Street Food in Toronto

[Pere Hugo]

I am sure there is a simple expanation for the monotony of hot dog/sausage vendors in Toronto. Other cities have a lively variety of various hot food vendors serving pedustrians.

Why don't we have, say, empanadas or chicken parmesan or pho or falafel or even bagels?

Is this because of minicipal licencing provisions, or we are just too boring in our tastes? I thought Toronto had come a long way in the last 30 years.

[Kenk]

This also puzzles me.

Because of the sheer monotony, I cannot stand the smell of the Toronto street vendors anymore. The hotdogs at best are mediocre most are bad. They are just standard supermarket type hot dogs. I also don't like the size of the hot dogs. I actually think they are way too big. They are usually between 4 - 6 to a pound. I would prefer smaller ones 10 - 8 to a pound. I even like the 12 to a pound hot dogs, they can fill the light snack category.

Some of the sausages I have tried are OK.

I cannot figure out why there is not any other things sold on the street, I guess this leaves a business opportunity to someone.

[Jake]

There used to be a fabulous falafel cart near Robarts at U of T -- mmmm

Of course, that was in the mid eighties and I have no idea if it still exists. Many students didn't even know what falafel was then....

[bobsdf]

Is this because of minicipal licencing provisions, or we are just too boring in our tastes?

I think you've identified the two biggest factors.

[rgruby]

Is this because of minicipal licencing provisions, or we are just too boring in our tastes?

I think you've identified the two biggest factors.

It's licencing. Food Health safety regs basically only allow hot dogs (and perhaps other precooked products). The chip wagons are a bit different - they're basically restaurants on wheels, with all the food inspection and sanitation requirements of a resto.

I looked into this a couple of years ago as I wanted to bring a non - hot dog street food to our streets. I gave up pretty quickly after a couple of meetings with city bureaucrats. Not worth the hassle. If you want I can probably find the reg or the by-law that limits us to hot dogs. (I think it is actually a provincial reg that limits us to hot dogs, but the municipal by-laws limit where carts can be located, their dimensions etc etc etc etc.)

And, I also heard a rumour that the street food vending industry industry may be, er, overseen, shall we say, by some non-savoury fraternal organizations whose origins lie outside of this country. I have NO idea whether this is true or not, but it also gave some concern about the practicality of trying to get our idea off the ground.

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby

[Kenk]

Was that the same food inspection and sanitation that didn't shut a single restaurant down for 20 years up to a couple of years ago?

[Pere Hugo]

Well, with a brand new regime in City Hall, can something political be done to change the "rules" to date?

Now, I know there are weightier things on the municipal agenda, but could some benighted councillor be persuaded to bring the subject of our woefully inadequate public thoroughfare victuals to the attention of council? It might lighten their daily statutary load with a bit of cheer. After all isn't a decent lunch what it's all about?

( My own powers of persuasion are blunted by the unfortunate fact that I am not a taxpayer or voter of Toronto; just to the west actually. But we do work and spend a significant time there.)

Here's to pho

[riboflavinjoe]

and in montreal we cant get no hotdogs, and everyone complains about it. i want hotdogs!

[malcolmjolley]

Harrumph!

1st of all: I will happily defend the great Toronto Street Meat! There are times when only a hot sausage slathered with ball park, sauerkraut, hot banana peppers and sliced kosher dills will do. Shame on you all, I say, for denigrating a great Hogtown culinary institution!

2nd of all: How could we forget the great Upper Canadian Chip Truck? Doesn't this count?

[Kenk]

I can easily criticize the street meat. Most of the hot dogs are no better than Shopsy/Maple Leaf. These are average supermarket dogs. I do not like the taste or texture of these dogs. More accurately I do not like the lack of taste or texture of these dogs. I dream of the day natural casing all beef hot dogs with a good balance of spice and texture are available.

The one time I ordered from a chip truck in TO they handed me a portion of fries that had been sitting for at least 10 minutes and when I asked for fresh ones they dumped the cold ones back in the oil. I walked away!

In Ottawa I have only seen fresh and excelent chips from a chip wagon, the hot dogs are even worse than those in TO. Most use Lesters, blech.

[malcolmjolley]

Pardon my zealotry, but this is rather like complaining that the cheese in a grilled sandwich in a diner is processed, not craft made extra old cheddar. IT AIN'T SUPPOSED TO BE!

I grew up on this stuff and there's comfrot level there. I don't want fancy-shmansy. I want a good old street meat with all the fixins for $3.

(Mind you, one doesn't actually order a "hot dog"; one orders a sausage (Polish, Hot Italian, Bratwurst, etc.)

[riboflavinjoe]

I second malcolm here. A visit to Toronto is incomplete without my street vendor hot dog. It's like a visit to Montreal, for my dad, is incomplete without a smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz.

[GordonCooks]

Pardon my zealotry, but this is rather like complaining that the cheese in a grilled sandwich in a diner is processed, not craft made extra old cheddar. IT AIN'T SUPPOSED TO BE!

I grew up on this stuff and there's comfrot level there. I don't want fancy-shmansy. I want a good old street meat with all the fixins for $3.

(Mind you, one doesn't actually order a "hot dog"; one orders a sausage (Polish, Hot Italian, Bratwurst, etc.)

Ditto

[Joobu]

There's a couple chinese food vans on the St. George UofT stretch. As, uh, appealing as they are, I'd rather hop past the street meat and chinese food vans down to Spadina or Baldwin and go to a restaurant.

[Kenk]

Yes I know,

Toronto is certainly not New York!

Why would I expect a good hot dog to be sold by the street vendors in Toronto?

I don't! I don't buy them either!

Getting a hot dog from street vendors in TO is more like getting a smoked meat sandwich in Montreal from Ben's rather than Schwartz's.

By the way if I do get street meat, I would get a sausage. I like to get them warmed up without getting all hacked and slashed. I like to keep the juices in and keep the crunch from the casing.

[malcolmjolley]

You gotta get a sausage - and I think it depends on the vendor, too. There's a guy who perches at Liberty and Jefferson Streets who has a fine hot italian. I'm sure we could get a list together of the better carts around town.

I don't mind the criss-crossing, since it results in more surface area for crispy bits.

Like the Ben's/Schwartz's comparison, though.

[rgruby]

You gotta get a sausage - and I think it depends on the vendor, too. There's a guy who perches at Liberty and Jefferson Streets who has a fine hot italian. I'm sure we could get a list together of the better carts around town.

Are the sausages or dogs any different from vendor to vendor? They all look and taste pretty similar to me - although there can be differences in how long they've been sitting around, overcooked and so on. I look more to the range of condiments than the actual dog/ sausage, but maybe I've been missing out on some of the subtler flavour variations among Toronto street meat.

What are your fave non-dog TO street faves? The U of T vendors, Little India corn on the cob in the fall have been mentioned. I've seen a guy in Little Korea/ Koreatown (whatever it's called) set up with a little barbeque outside one of the restaurants on Bloor cooking what I think are fish cakes of some sort. (As an aside I had my first pork bone soup today. It will not be my last.) Last year there were crepe stands on Baldwin and down on Harbourfront. Are there other little stands of non-conformity - perhaps out in the 'burbs - serving up interesting street food?

As a further aside - does anyone here think the TO food media could do with something like Asimov's $25 and under in the NYTimes? The alterna weeklies delve into this a bit, but not enough in my NTLBHO.

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby

[Gul_Dekar]

I suppose those Chinese trucks on St. George are really just catering to busy students who don't have the time or luxury to go to Chinatown restaurants for food. And besides, I've tried a few of them, and the one in front of Robart's now has very good fried tofu with black bean sauce. And the one further down is also pretty decent considering the price you pay and has good variety as well. Don't like Ken Ho's tho, they don't give you enough for the price you pay and the food's not that good either.

[phoenix12]

I imagine that it is a "health board" issue mostly......what a shame.

When I lived in Portland, OR, I was surprised to see that there was almost a city block downtown devoted to every imaginable street food, all purveyed from moblie vans.

I am uncertain of how strict the health code was, but I knew of no one that was ill as a result of partaking.

We could certainly use sometthing like that here.