New GTA Area food truck - Hogtown Smoke launching June 3rd - (BBQ)

[ylsf]

Saw a link to this on BlogTO:

http://torontofoodtrucks.ca/new-bbq-f...

Launching at 99 Sudbury on June 3rd (this Sunday) from 12 to 5 pm...

I am already going to the burger event at Wychwood Barns but if I have any room for food I will try to swing by 99 Sudbury later in teh day. If anyone manages to go please let us know how it goes. Imagine there might be some kinks on the first day but still curious! I have my hopes up high despite the history of BBQ in the city :)

[EverymanJack]

I question the use of Patron to inject into their chicken. It doesn't make sense to me to use a premium tequila for this job, and really just raises the cost without much benefit. More of a marketing thing, I suspect.

[BabiG]

Agreed, and it qualifies as a waste of a good Tequila, assuming they used silver or better. Would give anything to find a good smoked meat sandwich on this visit to Toronto. Sympathies to Toronto dwellers for lack of delis and good street food, but maybe downtown is not the place to look?? Spoiled by living in Asia.

[ylsf]

Sounds like they may have issues with repeat business based on the reviews. I don't understand how these food trucks are charging more for less than restaurants. I was tempted to try Hogtown but I think I will wait for a while.

There is yet another "bbq" food truck coming out, called Urban Smoke:
http://torontofoodtrucks.ca/introduci...

[GoodGravy]

I'm withholding judgement til I get a chance to try the food out, but a few things I picked up on in that article:

- They're doing Memphis style pulled pork and Texas style brisket. They didn't mention if they're done in different smokers using different types of wood.
- They're also going to do fusion bbq. I shudder when I hear food described as "fusion".
- They're spreading their brand.

[crawfish]

Hogtown was at Yonge Dundas Square this Sunday so stopped for takeout on our way back into the city. We got the sliders, pulled pork and smoked chicken. The menu board was vague so we were a little surprised when we got home. Sliders were one pork, one chicken, one brisket. Chicken was on a bun. Anyway, flavour-wise, really not impressed with my chicken. The bun meat ratio is way off and I'm not one for those crazy meat heavy sandwiches. I took one bite of the chicken, dumped the forgettable bun and just ate the chicken right out of the sandwich with a fork. The chicken is nice and moist but very little smoke flavour even eating it straight. Husband said with the pulled pork was just OK. Son only ate one slider (pulled pork). The brisket I tasted was smokier than my chicken with some nice outside parts. Chicken and brisket were not pulled but hunked - not a bad thing just thought I'd mention it. Beans were good but very sweet so not to some peoples taste. Coleslaw was good.

So $12 is a lot of a meh sandwich. We could have had a Porchetta sandwich for $6.45 with no sides. The Hogtown sides are tiny, the smallest possible little plastic cup and mini donut cornbread (it was cute) so they aren't worth $5.55 more. And I didn't try the sauce. I don't like adding cold sauce after the sandwich has been assembled but maybe I'm just weird.

Edited to add: Nibbling on the left over brisket this morning and it's pretty darn good. I don't usually like brisket.

[lister]

The truck is at the Royal York Hotel right now on the east side by the RBC building.

Had the 2lbs poutine with brisket for $10.

White and orange cheese curds. Fries were good. Gravy was less peppery this time. The brisket was really good. Really smokey. Tasty!

[ylsf]

Saw on twitter this morning that this will be a new "food truck" area. Two different trucks a day... Will be a lot better when all of the construction at Union Station is done!

[Wil]

Only for a week though

Gorilla Cheese/Buster Sea Cover - June 19 (Gorilla Cheese rarely comes to GTA so this will be good)
Rome N Chariot/Caplanksky - June 20
Caplansky/Curbside Bliss - June 21

[ylsf]

Ah thanks, didn't realize it was just for the week. Hope that it is just a trial for the week and ends up becoming more permanent.

[ylsf]

Just an update, it looks like it is indeed all summer long at the location by The Royal York hotel. It is Monday to Friday (except today I think):

They have their own twitter handle now:

https://twitter.com/rbpfoodtrucks

[ylsf]

Did anyone go and try it out?

Will have to keep an eye out for their future plans.

EDIT: Found this write up from the same site I found the original news :
http://torontofoodtrucks.ca/introduci...

Says on there that they are at Queen/Jarvis.

Looks really good from the pictures, unfortunately I am not down in that area during the week to be able to try it. Will have to wait to see where they are on the weekends.

[Wil]

I went today at lunch, I am no expert so bear that i mind :)

That being said, they didn't open until 11:40ish, which is ok I guess, there were maybe only 10 of us in line, the chicken wasn't ready, so I had the brisket and pulled pork sliders.

Both the brisket and pulled pork were tender and tasty, but not enough smoke flavour imo. They had their own homemade sauces on the side, Horseradish Aioli, Mango Patron Something :), and Spicy BBQ. All three sauces were great.

The baked beans were really good, with what seemed like some smoked chicken or pork in there..the beans had the most smoke taste for me.

The cornbread is fried in a mini doughnut fashion and was nothing special.

$12 for three sliders is an ok deal. Overall I liked it and will try it again, maybe things weren't running smoothly today and things didn't get smoked they way they would normally want them to? I want to try the chicken too.

[chefhound]

I'm devouring the slider combo right now.

I found the meat smoky enough and I really appreciated the sauce on the side. The sauces were great and I liked that I was able to control the amount. So many times a pulled pork sandwich will be drowning in sauce and you aren't able to taste the meat.

The sauce on the chicken was so good. and I enjoyed the crunch of the cornbread. And pulled pork in the beans? So yum!

All in all, really good quality product and worth the wait in line.

[lister]

I stopped by today and had the brisket sandwich and the pulled pork poutine.

The good: pulled pork poutine. Was tasty. Good pieces of bark in there. Good sized curds. Gravy was good but was a touch too peppery. The brisket was decent, maybe a little too dry.

The meh: corn bread. Nothing terribly interesting about it. (Didn't try the beans, don't like beans.)

The bad: Portion and prices. I think $12 for the sandwich and $10 for the poutine was a bit much especially for the portions given which, IMO, were small. There's more bun than meat for my brisket sandwich. There should have been a lot more meat in there. I was quite disappointed in that. $10 for the pulled pork poutine was too much, again, given the size. The size in and of itself was fine for one person but not at $10.

I'd prefer the smokiness to be higher. (Ah the perils of smoking at home and doing things exactly how we like it!)

[Wil]

Ya I have to agree the bread to meat ratio is off, too much bread