Ottawa is seldom on the leading edge of a food trend. And food trucks are no different. Around North America, gourmet food has come to the streets. Creative, interesting, exciting food. In Vancouver, they're everywhere, and even high end chefs are in the game - Vikram Vij, one of Canada's premiere chefs, has a truck. In Calgary, Top Chef Canada season 1 finalist Connie DeSousa also has a truck. The Food Network has a show, airing multiple times per week, on the subject: Eat St. For decades, the only food truck that could be spotted on Ottawa's not-so-mean streets was the ubiquitous chip wagon, dishing out mountains of poutine, along with burgers, dogs, and pogos. But in the summer of 2013, that all changed. Ottawa licensed a number of new food trucks and carts, blowing the Ottawa street food scene wide open.
And for me, Culinary Kira, a quest was born. I set myself the task of trying a number of downtown food trucks to see whether this food trend was worth the hype. Concurrently, I also started this blog, which now gives me a platform from which to present my findings. And my final analysis is that there is much hype, much of it undeserved, but there are a gems here and there, and those gems deserve your business. Quick scoreboard: Angry Dragonz and Dosa are gems. Bap, by Raon Kitchen, is worth a try. Ad Mare and Streat did not impress.
My first effort at finding food truck nirvana was in late May or early June. I made myself a list of the assigned locations of certain downtown trucks and set off. I found.... not a single one. Almost a month after their heralded opening, there was not a truck to be found at its appointed location. What I later found is that, none of the trucks were ready to roll in late May or early June. It was more like July when things really got under way. This was a disappointment.
In July, I made it out to Ad Mare, which, as a fish truck, was the one that most excited me.
The have a great location: downtown, surrounded by office towers. And while the idea is great, the execution of the idea left something to be desired. First, the service is SLOW. When I arrived, I could place my order right away, but I was told it would be 20-25 minutes for the food. That is about what I would likely wait in a restaurant for my order. But in a restaurant, I wouldn't be standing on a street corner surrounded by traffic fumes and noises, and I wouldn't be paying a dollar for water. If there is a line up when you arrive, you may wait 10 or more minutes to order, and then wait 25 minutes for your food. This is not acceptable. When there are only three things on the menu on any given day, they should be able to streamline production to the point that they can have food in your hand in under 10 minutes. I ordered the fish and chips, their signature dish. I will acknowledge that the fish was very good. Cooked perfectly, seasoned properly, good batter to fish ratio, batter not overly greasy. It is among the better pieces of fried fish I have had. The same cannot be said for the accompaniments. Coleslaw was bland and soggy. It screamed out for some sort of tasty dressing. The tartar sauce was not tart at all. It was basically just mayo. I had to search for the relish/pickle that makes a tartar sauce. I certainly couldn't taste it. The chips were veggie chips, not french fries. This, in and of itself, is not a problem, though I am sure some would be disappointed. The problem was that they were very poorly done. Unevenly cooked - some burned, with a nasty, bitter taste, some underdone, with a starchy, raw taste. All greasy and unappealing. I wanted to like Ad Mare, they just made it impossible.
This was not a good omen, but my faith in food trucks was restored in Kingston the next weekend, when the Farm Girl truck delivered tasty, fun food in a reasonable time frame.
C and I each ordered something different, and then split each dish. At the top we have a meatloaf sandwich with fries, and on the bottom, pulled pork sandwich with a nice, fresh salad. Both sandwiches were awesome, with complex flavours. Some sweetness, tender meat, fresh greenery. The fries were excellent, and the salad well dressed. The Farm Girl experience made me believe it would be worth while continuing with these Ottawa trucks after my first two disappointing outings.
So, in August I again ventured out. I walked by Streat. This also has a good location, and I had heard good things. However, the only menu item was a chili dog. It isn't that they had run out of other menu items. This was their only offering. This struck them off my list. I am not a fan of chili dogs, and they are something you can get at pretty much every Lou Patate truck in Ottawa, so it was hardly original or inspired.
So I went to the cart run by Raon Kitchen, Bap. Here, they basically do one thing, and they do it quite well. Bibimbap - a nutritionally complete bowl of traditional goodness: rice, meat, veg. I opted for the beef bibimbap (they have chicken and tofu, maybe pork, as well), and added kimchi to the dish. Highly recommend the kimchi addition. The beef, rice, and veg, on their own, are not super flavourful, so the addition of the sour, fermented cabbage really kicks the flavour up (along with the doctoring from the various sauces at the side of the cart). I added hot sauce, sesame seeds, and sesame oil to punch up the flavour. It was filling and satisfying, and the service was fast. But I still felt there was better to be had.
Today I went out again, determined to try Angry Dragonz, and here I found what I have been waiting for - a truly tasty food truck meal that makes me want to return. I went with their signature dish - the Dragonz bowl. Fundamentally, this isn't so different than bibimbap, but functionally, it is worlds apart. Rice, slaw, masago (little red fish eggs commonly found on sushi), three skewers of grilled meat - chicken, beef and lamb - sesame seeds and a drizzle of sauce (to which I added 2 more sauces). I also added an egg roll. The dish was pretty. The colours and composition made me want to eat it. And when I tasted it.... it was really good. The meat was well cooked, the slaw (cabbage, carrot, sprouts, scallions) was crunchy and cool, with some vinegary dressing providing the acid that I find I need in almost every dish. There was crunch, and chew and starch. Acid and heat, cooling veggies. Everything that makes a fun dish. The egg roll was great. Probably best I have had in Ottawa. Crisp, hot. Open ended, and therefore not soggy and slimy inside - I dislike biting into an egg roll and getting a gush of oily water than has come out of the vegetables during cooking. The menu is fixed, but there are plans to introduce noodle dishes soon. Service was friendly, and the food was produced in reasonable time (around 5 minutes, a wait I consider quite acceptable, particularly given the quality of food), though I was told the line ups can be pretty big Thursdays and Fridays. I wanted to try their dessert - the Dragonz Puffs - but I knew there was one other food truck to knock off my list.
Finally, with the end of my quest in sight, I decided to head to Dosa (Somerset and Lyon), which is only a couple of blocks from Angry Dragonz (Lyon and Gloucester). In a way, Dosa has a great location. It is right by Dundonald Park, so you can pick up your dosa and head into the park to eat it. In a way, it isn't the best location, because it is further away from all those downtown office towers that have thousands of people swarming out for lunch every weekday. This is in a more residential area, and is only a couple of blocks from the start of Chinatown. I hope today's lack of busy-ness was more a sign of cold Monday-ness (there is a chill wind blowing in Ottawa today), rather than lack of interest, because this place, too, deserves your patronage.
Where Angry Dragonz bills itself as Asian fusion, this is traditional Indian. They do one thing, very well. There are a variety of filling options, but I went for the traditional masala dosa - a thin, chickpea and lentil crepe, very crispy, stuffed with spiced potatoes and peas, and served with the traditional chutney and sauces, and some plantain chips for additional texture. I have had masala dosa before, but this is by far the best I've found. The spicing in the potatoes and chutney were fantastic, and walking back to the bus, my taste buds were a-tingling. That is what I love about Indian food, it wakes up your mouth and makes it very happy. They have a number of different fillings I am eager to return to try.
There are quite a few trucks I haven't tried. I limited myself to the downtown core. There are several in the west end that sound interesting. All in all, I hope the food trucks are here to stay.
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