Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

When this food truck is open for business their sign is obscured so you may not know they are the  San Juan Family Farm Food Truck . I would have just walked by them at the  Shipyards Night Market  in my search for vegan eats if I hadn't seen their intriguing sign advertising a Bolivian masala. It's not like you see Bolivian food that often. Anyway, no idea if its "authentic" Bolivian food, but it turned out pretty tasty. Organic Bolivian Coconut Masala Plate ($10 for veggie vegan)  comes with coconut rice, red quinoa, red pepper, corn, peas, spinach, red cabbage, garden herbs Sign says $10 but when I paid for VISA it was $10.25. Hmm... $10 seemed a bit steep for quantity, BUT the price point was generally high at all the food trucks, so can't complain much here. Quantity in comparison with other rice dishes available seemed fair. Bonus points for pretty presentation. Bonus points for composition! Very nicely thought out with rice spread out evenly ...

Turns out looking for vegan eats at the Shipyards Night Market is pretty easy, with many vendors offering at least one such itemon their menu. Johnny's Pops caught my eye because of it, and because the popsicle I tried had intriguing ingredients. The strawberry basil balsamic popsicle ($3.50 or 3 for $10) has intense real strawberry flavour (like eating real strawberries, including a slightly slimy real-pulp texture, but quite sour) with noticeable hints of basil and balsamic to make the flavour less predictable and more intriguing. Overall, interesting to try but for me (personal preference) the sourness was somewhat off-putting. I do normally like sour desserts to end dinner on a lighter note but in a citrusy way.

SLOOOW service on the Saturday I was there. Looked like newbies in the food cart, which made for a long lineup and a long time to get our one burger. Grilled Mushroom Cheese Burger in Gluten Free Bun ($9 +$1 for gluten-free bun) My friend's order so I didn't get to try this but she said the vegan patty was crunchy. Hmm. Gummy daiya cheddar cheese also kinda gross looking. Don't look, just eat. Cheese Fries ($5, or $4 with burger) Portion is OK. "Cheese" is some sort of pulpy mix that didn't have the same gummy texture of the Daiya that was in the mushroom burger. Tasty for being salty. Pretty decent for $14 and the fries can help make it a filling meal. I wouldn't spend half my lunch hour waiting in line and waiting for my order, though. TIP: Look for their truck that pulls the food cart! It's probably nearby at metered parking which they have to feed periodically. I just think it's a curious indication of the cost of doing bus...

You may remember my post on Soft Peaks  and how to properly evaluate what you get for the price you pay. Vegan Pudding & Co. is going to be another of those posts. If you are not vegan, there is not much reason to go. Price for portion is absolutely atrocious. Yeah, it's organic. But you get how much? A half cup for $4 after tax? (And by the way, thanks ever so much for using plastic containers that remind me of urine sample containers at BC Biomedical Laboratories). BUT... If you are vegan, beggars can't be choosers. Does Vegan Pudding & Co. have a tasty product? Yes. Can you get more donut at Cartems Donuterie for your money. Yes. But you wanted dessert and you insisted on what omnivores can have but you cannot. So cough up $4. At least you won't be disappointed. I got to try Vanilla (weak flavour), Strawberry (decently clear flavour but watery), and Matcha (interesting flavour! -- try this). TIP: If you see their foldable cardboard spoons, ask fo...

It's always nice to find lowest-common-denominator food that is tasty. In this case, vegan with gluten-free option food from Gypsy Trunk Gourmet Fare , which I tried at the Shipyards Night Market. They are pretty much the only clearly vegan cart around. For dessert, go into the big warehouse behind the live band and check to see if Vegan Pudding & Co. is there. The Gypsy Burrito ($12) tortilla (whole grain or rice), Field Roast grain sausage (apple sage, italian, or chipotle), black beans, fresh cooked brown rice, grilled red onion, guacamole, cilantro, Daiya mozzarella, Frank's Hot Sauce, and either dried cranberries or tomatoes Your choice of sausage. With the apple sage, to keep the sweet theme, they ask if you want to sub your tomatoes with dried cranberries. I recommend you ask for this instead of boring tomato, for all your sausage options. Cranberries gives the whole thing an interesting light sweetness that juxtaposes the otherwise savoury item. The wrap i...

Tried two appetizers from the Malay Family food cart at the Shipyards Night Market . Before I go into my review, it bears reminding that every restaurant (and food cart) probably has gems and duds. And yes, sometimes you get two duds in a row. That does not mean the whole establishment needs to be slammed with 1/5 stars on Yelp or what not. It just means someone (like me) has saved you from ordering the wrong thing. Spring Rolls (5 for $6.30) These were almost as narrow as an El Monterey Taquito , and shorter. The result is a fairly thick layer of spring roll skin (over 2 mm?) and therefore only a narrow amount of vegetarian filling. Basically all you taste is cabbage. The provided sauce is sweet and barely has any spicy kick to it. Nevertheless you will want some so as to have some flavour other than cabbage. Nicely fried -- not oily on the outside. Curry Puffs (5 for $6.30) A bit smallish. Maybe two = 1 cup in volume. Vegetarian potato curry filling was really decent. No ...

The Creme Brûlée Cart features creme brûlée from the fridge, sugar torched on site, and additional toppings on top. Watch them do it -- if there's just one person in the cart, they prepare it quickly and immediately after taking an order, instead of lining up multiple orders and calling out names. That was the procedure at Off The Grid in El Cerrito during my trip in early 2015-April . It wasn't clear to me that the toppings would be on top since the ingredients are simply listed after the name. The website says it more clearly. Sweet Southern Lady ($6?) Vanilla bean creme brûlée torched to perfection and topped with candied pecans and bourbon caramel drizzle You get a small but fairly deep cup of cream, and with the Sweet Southern Lady you can see quite a bit of the tiny black vanilla beans in the cream, though most seemed to have settled on the bottom. Didn't really see how well they torched the sugar, but I didn't get any burnt taste, so it must have been...

While I was in Berkeley, CA in early April-2015 , my friend took me to Off The Grid at San Pablo Avenue and Fairmount  -- a food cart fest featuring a rotation of 10 food trucks. One of the food trucks we tried was Drewski's Hot Rod Kitchen . Drewski's has an interesting menu with fusion creations and some use of fruits in their sandwiches. At Off The Grid , they had a "Special" ($9): Tri-tip in a French roll, with pickled daikon, apple, carrots, cilantro, chili serrano , and aioli. The use of chili could blow it for some people, so watch out if you are not good with hot-spicy foods. Instead of picking out the chilis, ask them if they can hold the chili because some chili seeds may still remain in the roll after you pick out the pieces. There was sadly just an OK amount of what was really tasty tri-tip -- tender, moist, and in a sweet sauce. Pretty decent value for $9 -- this price considering that food trucks tend to be more expensive but you do not have to...

The cost to enter the ring of over 20 food carts at the Vancouver food Cart Fest is $2 or a non-perishable donation, but free for Vancity or Car2Go Members. It is on every Sunday until the end of August. If you are cheap and don't want to pay $2 to browse 20+ food carts because you will likely only eat from one or two (unless you have a team of buy-and-share foodies), there is the free alternative on the North Shore every Friday: The Twilight Market. FRIDAY Nights 5-10pm at The SHIPYARDS in lower Lonsdale, North Vancouver Over 80 vendors, over 30 Food Trucks, Great music, Local Artisans, BEER GARDEN! Activities for all ages! Not only can you get in for free, but there are food and crafts vendors, beer, live music, and it runs till the end of September. And it's right at the waterfront district, so you don't even have to eat there necessarily, and instead choose from dozens of interesting eateries in a one block radius and beyond.

The pies are basically $8 each at the Aussie Pie Guy food truck . Which either sounds okay or expensive depending on what you compare it to. It's pricey compared to a special at A&W, but a few bucks less than a typical burger at a sit-down restaurant. Whatever you do, though, don't open up your pie to peek inside. I did that. Big mistake. Chances are, you will be disappointed. I took the top off a Shane's Pie and there was an off-centre dollop of what looked like BBQ sauce but which was probably the advertised apricot hoisin sauce. So now I'm biased against what looks like lazily put together assembly line pies with not enough of certain ingredients. Same with the Sweetie Pie my friend got. We were like, "where's the custard"? Shane's Pie ($8) A signature pie created by our friend Shane. Tender free range BC beef short rib and vegetables with a red wine au-jus and apricot hoisin sauce over mashed potatoes. As mentioned above, there was appar...