2012
Celebrity Chefs and Food Trucks
Written by: Sandra Latcham
I think I hear the food angels singing. The first ever Food Truck Frenzy, the oh so hunky and super entertaining Chuck Hughes, and the talented Anna Olson (unfortunately I missed Michael Smith) all on one weekend which happened to be my birthday weekend! How did I get so lucky?
So I must confess, I am a hardcore foodie and have a thing for meeting Celebrity Chefs. I am fortunate enough to have travelled quite a bit to places like New York, San Francisco and Paris, to name a few, and have met quite a few big name Chefs so you can imagine my excitement and joy when I saw the lineup for the Food Network Celebrity Stage this summer at the EX, all included with the price of admission!! It truly was a dream come true without any great expense. I got to meet some wonderful chefs, even got to ask questions and get autographs, not to mention learn some new recipes at the demos. I highly recommend that you plan ahead though; for most cooking demos it was a good idea to grab a seat about half an hour before show time and in the case of Chuck it was at least an hour. Most shows also lasted an hour plus autograph signing time. I would also say that it is worth making an extra trip to the Ex on a day that you wish to see a show so that you have time to also enjoy all the many wonderful exhibits at the CNE!!! You just can’t do it all in one day.
I was also super excited about the Food Truck Frenzy. Unfortunately the City of Toronto has some restrictions on food truck operations but this was the perfect debut for many of these trucks. There were 17 trucks in total, with many different cultural foods ranging from pulled pork, to Vienna style sausages in a baguette, fish tacos, cupcakes, Greek food and seafood to mention a few. I got to try GOURMET GRINGOS (mahi mahi taco $9 and the mole shortrib and pork taco $6) http://www.gourmetgringos.com/ , STUFT ( Creole Truducken – turkey, duck chicken sausage with 4 cheese sauce $9) http://getstuft.ca/ , FIDEL GASTRO’S ( the El Paisano, egg fried spaghetti & meatball on a bun $7) http://www.fidelgastro.ca/ and PRETTY SWEET (daily cupcake special: lime coconut $2) https://twitter.com/prettysweet_to . All were exceptionally tasty and quick service. I will make sure to check the Food Truck Schedule in T.O http://torontofoodtrucks.ca/ so I can try some more of the foods I didn’t get a chance to. I’m hoping they will all be back next year at the EX!
I do love the Food Building, but it was really nice to see the new food trends out there represented at the Food Truck Frenzy during the EX.
Happy eating everyone!!!! Nom, Nom, Nom….
