What are you enjoying at Vancouver street food carts?

[grayelf]

Now that summer is finally here (?!), I was hoping to get some feedback from y'all about street food. Don't find myself downtown at lunch time all that often but want to be prepared when I am :-). I had a dig around on the web and here are the places I've come up with that intrigue me -- locations and times may be off:

Kaboom Box 777 Granville near Georgia could be Granville at Robson for poutine

Reup BBQ beef brisket $9 at temp location Howe and Robson 12-3 M-Sat -- I like their pulled pork well enough

Bun Me Baguette Robson and Hornby T-Sun 11:30-6 crispy tofu! lemongrass chicken $4.25

Cartel Taco Burrard Street and W. Georgia or maybe west side of 500 Dunsmuir at Hamilton Mon. - Fri., 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Korean

Fresh Local Wild Burrard and Hastings Local, sustainable, seasonal comfort food

Bada Bing halal Philly cheese steak Robson and Thurlow (or maybe Bute), veg gravy poutine

La Brasserie Street West Georgia and Granville from Monday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.mchicken sandwich [phone]

Feastro 200 Thurlow at Cordova near torch (11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday to Friday.) veg taco worth $7? [phone]

Arturo's 2 Go W Cordova St & Howe St

Finest at Sea: seafood, southeast corner of Robson and Hornby streets

Gourmet Syndicate: Asian fusion, east side of 900 Burrard St.

Kiss Kiss Banh Banh: Vietnamese subs, northwest corner of Howe and Robson streets

Tacofino Cantina Inc: tacos, burritos, 1800 Morton Sts or Robson St & Howe St [phone]

Coma Food Truck Strathcona 1250 Station St [phone] Korean fusion

PS just found this Van street food app which I gather is getting more and more reliable. Also like that it has links to the social media upon which these carts post so trogs like me can check online. http://streetfoodapp.com/

[fmed]

I like La Brasserie and Fresh Local Wild. I'm not a huge fan (but only after one or two samplings, so ymmv) of Cartel, Gourmet Syndicate, Bada Bing, the banh mi places, Tacofino. I would like to check out Finest at Sea, Feastro, Kaboom Box.

[clutterer]

Working in the downtown core has its advantages, so I've tried a few of these. My take (and I'll leave Re Up and the Roaming Dragon out of it, as I have a personal bias):

Kaboom Box - opt for one of the sandwiches over the poutine. They have a smoker on board, so try the smoked salmon. The oyster sandwich is good as well.

Banh Me Baguette - it is what it is, but you'll get a better banh mi elsewhere.

Fresh Local Wild - good, but inconsistent on execution. If there's a line-up (and there probably will be one), opt for Kaboom Box instead.

Brasserie - really quite good. I'm amazed it's not more lined up.

Arturo's - skip it.

There's also Nu's truck beside the Bay, though I haven't been. Fresh Local Wild also has their hotdog offshoot, Sausage a Trois, which also features a smoker on board - it's not bad, but when Eli was downtown serving D's sausages, that was truly the best hotdog in the vicinity.

[clutterer]

Tried Mangal Kiss Mid East BBQ for the first time today, parked on Georgia at Burrard in front of the church. They started up last week.

Had a chicken shislik wrapped in Iranian flatbread - your other choice is beef. They also have grilled corn on the cob avail, and a limonana (described as an Israeli lemonade with mint and sugar cane).

[flowbee]

So...was it good?

[clutterer]

I liked it, perhaps out of novelty. It's an interesting sample of flavours. Not completely dissimilar to the various falafel joints around the area in terms of flavour profiles, but not exactly the same, either. One of the two working was formerly at Peckinpah's. Corn no longer avail, as it wasn't selling.

[islandgirl]

I had some of the rice balls at the Roaming Dragon cart/truck at the Kitsilano Market a few weeks ago. Quite yummy as a little snack and I like the fact that everything is either $3 or $6 (would be nice if that included tax though as the change is a bit annoying).

[flowbee]

I'm really enjoying Feastro, Tacofino and Coma (when it's downtown, which is rare...like today!). Feastro and Tacofino are similar but menu and execution are different enough that I enjoy both.

[moyenchow]

The street food app is very good much better than the Eat Street app.

I agree with Clutterer skip the poutine at Kaboom box (I didn't like the gravy) and go for either oyster or salmon sandwich. I like the smoke salmon there.

The La Brasserie sandwich is great
Didn't like the Beef Brisket at Re-up 2, felt the slaw overwhelmed the beef
I was disappointed that the fish was deep fried at Tacofino; I was hoping it would be grilled.

-----
La Brasserie
1091 Davie St, Vancouver, BC V6E1M5, CA

[tdeane]

But an authentic fish taco is always deep fried.

[PolarBear]

Au contraire, most of the little Mexican places we've found serve them a la plancha (grilled). The battered and deep fried are often referred to as Baja style. Whole fish are often on menus, but don't recall ever seeing that used for tacos, would undoubtedly be great though.

[grayelf]

The fish taco filling I repine for in Baja was always what I call griddled -- cooked on a flat top. They had a v. thin crispy coating that did sorta seem deep fried but wasn't. I've yet to find them prepared this way outside BCS.

Doesn't mean I haven't enjoyed the df fish versions I've tried further north, but they are different, and also lack the mysterious white sauce :-).

Almost tried Tacofino yesterday at Khatsalano Day but the lineup was too long both turns up the street.

[grayelf]

Finally got to try Tacofino's Baja-style fish taco (twice, actually) and really enjoyed it, despite their use of a flour tortilla. Also really liked the takoyaki from Osa. Haven't found anything else that I'd return for at the small number of carts I've made it to. Nadir: waited 10 minutes for a taco at a cart, took one bite and binned it.

[lunchslut]

Tacofino has both grilled and fried tacos...

[Tony Fox]

I did a browse around last week and found the Vancouver Street Food app to be really useful - pinpointed the spots I headed for.
- Bun Me Baguette - Lemongrass chicken was pretty good, but missing something - not sure if it was the lack of pate or being thin on fish sauce. Okay but not spectacular.
- Agreed that the rice balls at Roaming Dragon were tasty - but pretty heavy.
- Previously tried Reup's pulled pork, which was quite good.
Not on your list: Ursu Korean BBQ Tacos, at Georgia and Richards - tried the chicken, which I found to be very good, but I admit to being thin on anything to compare it to.

[Tinfoilhat]

First of all RANT - street food should be 5-6 bucks tops.

OK, here's my take so far:

Re-Up, real hit and miss. Sometimes they nail it, although I want the cole slaw on the side with the pulled pork. Sometimes they don't, the last time there was a level of heat not suiting a pulled pork sandwhich. Tried the other truck once with "smoked brisket". Tough,overdone, no real smoke flavour. Hopefully they'll get better but brisket needs to be smoked at lowish heat for 8-12 hours or more. Don't see it happening from them.

Bun Me Baguette. The bun doesn't work, far to chewy. I want my bread to be light with a crunchy crust. I honestly don't even remember the filling. Viet Sub 2 blocks away does a much better job.

La Brasserie, my sandwich was a bit bland, but I did enjoy it. Messy though, as was the Oyster Po Boy at Kaboom box. The Po Boy was really good. Big oysters, done well, lots of flavour. Bring a bib or eat it back at the office.

Cartel Taco, winner with me. Mexican/Korean fusion served by Australians. What more do you want?

-----
La Brasserie
1091 Davie St, Vancouver, BC V6E1M5, CA

[grayelf]

Great (and speedy) feedback so far, thanks all -- love to hear more from you and others as data comes in.

I did get a chance to try the chicken sandwich at La Brasserie Street today and felt, like tinfoilhat, that it was too bland. Looking forward to having at some of the other suggestions here.

[fmed]

The one time I had the chicken sandwich it was verging on too salty. I liked it. The vagaries of food carts.

[peter.v]

Ahhhh, street food. This has to be one of my favorite sub-genres of eating.

The sandwiches at Re-Up are my favorites. Their pulled pork is the closest to what I make myself. Saucy and seasoned properly.

I've had good experiences at Fresh Local Wild, Tacofino and Arturo's. Coma is pretty good too.

[eatrustic]

Not so much street food as park food but Meat and Bread will be making an appearance at the Trout Lake Farmer's Market this weekend.
Kinda flew under my radar but I'm up for a good Porchetta sandwich amongst the trees this Saturday .

[peter.v]

Nice tip! I might have to drag my usually late-rising self out of bed early for that. Plus get some shopping in at the market.

[vandan]

btw what ever happened to the trio of food trucks that were across the street from Bridgeport stn

[Sam Salmon]

Yes it's a cab stand now and those trucks are Long Gone.

[vandan]

did they move somewhere else or or they non-existant now ??

[vandan]

also anyone have any idea what the actual number of carts out on the street at this point is ??

[fmed]

According to the Street Food iPhone app - 38 (it does include Hotdog vendors such as Japadog, Eli's etc)

[vandan]

thanks and why can't they make that app for Blackberrys

[Sam Salmon]

Further to the Richmond Street Food trucks-they are still there in the same place-three parked quite close to each other and one partially tarped.

A cabbie parked nearby said he never saw anyone around them so I guess there was just no business to speak of and the whole idea is on hold.

[PeterHolbrook]

hopefully this question is not too dumb..

are kaboom box and fresh local wild owned/run by the same people?
I've only ever seen the kaboom box in my travels and noticed the oyster po boy, or is
it the menus are somewhat similar?

[vandan]

i believe they were co-owners of FLW, and then one owner left to open Kaboom Box

[clutterer]

Kaboom Box was formerly Fresh Local Wild, run by Josh Wolfe and Andy Fielding. The two went their separate ways, and Andy Fielding renamed the red cart to Kaboom Box but kept the menu (Granville and Robson). Josh Wolfe reopened Fresh Local Wild at a different location (Burrard and Hastings) with a new food truck and a new menu.

[grayelf]

I just saw a photo on a food blog of a churro from a street cart in Mexico and it made me drool. I used to particularly enjoy the filled ones. Does anyone know of street cart churros in Vancouver?

[selena03]

A churro cart is a great idea...it would be easy too if they were set up like in Disneyland...probably no where near as good as the ones you had in Mexico...but they were still pretty delicious:).

[YVRChow]

I echo the sentiment that almost all of the street food in Vancouver is priced a bit too high for street food. It kind of misses the point of street food culture. But that is an aside.

In terms of quality, my favourites to date are Mangal Kiss (photo of Beef shishlik below), Slingers (photo of veal parmigiana below), Coma (photo of Korean style spicy pork burrito below), Bada Bing (photo of cheesesteak below), and Osa Tako Hero (photo of takoyaki below).

I really enjoyed Chinese Skewer King as well, but they were closed down by the health board because they had raw meat. Too bad. They were delicious with their cumin chili lamb skewers!

[grayelf]

Thanks for the tip (and delicious-looking picture) of the veal parm sando at Slingers which appears to be very handy for me as it often lurks around Granville and 10th/11th. On my list!

[YVRChow]

I hope you enjoy it. They fresh fried the veal cutlet for the sandwich. It was lightly breaded and fried perfectly. The veal was still quite tender inside with the coating being nice and crispy. It was covered with a spicy marinara sauce that had strong bold flavours, as well as some melted mozzarella cheese. There were also sauteed onions, mushrooms, and what I believe was spicy eggplant. All of this was served on a soft bun that soaked up the sauces nicely and tied everything together.

Sadly, I'm guessing that the flavour profile at this truck likely won't appeal to about 95% of people in Vancouver as it borrows heavily from the New York style Italian food that comforts people used to it, and is viewed as overly heavy and non-delicate for those who are not. But I do hope they succeed as it was a lovely comforting lunch treat.

[grayelf]

It sounds great! Do you remember if there were red or green peppers?

[YVRChow]

As I recall there were no bell peppers on it. But my memory may be faulty.

[J_Bone]

I tried Re-Up twice. The first time I really liked it, the second time for some reason not so much. Not sure if it was me or them.

[grayelf]

Glad to hear re no bells, but I won't hold you to it :-).

I had the same experience with the original Re-Up truck. Haven't tried the beef.

[koshfoodie]

I am a huge fan of Re-up - super tasty and good value. They totally nailed the 'street cart' thing unlike a number of other carts.

Here is my quick review of some others:

Kaboom box - awesome smoked salmon sandwich.
Roaming Dragon - its ok, just ok
Tacofino - love their tacos, super tasty and pretty consistent
Mama's Grilled Cheese - tastes like grilled cheese, good value, good options. Love that you can add a small cup of tomato soup for dipping.
The Juice Truck - awesome juices, great ingredients, good value all around.
La Brasserie - pretty decent. One of them has a house smoked chorizo sandwich that is off the hook.

Happy Eating

[vancouvermatt]

Thank you for finally referencing Mama's grilled cheese in this thread. Good people and good food.. Last time i was there it was freezing cold and they were handing out free shots of soup while you wait.

I had the meatloaf grilled cheese and it was excellent!

My only complaint is i got it to go and the sandwich made the chips kinda soggy. really didn’t matter though as the grilled cheese was excellent and filling!

[Anne M]

City of Vancouver is looking for your street food ideas for 2012 in a new forum:
http://vancouver.ideascale.com/

Here's an excerpt:

"For 2012, we will be holding, ‘Curb Your Appetite: A Street Food Taste Test’ as part of our street food selection process. Three lucky people participating in this Ideas forum will be randomly chosen to sit on the judging panel and weigh in on which street food makes the cut."

[Georgia Strait]

if we were to try only ONE downtown Vcvr food truck in January 2012 --
1. which one?
2. are they open on SAT/SUN downtown?

has anyone signed up for the city of Vanc food forum mentioned above?

[Sam Salmon]

http://tacofino.com/

Check for weekend location.

[Sam Salmon]

OK I revoke my recommendation.

Yesterday they weren't to be found @ the Burrard/Dunsmuir location and today I checked both that place and Robson Square-nada.

So it looks like they're on vacation somewhere-given their WCVI origins I'd suggest looking to Puerto Escondido or more likely Zipolite.

Downtown was dead all over today though even my beloved Osa Tako Hero was nowhere to be found.

[grayelf]

To be fair, Tacofino is pretty good about updating its location on Facebook and twitter when they're open. They say here they'll be closed till sometime in early January : http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php...

[Georgia Strait]

sam - i appreciate the time you have taken - i checked the internet (i don't tweet - nor facebook) but here is what comes up on the taco truck website --- must be surfing down south!

TacoFino - Vancouver
The orange tacofino truck is closed for the season. The blue tacofino truck can be found mon- Fri from 11-3 at burrard and dunsmuir! We will be closed from december 24 until sometime in early January. Stay tuned! Find us on twitter for more frequent news:)

what is the food that is on the sidewalk in front of the VAG (old courthouse) ... on the south side of Georgia in the 1000 block. I see people lined up but have not checked it.

i will keep checking this thread and see what people are street-eating. (and recommending)

ps - this is not exactly street eats but close to it ... someone i know likes the consistent (and predictable?) take out japanese from the place on the street level, north side of the building in the NW corner of Georgia and Thurlow -on the Dunsmuir side of the plaza/tower. Might be handy in this winter food truck hibernation period.

[YVRChow]

One to add to the mix is the fairly newish Soho Road. They have a tandoori oven in their cart! They start you off with a complimentary cup of hot chai (nice on a winter day).

I saw the long skewers of chicken come out of the oven and get hung to rest a bit before serving. Then they rolled out some naan and slapped it into the oven to make the fresh naan for the wrap.

The naan came out nicely charred, but I think it could have benefited from a hotter oven as the inside was a bit less cooked than I prefer. I'm guessing this is because it was early in the day and the oven wasn't fully heated yet. They placed several pieces of the chicken on the naan, and covered it with fresh diced veggies (cucumbers, onions, tomatoes) and a squirt of tamarind. The chicken was a bit dry and could have used some more fat - I likely would try the butter chicken version next time to get some extra moisture into the wrap. The veggies could have used a bit of seasoning to tie them into the overall wrap as they were a bit of stark contrast. I imagine they also could have benefited from sitting together diced for a longer period so the juices would blend more. Shame on me for being their first customer of the day!

Overall the flavours were good, with a few hiccups, and I likely will return later in the day once they have things fully up and running assuming that once they get going the flavours come together a bit better.

[marko65]

Can't believe I sound like a tourist from Port Albern but the price of street food in Vancouver is too high for me. I find I'm always heading for a sit down instead.
Places downtown look packed so it's not likely the prices will drop. On South Granville the carts don't seem that busy but still too pricey and the offerings haven't grabbed me yet.

[1newyorkguy]

Yeah, saw a 7.5 grilled cheese today...that's the base, want extras? more $$. I had a reasonably priced halibut hot dog outside of the granville sky train that I enjoyed.

[waylman]

checked out Mangal Kiss the other day. They do a middle eastern-y wrap thing. Chicken or Beef with lots of good veggies and sauces.
Really good! Will be back for sure.

[flowbee]

They rock. I feel so healthy eating their stuff. They'll also do double meat for I think $2-3 more. Great quality!