via flickr – jbassett9(http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbassett9/)

If there is one person bearing witness to the food-truck phenomenon sweeping North American streets, it’s probably James Cunningham, a Canadian standup comedian and the host of the Vancouver-produced Food Network show Eat St.

And even he is impressed by the impending explosion of street-meat variety that is coming to Ottawa streets this month.

“I had no idea how many trucks were coming to Ottawa until I started looking at your articles on the website (ottawacitizenstyle.com). You got like a crazy number.”

Cunningham is the self-described “food-truck man,” but he has been doing standup in Ottawa for many years. Ottawa, he says, is like his second home.

Eat St. just finished shooting its fourth season and there are 26 episodes that have begun airing, which will take in 104 food trucks. There is also a companion cookbook available featuring 125 recipes from across North America. It’s called Eat Street: Recipes from the Tastiest, Messiest, and Most Irresistible Food Trucks and costs $24, available from Penguin Canada.

Featuring 104 trucks may seem like a lot, but it is really only scratching the surface of this business.

“Every time we think that we’ve found the ultimate food truck, we move on to another city and find a better one.”

Over four seasons, they’ve featured more than 200 trucks.

There is a distinct difference between the U.S. and Canada.

In Greater Toronto, with its population of about five to six million people, there are 30 to 35 food trucks. “It’s been such a slow thing to catch on.” In Portland, Oregon, population 2.2 million, there are 700 food trucks. Austin, Texas, has 500 food trucks.

The weather is a major factor. In Canada, in most places, Cunningham says, a food truck is a seasonal business.

Vancouver leads in Canada, he says. The city has thought through what it wants on its streets. There are healthy menu requirements. Trucks are auditioned at city hall to get their permits, that sort of thing, Cunningham says.

The spark for this explosion is the crash of 2008 when a lot of good chefs were tossed on the streets.

What happened? Cunningham explains that chefs improvised and the street was the beneficiary of a lot of creative cookery. Trucks were much cheaper than opening a bricks and mortars restaurant. In the U.S., food trucks are available on leases. In Canada, proprietors tend to buy their trucks.

But the accessibility of the trucks allowed chefs to experiment with combinations of food styles, Cunningham says, and the result is what Ottawans will start eating this month. The other thing that happened is social media, which allowed the food trucks to reach their consumers directly, tweeting location and menu. So when a truck would pull into a stop, the patrons would be waiting. In Ottawa, the trucks and carts have assigned spots, but expect social media to play a large role in the future of their business (don’t forget to tweet #ocfoodtrucks when you eat on Ottawa’s streets).

In other cities, the trucks have tended to locate away from restaurant districts, moving into the suburbs or into working-class neighbourhoods to reach a new audience. The result has been an improvement of the diet in some of these tougher neighbourhoods. As well, some restaurants have converted to a food truck and vice versa, Cunningham says.

In Ottawa’s case, with many trucks located downtown, Cunningham suggests, they may start moving outside the core over time to find new markets and avoid the competition provided by á la carte menus.

Cunningham says Ottawa has been slow to get in the food truck game. Montreal, too.

“We’re really far behind in Canada, compared to the U.S.”

James Cunningham is at the Ottawa Spring Writers Festival, May 8, Ottawa City Hall at 7 p.m.

Tickets: $15, $10 for seniors, members free; writersfest.org Join Ottawa Citizen writers on May 15. Eat and tweet your views on the new food trucks and carts to #ocfoodtrucks.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Keep+truckin/8352145/story.html#ixzz2T7lTyslD

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Keep+truckin/8352145/story.html

These are good times for omnivores in Ottawa!

Ottawa City Hall is a place, I suspect, where politicians are more accustomed to circling wagons than food trucks.

So imagine my curiosity Wednesday on spotting a cluster of street vendors corralled over lunch hour at Marion Dewar Plaza, outside the Laurier Street entrance, where they served eager folk a taste of new and interesting sidewalk eats the public can expect in the nation’s capital this summer.

By any measure it was a glorious, warm and bright early-summer afternoon, with postcard-perfect weather smiling on a momentous occasion — celebrating an end to the city’s moratorium on new street food vendors that, sadly, saw the number of carts and trucks dwindle to 32 from about 100 just two decades ago. For a complete list of trucks, carts and locations, click here.

Accomplished restaurateurs and experienced vendors promise much more diverse fare, often with an ethnic twist, to supplement the usual tired staples of poutine, fries, dogs and sausages that have distinguished the city’s street food scene for so long. But at the end of the day it’s all still sidewalk food and much of it remains high-caloric, which in popular Food Network culture seems enough to thrill an enthusiastic audience.

Above left, Layne Belcher and Matthew Hinds of Urban Cowboy serve brisket from a table Wednesday outside Ottawa City Hall. They expect their truck will be ready later this month.

And what an audience it is. People Wednesday were encouraged to purchase one of 550 plastic bracelets for a $10 donation to the Shepherds of Good Hope soup kitchen, which entitled bearers to try the victuals. The astonishing thing was, within 20 minutes every bracelet was snapped up — and still the people came, queuing in long lines here, there and everywhere — well over 1,000 by my estimate — all anxious to sample, and every one hungry for more.

Those who didn’t get a coveted bracelet had to pay as they munched. Not surprisingly, some carts ran out.

“We had to limit the bracelets because vendors are donating the food,” says Anna Silverman, executive director of the Shepherds Foundation. “We’re very pleasantly shocked by the turnout.

“It’s clearly something Ottawa wants, so having all these new vendors is a very good thing. Everyone is anxious to sample their food,” Silverman says.

It’s all about new and interesting choices,” adds city employee Maria Grant, in line outside the brightly coloured Ottawa Streat Gourmet, one of 11 new trucks (plus another seven carts), by chef/owner Ben Baird (photo, left), who previously launched his successful upscale Urban Pear restaurant in the Glebe in 2002.

Baird’s is a repurposed 21-foot, 1994 Chevy P30 diesel van, formerly a Snap-On Tools wagon, he had outfitted by Kitchens on Wheels Canada in Alexandria, at a cost of $60,000.

“For lunch it means you can get not just the usual fries and sausages,” Grant says.

“Now you can find everything from Korean to Vietnamese, and the big turnout today speaks to the fact Ottawa is dying for food like this.”

A selection of street eats served outside city hall. Clockwise from top left, Mr. Churritos’ traditional deep-fried Mexican flour dough dusted with cinnamon and sugar; from Bobites, baked potato, sour cream, butter, cheddar and chives; from Urban Cowboy, the Belcher Burger with smoked brisket, barbecue sauce on a potato bun with onion, pickle.

On hand for the honours was mayor Jim Watson, as always, along with a small gaggle of councillors including Mark Taylor, chair of the city’s community and protective services committee that shephered the new and relaxed rules for 18 successful applicants through city hall in February. Also on hand were four out of five members of the volunteer selection committee who vetted 61 applications based on a potential score of 100, as well as standup comedian and television celebrity James Cunningham, host of the Food Network show Eat St.

“Ottawa is so hungry, and it’s so wonderful to see this,” Cunningham told revenous well-wishers.

“Ottawa is now a leader in Canada in the food truck revolution … I couldn’t be happier as a food truck aficionado,” he says.

Photo L-R, Red Roaster Food Truck owners Glen Galbraith, Steve Dupras.

Adds the mayor: “These 18 new food vendors bring their own unique tastes and cuisines to the streets of Ottawa — from Asian to frozen yogurt.”

In a few cases, trucks were not ready to press into service: Some are still being built, while others are waiting for final government permits, which obliged a few operators to set up makeshift stands. “Our truck will be out in June,” says Wasi Choudhry, who calls his operation Olive Green, offering south Asian cuisine, which translates into a range of Indian and Pakistani snacks, entrées and desserts from samosas to butter chicken and lassis.

“We’re new in the food truck business, but we operate a restaurant called Olive Green inside Midway Family Fun Park on Kaladar Avenue. We have a passion for food and when we saw the city was looking for diversity we definitely applied and got it. Our food is very tasty — we’re using home recipes that people appreciate,” Choudhry says.

Above right, owner Ulises Ortega prepares churros, a Mexican deep-fried sweet pastry at Mr. Churritos.

Red Roaster Food Truck owners Glen Galbraith and Steve Dupras did their own work, outfitting a 21-foot former Frito-Lay delivery truck now complete with stainless sinks, counters, fryers and an expensive Rational oven that can perfectly roast a flock of eviscerated chickens simply by pushing a button. Unfortunately, they’re still awaiting final health and safety permits, and so could not serve food at the grand unveiling last week. The partners figure they’ve invested $110,000 — considerably less coin that leasing and fitting a traditional bricks-and-mortar restaurant.

“I had this vision of doing a truck more than a year ago,” Galbraith says, “so I bought the truck in Indiana. We spent a harsh winter getting it up here and retrofitting it.

“Originally we were going to do rotisserie chicken and call it Turns, but because propane is so expensive and you can only carry a limited amount of gas we figured the rotisserie would consume too much fuel. So we went with the German combination oven, which is six times more efficient. The Rational can cook 18 chickens in 36 minutes and it does absolutely everything.” He”ll be serving chicken, shaved beef, meatball tortillas, roast potatoes, slaw and fried noodle balls.

“Being mobile for me is a big attraction,” Dupras adds. “And we were able to do the outfitting work ourselves.”

Layne Belcher and partner Matthew Hinds expect their truck, Urban Cowboy, will be ready later this month serving Texas street food. On Wednesday, they set up tables and dished up smoked brisket with barbecue sauce on a potato bun with onion and pickle, made famous when Belcher’s dad, the late CFL star football great Val Belcher with the Ottawa Rough Riders (1979-83), used to serve food at Lansdowne Park. The tradition lives forever on.

“Both of us really love food,” Hinds says. “We’ve been in the food industry for years and we thought this is a great forum to show what we’re about. It’s all about food and trucks without the bricks and mortar. Me and Layne just started talking about it, which led to a business plan, and then – behold! – we got a spot in the City of Ottawa.”

Clockwise from top: from ROYI Fruta cart, a tray of home-made guacamole, bean medley, red-skin potatoes, beef empanada; serving Harvey & Vern’s Olde Fashioned Soda at Ottawa Streat Gourmet; Olive Green owners Wasi Choudhry and his wife, Nighat.

Sheila Whyte, a member of the city’s truck and cart selection committee and owner of Thyme & Again Creative Catering, is confident the interest in street eats has legs with the public. “We’re catching up with the rest of the world,” she says.

“There are food trucks in every great city and we’re now part of it.”

(Only time will tell for sure. After all, I’m old enough to recall opening day in April 1993 when the city’s $17-million Lynx Stadium was packed to the rafters with 10,000 adoring fans out to welcome professional Triple-A baseball. True, the Ottawa Lynx sold out 43 games in its first season, but by 2006 the farm team had the lowest average attendance in the league, and it was gone after 2007. Today, well, the stadium stands as an underused monument to wishful thinking …

(With street food, at least, taxpayers aren’t on the hook in any big financial way. Perhaps Ottawa has done something right after all.)

Left, part owner Irene Cummings serves Latino fare at ROYI Fruta food cart.

Cathleen Kneen, also on the city committee representing Just Food, says the street food evolution reflects a change in demographics. “Food is the way people connect to express what and who we are, so now we have the opportunity to see that diversity in vibrant, dynamic and eclectic street food,” Kneen says.

Philip Powell, city manager of licensing, permits and markets, says he’s blown away by the public response. By the way, without any question Powell deserves the credit for pulling this off.

“The demand and interest is beyond anything we could have imagined,” Powell says. “It’s phenomenal with the public interest, the number of applications and the interest here today.”

“People eat like this all over the world,” says selection committee member Scott Warrick, a chef/instructor at Algonquin College, representing the local chefs federation.

“And for young people having a truck or cart is a more affordable way to get into the business and show their skills.”

In fact, Warrick says, Algonquin College is also considering setting up its very own student-manned food truck.

Hey, why not?

http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2013/05/12/the-food-trucks-cometh-oh-my/

Foodies paid $10 to sample a variety of street food from vendors Wednesday over the lunch hour. The showcase event sold out in about 15 minutes.

Last fall city staff —along with a culinary panel — licensed the 18 new trucks, something that has not been done for 17 years.

The new trucks and carts will add to the 44 street food vendors already licensed.

The trucks offer everything from Indian chicken kabobs and spicy Korean chicken, to Hong Kong waffles and endive leaves with quinoa salad and crispy leeks.

Soon Prak, of the food truck Chow Down, was excited for the opportunity to offer sugary egg waffles to the lunchtime crowd.

“It’s a new era, a new change,” she said.

Shelly Morry left her sandwich and banana at work on Wednesday, in favour of the spicy Korean chicken at city hall.

“We definitely need this for sure, we need to start eating healthy.” she said.

Mayor Jim Watson apologized to those who didn’t get to the sampling because the tickets sold out so fast.

“So those of you who have come down I apologize that we didn’t have enough food for everyone, but there are food stalls near the rink of dreams at the tulip festival,” he said.

The first of the new food will start rolling out on May 15 on Ottawa streets.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2013/05/08/ottawa-food-truck-preview-debut.html

Food truck Streat welcome hungry Ottawans with its gourmet treats to the sold out Street Food Showcase Wednesday.

 New food trucks and carts have proved a wild success in Ottawa on the first day offering up their eats as 525 bracelets to get samples at the Street Food Showcase sold out and large lines snaked around the lawn of city hall.

“I was kind of like ‘oh my god!’” said Hana Jung, of the line that formed in front of her authentic Korean food cart Roan Kitchen. “I heard that serving starts at 12, but the lineup was already huge at 11:30. It was amazing.”

At $10 a pop, the bracelets brought in $5,250 for the Shepherds of Good Hope. Stall owner Matt Hines of the Urban Cowboy, worked at a breakneck pace throwing ingredients together, for his Belcher Burgers, made of marinated pulled pork, red onions and a pickle, as a hungry line waited.

“I’m very proud to say Ottawa is now a leader in terms of the food truck revolution,” said the event’s special guest Food Network’s Eat St. host James Cunningham. “In Canada, unfortunately, most of our cities have suffered from the fact that food trucks are a seasonal business and I think that a lot of municipalities have not understood how the economic impact food trucks can have on the local economy.”

Cunningham noted that many of the vendors served from makeshift kiosks since the demand for food trucks and carts is to high that manufacturers are working through backorders.

“Ours was supposed to be done for May 1,” said Miriam Burke, who hopes to open her mobile seafood stall Ad Mare with her husband Mario at the end of the month. “We have our fingers crossed.”

http://metronews.ca/news/ottawa/664302/food-truck-scene-puts-ottawa-on-the-map-in-a-very-big-way-says-eat-st-host/

Gavin Hall will have a cart called Bobites, selling organic baked potatoes with seasonal toppings.
Photograph by: Bruno Schlumberger , Ottawa Citizen

First in a three-part series that will profile all the new trucks and carts.

To say that Ottawa’s streets are about to get more exotic flavour seems like an understatement if you visit some of the cooks preparing to roll out new carts and trucks in May.

In an immaculate Centrepointe home, Hana Jung is tinkering with the Korean favourite rice dish bibimbap that she will take to Bank Street in May. When he’s not working at Fraser Café, Tarek Hassan is perfecting bao — Asian buns with savoury fillings — he’ll be selling at the edge of Confederation Park. In his home off Uplands Drive, Ulises Ortega is eagerly awaiting the special cart he ordered from Mexico City so he can cook churros — sweet strips of fried dough — just off Sparks Street.

Ottawa’s near 20-year moratorium on new food trucks and carts is about to end with a flavourful burst as the successful applicants for 18 new truck and cart spots, approved in late February, get ready for the road.

The new activity is not limited to chopping and sautéing. Area cart and truck manufacturers are seeing booms in their businesses and commercial kitchens are being sought out and geared up so food can be prepared before taking it to the streets.

While the new licences officially start May 15, some cooks may get their carts or trucks ready, inspected and on the road even earlier.

In the first in a series introducing Ottawa’s new street-food scene, we put the seven new carts before the trucks. Here’s a taste.

Name of cart: Gongfu Bao

On the menu: Three types of bao, Asian steamed, filled buns.

Where: East side of Elgin Street, south of Slater (at the northwest entrance to Confederation Park)

When: Usually from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, but extra hours when there are events in the park.

Who: Tarek Hassan, 33, studied engineering at Carleton University and worked as an engineer for about a year before he succumbed to his love of food.

“I had this notion even before I studied engineering that when I retired I would open a sandwich shop, but then I woke up and thought, why do I have to wait?”

He has worked at the Manx pub, Savannah Café, Sweetgrass, Side Door and Fraser Café, as well as taken courses in Algonquin College’s culinary program.

Why bao? “I’ve had a long-term pursuit of the bao,” says Hassan, who thinks he probably tasted his first as a teen at a T&T store in Toronto with his mom.

“It just blew my mind. After that it became something of an obsession. For three or four years, I read books and watched videos, and always had a bit of dough I was trying to twist, but it wasn’t until a friend from Tibet showed me how he hand-twisted momos that I got the technique.

“Bao is one of the earliest street foods and I wanted to do something classic.”

Hassan acknowledges many are surprised that someone with Egyptian roots is specializing in Asian fare.

“That perception kind of egged me on. I mean if I said I was doing Italian or French, no one would blink.”

Hassan is hoping to use crowd-funding to help pay for the $15,000 cart he’s ordering from Vancouver; contributors will get such things as discount cards, free bao and event catering — see www.gongfu.ca.

What to try: Traditional bao (see photo) with various savoury fillings, such as local braised oxtail beef and Chinese broccoli.

Gua bao, an open, folded, Taiwanese kind popularized by Momofuku’s David Chang. Hassan says he’ll make one of these with pork belly, peanuts and cilantro.

Shanghai-style shen jian bao, which are pan-seared. “One thing I’m kind of excited about is something I call Shanghai grilled cheese,” says Hassan. “There’ll be the crispy, seared thing going on, but with melted cheese inside.”

Don’t overlook Hassan’s sensational slaws, such as one that’s traditionally made with papaya, but in which Hassan will substitute local kohlrabi when in season.

“The star ingredients will always be from local producers,” says Hassan.

How much: About $5 for steamed buns and $2 for sides of slaw.

Name of cart: Raon Kitchen (“raon” means joyful or pleasant in Korean)

On the menu: Bibimbap — one of Korea’s signature dishes. “Bap” means rice and “bibim” means mixed. It’s a bowl of warm white rice with vegetables; marinated, cooked beef, chicken or tofu; and red chili pepper paste that you mix together before eating. The blanched, then lightly sautéed, vegetables present a beautiful palate of colours: dark green spinach, julienned carrot, white daikon radish, red bell pepper and shiitake or oyster mushrooms are common selections.

Where: West side of Bank between Albert and Slater.

When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday.

Who: Hana Jung, a marketing manager, and her husband, Iruk Cho, a web designer, moved to Ottawa from Seoul with their young daughter less than four years ago. They found little awareness of Korean culture or cooking in Ottawa. Cho, a keen cook who is taking courses in Algonquin College’s culinary program, started making Korean condiments and kimchee (Korea’s national dish of fermented cabbage or other vegetables) for their home use.

Last summer, they started selling Korean sauces and kimchee at the Main Street and Ottawa Farmers’ markets, developing a devoted following.

“We wanted to open a real restaurant, but we kind of ran out of money,” says Jung. “Then I read about the city accepting applications for food carts. I read about it in the Citizen just 10 days before the deadline. It was kind of a Christmas present for us.”

Why bibimbap? “Because it’s the most famous of Korea’s dishes,” says Jung.

The colours makes bibimbap an attractive dish, while the variety of ingredients makes it a balanced meal. But Jung says that while food carts are common in Korea, bibimbap isn’t necessarily a food-cart dish.

“We have to decide whether we can present little plates with all the ingredients separate, or whether it will be easier if we mix everything in one bowl.”

What to try: As a twist, Raon Kitchen will offer bibimbap with another of Korea’s most famous dishes, beef bulgogi, as one of the delicious choices that you can mix in. They’ll make the bulgogi with the delicious soy-garlic-ginger-based marinades they already sell at local markets.

How much: They’re still settling on a price, but it will be likely be $6 to $7.50 per bowl.

Name of cart: Mr. Churritos

On the menu: Churros — sometimes referred to as Spanish doughnuts — are long thin pieces of dough (extruded through a star-shaped nozzle, then deep-fried), which may be dipped in chocolate or filled with chocolate or caramel. They’re popular in Spain, Portugal, France and Latin America.

Where: West side of O’Connor, south of Sparks.

When: Seven days a week all year round. Even in winter. Starting hours will be 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Who: Ulises Ortega, 28, started Mr. Churritos in Ottawa nearly three years ago, but until now his churros have been available only by special order, for events and meetings, and at some events, such as Westfest, where they were a big hit last summer. He also provides uncooked churros to Burrito Borracho on Clarence Street, where they fry them up for customers.

Now he hopes that as downtown people get to know his churros, he’ll get more orders to cater meetings in nearby offices. “Instead of the typical doughnuts and coffee, you can have churros and Mexican hot chocolate.”

His fiancée will also make and sell churros at festivals this summer while he’s busy at the cart.

Why churros? “Who doesn’t love fried dough?” asks Ortega’s older sister, Alika. “With more Latin people, I know they will sell well here.”

It was actually Alika, Ulises’ senior by six years, who came up with the idea of a churros business for Ottawa.

“I was studying small and medium enterprise management at Algonquin College,” says Ortega. “As a class project, I was doing a business model for a cleaning company when Alika said, ‘Why not churros?’

“I always loved churros growing up. They’re sold on every street corner in Mexico. Alika reminded me of how much I missed them.”

What to try: Start with plain churros, hot and crispy and coated with sugar and cinnamon. He’ll also have a selection of sauces you can dip them into, such as chocolate, caramel or coconut. After he’s got that running smoothly, he’ll start making filled churros, with chocolate or dulce de leche inside. Don’t miss his hot chocolate, made with cocoa, cinnamon and chocolate paste imported from Mexico. It’s slightly spicy and not too rich or sweet.

How much: One churro for $2, or three for $5. Hot chocolate will be $2.50.

Name of cart: Bobites (Best Organic Bites)

On the menu: Baked potatoes with a choice of three hot and three cold toppings (everything from lamb rogan josh to Waldorf salad to heap on top), in addition to more regular condiments such as butter, grated cheese, sour cream, chives and bits of organic bacon.

Where: East side of Metcalfe, south of Sparks Street.

When: Summer hours will be 10 a.m. to 6:30 or 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Winter hours will likely be 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Who: Gavin Hall, 33, and his sister Samantha, 35, who have been operating Bowich (Best Organic Sandwiches) at 155 Bank St. for 2½ years.

Why baked potatoes: “Growing up in England, we went to a place called Homebase, that was like Home Depot,” says Samantha, who has worked as a cook in England, France and New Zealand before coming to Ottawa to help her brother open Bowich. “The big treat would be to get one of their baked potatoes while were there.”

To reliably replicate the British baked potato, says Gavin, “with a crispy jacket but soft and fluffy on the inside,” they have ordered a special $8,000 potato oven from England, which will be installed on their shiny new Napanee-made food cart.

“It’s huge in terms of cost and size,” acknowledges Gavin. “We thought long and hard about it. But it will be able to bake 150 potatoes at once and it will be nice to be able to pull out perfect, consistent, just-baked potatoes. Hopefully people will know us for that.”

Gavin adds that he and Samantha had been talking about doing something with baked potatoes for some time.

“They’re cheap, available year round and we can get local organic ones. They’re also healthy: super high in fibre and Vitamins A and B1, with no fat or cholesterol.”

What to try: The unadorned potatoes, with the crispy skins rubbed with olive oil and coarse salt before baking, will be wonderful. And toppings such as mango vegetarian chili or braised red cabbage are tempting. But Samantha’s childhood favourite — a baked potato topped with butter, grated cheese and coleslaw — might be the one to try.

“North Americans know baked potatoes with cheese and bacon, but coleslaw is very refreshing,” says Gavin.

How much: From $3.50 for a plain baked potato to $6.50 for one with a hot topping such as chili or korma chickpea.

Name of cart: Royi Fruta Bar (Royi is a combination of the names of the owners’ three-year-old twins, Rodney and Yilissi. Fruta Bar is a fresh-fruit drink bar in Guayaquil, Ecuador.)

On the menu: Savoury and sweet empanadas (stuffed pastries) and South American fruit drinks, as well as side dishes such as black-bean-and-corn salad, guacamole and oven-baked red skin potato wedges with rosemary. The beef, chicken, spinach-and-feta and corn-filled empanadas will come ready-made from a Toronto distributor, then baked on site. The fruit-filled empanadas and side dishes will be made fresh each day in Ottawa.

Where: East side of Elgin, north of Laurier.

When: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week, later into the evenings when an event is on in Confederation Park.

Who: Rodney Cummings and his wife, Maclovia Irene Quiñónez Vargas, with help from her sister, Yuliana Quiñónez. Cummings, now a lighting contractor, was working in the petroleum industry in Ecuador when he met Quiñónez Vargas.

“I met her in a restaurant. I didn’t know what the food was. She couldn’t speak English and I couldn’t speak Spanish, but she took me in the kitchen to show me the food and that’s when I found out what empanadas are.”

Quiñónez Vargas’s family runs a restaurant in Ecuador and it’s always been her dream to open her own café. She and Cummings bought a food truck and began selling empanadas and fruit drinks on Sundays last summer at Stittsville’s Carp Road Flea Market. They’ll continue to do that, and use the truck as the commercial kitchen to supply the new cart.

Why empanadas and fruit drinks: “I lived in Ecuador for 10 years and it was the most wonderful food I’ve eaten,” says Cummings. “They have a fruit drink called mora — it’s like a blackberry. With a little bit of lemon, it’s so good it will make you cry.”

What to try: See if the mora makes you cry — they’re importing the frozen pulp from Colombia and serving it over ice. Cummings predicts that the fruit-filled empanadas, served hot and dusted with sugar and cinnamon, will be the biggest sellers, but Quiñónez Vargas’s guacamole is excellent too.

How much: From $2 for guacamole with Tostados chips to $4.50 for a fruit empanada with whipped topping and fresh fruit.

Name of cart: Olive Green (though they’re considering Curry in a Hurry)

On the menu: A range of Indian and Pakistani snacks, mains and desserts — from samosas and butter chicken to mango lassis and an Indian dessert that’s a bit like French toast in sweet milk.

Where: The northwest corner of Preston and Carling.

When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. seven days a week. They hope to be in operation by mid-May; they say they’ll be on the street by the end of May at the latest.

Who: This cart is a family affair: Wasi Choudhry, 63, a former investment banker who worked for a decade in Qatar, has come out of retirement in Ottawa to invest in and operate the food cart with his three sons: Muzammil, 28, who has a Master’s degree in psychology; Mudassir, 24, who studied marketing at Carleton University; and Mubashir, 23, a graduate of mechanical engineering at the University of Ottawa.

“It’s a family venture,” says Wasi. “We want to operate a network of food carts.”

The base is a commercial kitchen and restaurant in the Midway Family Funpark on Kaladar Avenue, which the family took over on April 1. There, they’ll serve up halal pizzas for children’s birthday parties and offer a pizza delivery service, while making the South Asian dishes to deliver to the cart and for catering.

Why South Asian? “This is the food we grew up eating,” says Mubashir. “We take all our inspiration from our mom — she’s a fabulous cook. But, also, the objective for the City of Ottawa in offering new licences for food carts was to diversify what’s available, with more ethnic food.”

What to try: The “Silk Road snacks” and mains will vary daily, but if kachauri — round, crispy discs filled with a spicy blends of lentils or minced meat and served with tamarind chutney — are available, grab them. Also excellent are the shaami kabaab — tender patties of ground meat with lentils. Yogurt lassis make the perfect accompaniment.

How much: “We haven’t finalized our prices yet,” said Mubashir. “But our motto would be ‘affordable but delicious food.’”

Name of cart: Spoon

On the menu: Self-serve frozen yogurt in four flavours, plus a choice of about 25 toppings and four sauces. Vanilla and chocolate frozen yogurt will be standard. Other flavours will rotate among about 200 choices — from key lime sorbet to pistachio. Smoothies, with ingredients such as berries and protein powders, will also be available.

Where: East side of O’Connor, south of Sparks

When: 8 a.m. and to about 6 to 8 p.m., seven days a week. Aiming to be on the street by May 15.

Who: Brian Nolan has a day job as a senior program officer with the Canada Border Services Agency, but since June he and business partner Eric Gaudette have operated Spoon Frozen Yogurt Lounge on Clarence Street in the ByWard Market.

Selling frozen yogurt might not seem like an obvious offshoot of border work, but Nolan says it feels natural to him.

“My parents had a convenience store and restaurant in Quebec City. I like meeting people and socializing — I was raised in that kind of environment.”

Why frozen yogurt? “We were in Florida a year ago visiting Eric and he said ‘Brian, you’ve got to try this frozen yogurt place.’ We just fell in love with the product and the self-serve concept. We said we have to bring this home to Ottawa.

“.”

What to try: Nolan is partial to the triple-chocolate-milk frozen yogurt with “bobas” mixed in — little balls of flavours such as strawberry or mango that pop in your mouth. But if sea-salt-caramel-pretzel frozen yogurt is on offer, it’s a must.

How much: You fill your bowl with as much frozen yogurt and as many toppings as you like, then it’s weighed. You pay 1.85 cents per gram (about 55 cents an ounce.) So a bowl with just a bit of frozen yogurt might be less than $2, while you can pile on toppings until it’s close to $20. “About $4 to $6 is average,” says Nolan.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/food/Ottawa+seven+food+carts+will+spice+streets/8189791/story.html

Move over, hotdogs: you’re now competing against South Indian dosas, fish and seafood, Tex-Mex tacos and a host of other street food trucks and carts, as the city announced 18 tasty new choices will arrive this spring.

“Food vendors can be so much more than their current stereotypes,” wrote Councillor Mark Taylor, Chair of the Community and Protective Services Committee in a release, giving hotdogs the cold shoulder. “I’m thrilled to see these diverse and interesting options added to Ottawa’s great existing food culture.”

The trucks and carts are slated to begin popping up on street corners in May and stand to create new food and small business opportunities in the heart of the city.

The city sifted through 613 applications for licences under the New Street Food Vending Program and picked ones they thought offered the best menu, business plan, vendor experience and contribution to the food scene the city hopes to foster.

Here’s a list of new options you’ll be able to track down in addition to the handful of adventurous pioneers that can already be found scattered through Ottawa.

Trucks:

• Benjamin Baird: Ottawa “Streat” Gourmet – Fresh, local and seasonal ever-changing menu – North side of Queen Street, west of O’Connor Street

• Layne Belcher and Mathew Hinds: Urban Cowboy – Texan street food – East side of Bank Street, north of Glen Avenue

• Peter G. Bowen: Health conscious foodie friendly locally sourced cuisine – East side of Olmstead Street, south of Montreal Road

• Mario Burke: Ad Mare – Fish and seafood – South side of Slater Street, east of O’Connor Street

• Steven Dupras & Glen Galbraith: TURN Rotisserie + Kitchen: Turn yourself on to Ottawa’s best food truck! – North side of Argyle Avenue, east of O’Connor Street

• Mathew Gregoire & York Entertainment: Ragin’ Cajun – West side of Bank Street, north of Clemow Avenue

• Jacqueline Jolliffe: Stone Soup Foodworks – Creative blend of local soups, tacos and sandwiches – East side of Spadina Avenue, north of Wellington Street West

• Jake Thomas: Dosa Inc. – South Indian crepes – South side of Somerset Street West, west of Lyon Street

• Jason Tran: Chow Down – Asia snacks and meals – North side of Byron Avenue at Woodroffe Avenue

• Kin Tran: Asian-Fusion with a twist – North side of Gloucester Street, east of Lyon Street

• Tim Van Dyke: LUNCH – Fresh and local ingredients in wholesome soups, salads and sandwiches – North side of Albert Street, east of Lyon Street

Carts:

• Wasi Choudhry: Olive Green – The South Asian food experience – location to be confirmed

• Rodney Cummings: Royi Fruta Bar – Baked empanadas and fruit drinks – East side of Elgin Street, north of Laurier Avenue

• Gavin Hall: BOBITES: Best Organic Bites – Organic baked potatoes with seasonal toppings – East side of Metcalfe Street, south of Sparks Street

• Tarek Hassan: Gongfu Bao – Chinese steamed Asian buns –East side of Elgin Street, south of Slater Street

• Hana Jung: Roan Kitchen – Authentic Korean cuisine – West side of Bank Street between Albert Street & Slater Street

• Brian Nolan: SPOON – frozen yogurt – East side of O’Connor Street, south of Sparks Street

• Ulises Ortega: Churritos – Churro (traditional Mexican treats) – West side of O’Connor Street, south of Sparks Street

http://metronews.ca/news/ottawa/562566/food-trucks-to-make-over-ottawas-street-food-scene/

Chef Ben Baird, of Urban Pear restaurant in the Glebe, is getting a prime food truck spot at Queen and O’Connor.
Photograph by: Jean Levac , Ottawa Citizen

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Seafood+gourmet+international+cuisine+menu+city+preps+food+truck+list/7968013/story.html

From Texas to South Asia, Ottawa’s street  food will provide a taste of the world starting in May.

The city has approved 11 new food trucks and 8 carts under a new street food program.

More than 60 applications were received for 20 news spots.

The new food vendors are in addition to the existing to 44 trucks and carts now licensed in Ottawa.

The following are the new street food vendors which will start cooking in May.

Trucks:

• Ottawa “Streat” Gourmet – Fresh, local and seasonal ever-changing menu – North side of Queen, west of O’Connor (Benjamin Baird)
• Urban Cowboy – Texan street food – East side of Bank, north of Glen (Layne Belcher and Mathew Hinds)
• Health conscious foodie friendly locally sourced cuisine – East side of Olmstead, south of Montreal Rd. (Peter G. Bowen)
• Ad Mare – Fish and seafood – South side of Slater, east of O’Connor (Mario Burke)
• TURN rotisserie + kitchen: Turn yourself on to Ottawa’s best food truck! – North side of Argyle, east of O’Connor (Steven Dupras & Glen Galbraith)
• Ragin’ Cajun – West side of Bank, north of Clemow (Mathew Gregoire & York Entertainment)
• Stone Soup Foodworks – Creative blend of local soups, tacos and sandwiches – East side of Spadina, north of Wellington (Jacqueline Jolliffe)
• Dosa Inc. – South Indian crepes – South side of Somerset, west of Lyon (Jake Thomas)
• ChowDown – Asia snacks and meals – North side of Byron at Woodroffe (Jason Tran)
• Asian-Fusion with a twist – North side of Gloucester, east of Lyon (Kin Tran)
• LUNCH – Fresh and local ingredients in wholesome soups, salads and sandwiches – North side of Albert, east of Lyon (Tim Van Dyke)

Carts:

• Olive Green – The South Asian food experience – location to be confirmed. (Wasi Choudhry)
• Royi Fruta Bar – Baked empanadas and fruit drinks – East side of Elgin, north of Laurier (Rodney Cummings)
• BOBITES: Best Organic Bites – Organic baked potatoes with seasonal toppings – East side of Metcalfe, south of Sparks (Gavin Hall)
• Gongfu Bao – Chinese steamed Asian buns –East side of Elgin, south of Slater (Tarek Hassan)
• Roan Kitchen – Authentic Korean cuisine – West side of Bank between Albert & Slater (Hana Jung)
• SPOON – frozen yogurt – East side of O’Connor, south of Sparks (Brian Nolan)
• Churritos – Churro (traditional Mexican treats) – West side of O’Connor, south of Sparks (Ulises Ortega)

http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/spicing-up-ottawa-s-street-food-1.1158589

OTTAWA — Ottawa’s food truck initiative began in earnest Friday, the deadline for applications for the city’s 20 new vendor licenses.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/Boston+rules+spawned+mobile+diverse+street+food+vendors/7786604/story.html

The most frustrating angle to Ottawa’s revamped street food vendor program is how city management likely doesn’t understand how they’re treating applicants.

In a previous column, I detailed the paternalistic process through which the city is giving out 20 new street food vendor licences. Few would complain about the basic process of licensing food carts. After all, you can’t just set up shop on public space without permission.

But instead of a simple “in and out” application process, they put you through the ringer. The various permits and inspections are tedious. However, the expert food committee convened to critique the applicant’s menu, marketing, experience, financial projections and more — all in the name of bringing diversity to Ottawa’s streets — is downright condescending. It presumes it is the government’s business to approve every aspect of your operations. It also suggests a committee is in the best position to tell Ottawans what food they should be eating, rather than letting residents decide for themselves.

Claudio Versace e-mailed me to detail his past experience planning a food cart. He spent a year communicating with the city.

“In that year I learned about fees, physical requirements of the carts, physical location requirements, advertising restrictions, signage letter size, gas fitting certifications, hot and cold water requirements, the number of sinks and so on. I also got a lot of advice about my menu from the enforcement office,” Versace wrote.

Almost finished with the approval process and a week after he quit his job and a day before he was about to spend thousands on his cart, he was suddenly told public health now had to approve his menu. He was surprised, but complied. After a week he was rejected (at the time they were only approving hot dogs and Versace had different plans).

Say what you want about the particulars of Versace’s story, but it’s clear this process is unnecessarily complex.

On Nov. 28 the city was due to release a map with the available locations for the new permits. Selecting the location is a big part of the process. But that was delayed to Dec. 7 to allow BIAs and councillors to approve the spots (as if there weren’t enough cooks in the kitchen already), placing potential applicants in continued limbo. Kafka would be proud.

This would not be the first time people have been brought to their wit’s end by food carts. There is the case of the Torontonians who lost money opening food carts for their city’s widely maligned a La Cart program.

But there’s also Mohamed Bouazizi, the 26-year-old Tunisian who literally struck the match that started the Arab Spring in late 2010.

Bouzazi supported his family by selling fruit from a cart in a town square. He was repeatedly subject to arbitrary abuse from police.

One day his scales and produce were confiscated and he was assaulted. He went to city hall demanding to see the governor but was denied.

He then took a can of gasoline and stood in the middle of the street. “How do you expect me to make a living?” he said, pouring the gasoline over himself and lighting himself on fire. He later died in hospital from his burns.

I am not suggesting any moral equivalence or that municipal Ottawa is falling to the dictatorial wayside. Only that it’s the little things that add up to matter. All politics is local and it’s when our daily interactions with local government push us around that we feel most oppressed.

When government — no matter how well-intentioned — repeatedly knocks the spirit of the little guy, sometimes his spirit breaks.

The Ottawa street food vendor program is like the ridiculous over-regulation of the taxi industry. They both treat the business operators like children. It shows contempt for entrepreneurship.

Let’s be clear, this is not a complaint about red tape. It’s an argument about how morally wrong and degrading this process is.

The city talks a big game and spends a lot of cash on business incubator programs and the supposed trimming of red tape. But with such a program under its belt, it’s really hard to take it seriously.

http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/12/06/street-food-programs-paternalism

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