Broadway Bound: The food truck wave finally hits Winnipeg in a big way.

The food truck/cart industry has always been a staple on the Winnipeg summer landscape. From the chip stands of the early 1930’s right up to modern smokie hotdog carts that dot the Winnipeg summer landscape like dandelions on a prairie field. So why all of the interest in what could be called nouveau gourmand food movement of bringing typically high end restaurant fare and serving it curbside out of a mobile trailer?

Hot Dog carts dot the Winnipeg Landscape

Personally I think it’s about the whole democratization of food, the idea proposed by so many of the crop of new talented cooks and chefs in typically high-end, high pressure jobs. Patrons are starting to suffer from white table-cloth fatigue, the idea of getting dressed up and paying high-end prices for everything but the food is wearing thin. Just think about it, if you go to say 529 Wellington and order a meal you’re not only paying for the food you’re paying for the cost of maintaining the building, the staff, the food supply chain and on and on. Winnipeggers are a fiercely cheap and efficient lot, we brag about how little we paid for something rather than how expensive something is. It only seems to reason that eventually it would filter down to our food choices.

Now I am not saying that Winnipeg invented the high-end food truck, that phenomenon has gone on for years in other enlightened cities having only recently caught on in a big way here due to City Hall’s reluctance to let the inevitable happen.

On any given weekday lunchtime during Winnipeg’s all too brief spring and summer one can wander downtown to Broadway Avenue, the heart of Winnipeg’s open air food scene.  As the office towers break for lunch thousands of hungry men and women emerge ready to see the delights awaiting them where grilled smokies and hamburgers once dominated the dining scene.

One sunny spring day I took an hour out of my day and investigated the food truck landscape of East Broadway; here is what I found.

Modern Taco Company: A Truly Mexican Taco finally hits Winnipeg.

Ever since I was a child growing up on the shores of Rainy Lake in Ontario I have been obsessed with food.  Actually that is not precisely correct, it is more to the point to say that I’ve been obsessed with the idea of food.  That is to say how it should taste, what it should look like, the textures and aromas have always captivated me.

As my mother can attest, when ever her back was turned for a few seconds in the kitchen I would be in there grabbing seasonings to add freshness or heat to her spaghetti sauce.  Chopping onions for her stew, a handful of herbs here or a pinch of salt and pepper there.  It drove her batty.

Growing up in small town Northern Ontario in the 1970’s I was never exposed to grand ideas in food. Meat and potatoes, fresh walleye pike straight from the lake, freshly shot deer and moose hanging to age in the cold fall air from the rafters in the garage were the beginnings of my food existence.  Yet somehow I knew that good authentic food didn’t come from a can or a box.  Good food should be fresh, alive, vibrant.

Modern Taco Company

Looking for adventure on a cold rainy spring weekend in Winnipeg can often be a chore.  More than likely my mind will turn to food for escape and what better way to escape the damp chilly streets than taking a trip for a few hours to the streets of Mexico.  The Modern Taco Company at the southern end of the St. James bridge, 612 B Academy Road to be precise offers a surprising choice of authentic Mexican inspired taco truck offerings at a very reasonable price.

Viva Mexico!!

Hello everybody as most of you know I went away for a little bit to de-frost and de-stress with a bunch of relatives for a wedding in the Mayan Riviera.  How can I sum up my experience there?  FRIGGING AWESOME!

The sun and tropical heat for a Canadian in the midst of the great doldrums of our winter are simply rejuvenating.  Putting it in the simplest possible terms I experienced an almost 60 degree Celsius temperature difference the minute we stepped off the plane in Cancun, Mexico.  We left Winnipeg in the grip of a blizzard, a bone chilling minus 25 degrees Celsius, happy to make it out of Winnipeg at all.  Cancun was a tropical+28 and the humidity hit me like a brick wall after a long exhausting day of travel.

Going to grab a little sun and warm my little bum in Mexico.

Hola, my friends!  Come here I have a good deal for you!

If we only had a penny for every time we heard that line in Mexico we could afford to stay down there this week and all the weeks after this.  Alas pesos did not rain from the clouds, thus we are back in the cold embrace of Winnipeg.

Did we have a great time? Yes we did.  Did we see ancient wonders?  Yes we did.
Did we plunge face first into the wonders of the Atlantic Caribbean Sea?  Yes we did.  Did we meet the Mayans and partake in the wonder of their ceremonies.

YES,  a thousand times yes.

Pictures and stories from the Yucatán in the days to come my friends.

Laying on the beach, earning 30%

 

Goodbye Winnipeg Blizzard, Hello Mexico Sun!!

As many of you know all ready Winnipeg is in the grips of a terrible winter storm.  With winds howling out of the north-west at breakneck speeds and the snow sure to come pounding in tonight by the bucket-load.  The temperature is set to drop from the balmy -2 Celsius we have been enjoying (T-Shirt Weather) to a skin freezes in under a minute -25 to -30 next week.

A typical Manitoba winter drive. Burrr

Strangely though, and those of you who know me will think this odd, I don’t give a rats ass.  Because by this time tomorrow I should be en-route to the Mayan Riviera, Mexico.  Buried to my knees in sand, surf and senoritas, (Shhh, don’t tell Dar) for a family wedding that they had the good sense to book in the middle of our coldest season here in Winnipeg.

We are planning all types of activities; they include laying on a hot beach, drinking beer on a hot beach, drinking margaritas on a hot beach, drinking tequila on a hot beach and finally passing out on a hot beach.  Hopefully being found by a kind staff member and escorted back to my room with an IV drip to avoid the impending hangover.

Ahh, Good times!!!

But I jest, we actually do have all types of excursions planned exploring the Mayan runes, trying the indigenous cuisine (street food), and exploring the cenotes (caves in the Yucatán).   We also hope to go zip lining and maybe catch a catamaran to the island of Cozumel.

That is if winter lets us out of Winnipeg.  We do indeed have a large storm bearing down on us at the moment but by all accounts it should clear by morning.    Fingers crossed, expect some tales of grand adventure from my very first trip to a sunny destination!

Adiós mis amigos, te veo pronto. Ariba Ariba!