I chose the Veggie Taco. Both tacos had a homemade tomato salsa and cilantro. Mike’s taco came with shredded pork, red onion, red cabbage, and a hint of lime. The veggie taco was complete with a fresh guacamole, roasted corn, red cabbage, and red onions on a bed of arugula.

 

You can tell they have a lot of heart in their menu and a lot of work has gone into the combinations of flavours, however they definitely live up to the ‘gourmet’ serving sizes. Despite the fantastic flavours the portion sizes were a little small, so I give this food truck 3 stars.

 To make this dish at home you will need to step outside the box of the normal beef tacos with cheese and salsa. This will be hard for me, because tacos are one of our simple, safe meals. My first step on changing things up will be to change the protein and the rest will fall into place.


Finally we ended the day with an interesting choice from Fidel Gastro's. We chose the Curious George which was peanut butter pulled pork and bacon jam on a bun.

I give them 4 stars for the creative names and ideas. The flavours were interesting but not something I would order again so I give them 2 stars for flavor and presentation.

We had a few other dessert stops but those are more of the added pleasures we won’t be adding into our weekly routine. Complete with fresh donuts, sugar waffles and popcorn.

All in all we had a great time at the Ex, even though we didn’t see much other than all those food trucks! Now we challenge you to channel your inner food truck creativity and spice up those week night meals with something different. Please respond to this blog with your unique ideas and help inspire some of our loyal readers.