Graham Cracker Fread, hand model extraordinaire
I know you’ve all seen it. Those episodes of Eat St. full of steamed pork buns, fusion tacos, and insane donuts that would make even a Krispy Kream look like a whole grain muffin. Seems the whole world is getting their street eat on, leaving us here on the East Coast crying into our greasy food truck fish n’ chips. Not that there’s anything wrong with a good ol’ Maritime fish n’ chip feast but where’s my Schnitzlewich?
Even Montreal, where selling anything out of a truck was illegal for more than 60 years, recently overturned the old law to allow for more than 40, some operated by the city’s best restaurants. So what’s up Halifax? Luckily, with several gourmet trucks currently hitting our streets, we are well on our way to a booming food truck culture.
Bring on the street eats.
Blazing the trail were Nomad Gourmet and The Food Wolf, both serving the hungry masses for about a year now. In fact, though not as well known, Soups on the Move has been ladling out the hot stuff to Burnside workers since 2011. Then all of a sudden there were three more joining the ranks this summer: Bite Me Urban Diner, Under Pressers, and Tin Pan Alley. And they could not be more varied. From chicken and waffles to chorizo chilli frites to deep fried Oreos, there’s nothing I don’t want to stuff in my face.
But like most cities, the food truck scene in Halifax is rife with restrictions. There’s but seven site licenses around the city, dictating hours of operation and making mobility, one of the perks of being on wheels, rather impossible. Once all those spots are occupied like they are now, that’s it for us. No sharing of spots, no new trucks. Thankfully some trucks have bypassed the law by operating in private lots. A perfectly legal manoeuvre, it allows others to bring street eats to areas of the city not designated under the bylaw.
Enter The Food Wolf. Set up in so-called Squiggle Park at the corner of Faulkland and Gottingen streets, the Wolf serves up Korean and Asian fusion to North End’s hungriest. On any given day the locally sourced menu can include kimchi quesadillas, Korean pork burgers, Mexican beef tacos, green onion pancakes, and the hot dog of all hot dogs, the K-Dawg. Smothered in bacon, kimchi, a spicy Korean mayo, and a generous garnish of sesame seeds and green onions, it’s got addiction written all over it. A hot dog a day can’t be bad right?
One things for sure, there’s no slowing down for Team Food Wolf, Natalie Chavarie, Virgil Muir and Eric Gunnels. They even recently loaded the truck on a freight-liner bound for New Brunswick to feed the hungry concert goers at SappyFest. Food truck love at its finest. Whether you dig Korean or Asian or not, I have a feeling the Wolf will change your mind. They even have a new age app so you can track their location. Social media for the win.
But the good news doesn’t stop there. A few food trucks are rocking the streets outside of city limits. Find the Growlin’ Grumman serving up burger, fries and poutine in Windsor, the Orange Ukele, a grilled cheese truck rolling around the Annapolis Valley, Amby’s Eats dishing up tacos, inventive burgs, and risotto balls in New Glasgow, the Backroads Bistro in Mabou with a whole slew of locally inspired comfort food, not to mention all the fish n’ chip trucks you can find just about everywhere.
If you haven’t guessed it already, I’m going to cross every truck off my list one by one. Because, let’s be real, I just can’t help myself.
