Meals on wheels: food truck festival aims to show City Hall how street food is done

Ice cream, fries and hot dogs: the trifecta of trashy food items available to busy Torontonians hasn’t evolved much since the inception of the food cart itself. Meanwhile, other world-class cities like New York and Miami have long been famous for their selection of gourmet goodies, like authentic tacos, artisanal grilled cheese sandwiches and freshly popped kettle corn, all made to order aboard whimsically named food trucks.

It’s municipal red tape, of course, that’s keeping our city’s top chefs from hitting the road. But Suresh Doss, publisher of Spotlight Toronto and new foodie contributor to Post City, is determined to change all that with his Food Truck Eats events this summer.

The first event, which takes place July 2 in the Distillery District (in the parking lot next to Balzac‘s), will feature four or five gourmet food trucks currently operating out of Niagara and Hamilton, like Cupcake Diner, Gorilla Cheese and El Gastrónomo Vagabundo. A myriad of Toronto chefs, like Cava’s Chris McDonald and others from Marben and Buster Rhino’s will also be cooking up their takes on street food. The two subsequent events — to come later this year — will provide the opportunity for Toronto institutions like Caplansky’s Delicatessen, which is currently developing its food truck venture, to be featured as well.

“I want more people to know about these gourmet food truck options,” Doss says of his goals for the inaugural event. “And I want to make as much noise as possible for City Hall.”

Doss is expecting a representative from the mayor’s office to attend the July 2 food fest, and is hoping that bearing witness to the public’s positive response to healthy, convenient food truck options will persuade City Hall to reconsider its restrictive licensing.

In the meantime, we’ll at least be able to enjoy some interesting curbside cuisine for three days this year.

Food Truck Eats, The Distillery District, July 2 (11am-3pm)

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