A table set for sixteen, made from a fifteen hundred pound wooden slab, sits in a well windowed room providing views of a vineyard property. The sun sets as Chefs Adam Hynam-Smith and his partner Tamara Jensen of Niagara’s El Gastronomo Vagabundo, put the finishing touches on dinner prep, five courses of Thai inspired cuisine, to be paired with 13th Street wines and Mill Street brews. The guests quietly anticipate the meal, sipping aperitifs and munching on fine steak tartare lettuce wraps, simple grilled shrimp, and toasted naan with an appropriately salted spice blend called Dukkah for dipping. However, the evening would be an interesting one, as the food was all being cooked out in the parking lot, in the back of a large logo’ed truck, retro fitted with a restaurant kitchen.
Photo: Mike McColl
Globally inspired and locally driven is the way of the world for Adam and Tamara, it’s everything they do. Fresh herbs, chilies, tasty local meats and fish are the corner stones of this meal and these two chefs want you to appreciate and enjoy it. They want you to know that it’s good for you and want you to feel good about it, and they really, really want you to eat the chillies!
The courses came out, each spicier than the last. 13th Street’s Peter Bodnar Rod and Mill Street’s Joel Manning introduced each pairing with a natural fervor for their subjects. Uncomplicated yet pungent Tom Yum Soup with 2006 Funk Riesling Old Vines, Phetchaburi fish cakes – served in a plastic bag of all things – matched up nicely with Mill Streets Lemon Tea Beer. Octopus salad with Noirs and Brown Ale, and my favourite, stir fried minced pork and egg with a roasted half birds eye chili on top, fiery and aromatic, served with quenching 2009 Gewurztraminer. This was no ordinary food truck, this was clearly the work of seasoned, spirited professionals.
As it stands, El Gastronomo Vagabundo is able to cook for you as long as it is parked on private property. The truck and home facility have the thumbs up from public health much like any other functioning restaurant plus permissions from the Office of the Medical Examiner. In the winter months, El Gastronomo Vagabundo will cater your parties, entertain you with a private cooking demonstration at their place, and spend a little down time to organize the summer months where they plan to open for business at least 5 days a week around the Niagara region.
Since December 2010, they have been stationed at Market Square in St Catharines for 1 or 2 days a week. EGV are currently the official caterers at Flat Rock Cellars Friday through Sunday throughout the summer. It serves Korean BBQ Chicken Wings, Tacos and Banh Mi of the moment and fresh, crisp, locally grown salad creations to winery guests, with Flat Rock Cellars staff matching wines by the glass to each dish. The menu will change monthly and Saturdays will also feature a live music element. See details of their schedules, menus and other info at www.elgastro.com. As a new addition to the schedule this year, the truck will visit the Eagle Valley Golf Club in Niagara Falls every Wednesday, which is great because they get to cook and serve to different crowds, but it’s just not enough room to move.
Photo: Mike McColl
Hynam-Smith still can’t decipher the reasoning behind the rules and is ready to help change them. The way he sees it, they let pretty much anyone open a popular franchise slinging over promised, over processed and over priced, industrialized food which, for the most part, is void of nutritional value. Meanwhile, the little guy is constantly road blocked, trying to wiggle their way into a market starving for fresh, local, tasty, interesting sustenance. Despite the negativity and the politics “Building our clientele base has been a very positive experience” adds Adam. “Food brings people together”
This culinary couple want nothing more than to bring this concept right to you, where ever you might be. The inspiration for the small, clean, take out joint that moves, came to Adam one day making taco shells from scratch in a crowded prep area somewhere in Ottawa, where obtaining any type of permission to cook on the street was “a near impossibility”.
Toronto‘s street food scene has recently been challenged and is undergoing change, so timing is perfect for the El Gastronomo Vagabundo food truck team and those like minded. Building your restaurant in a truck should help you move around, but that’s where things get sticky at City Hall. Hyman-Smith hinted at holding a food truck ‘rally’ in the city, featuring 4 or 5 trucks from the area, to help introduce Torontonians to the concept, and to promote the positives. “We’ve already invited the Mayor. Street food needs to be addressed” he says.
Cities around North America have embraced the mobile kitchen culture. Vancouver is ready for the unveiling of around 20 new food trucks this year alone and Portland has over six hundred trucks! The chefs live tweet their current location and intended movement through out the day and at the same time smart phone apps show the whereabouts of trucks in your area via satellite. Is it the future of fresh, healthy eating? Who knows, but it’s happening now all around us, just not here at home. Hot dog anyone?
While waiting for the rule makers to figure this all out, Adam and Tamara are pounding the pavement, sourcing out local providers and growers, and gaining the trust of its patrons, one bowl of coconut red curry at a time.
Photo: Mike McColl
