Eat Real YYC Food Trucking Event Calgary, AB... next up Edmonton's What the Truck Food Truck Extravaganza and Al Fresco block party June 9, 2012!

Posted by TastingTraveller

Food trucks, initially a novelty with mediocre at best food has evolved over the years with tasty niche foods for most food truckers along with its own strong following of fans. Some serve snacks, some serve entire meals, while some... just seem to breed and appear on almost every street corner - a snackers dream. In Calgary last weekend, they had the Eat Real YYC food trucking event, where plenty food trucks gathered at Casel Marche, a new super market that just opened on 17th Avenue... along with so many people, they looked like ants charging towards a picnic basket. It was super packed, with about 8 food trucks packed into a narrow street, and hundreds of people lining up to get food before it sells out. We got there at 1230...and divided and conquered - with the 3 of us each lining up for a different truck.
And so, with any of these food trucking events, we knew we were in for a wait... just hoped there was still food by the time we got up there! A real big downside with food trucks - they have limited space, so once they run out of food, too bad... so come early if you plan on attending next year!  I made a beeline for the Alley Burger Food Truck.

Food Trucks on the left...

A bright green noodle truck just around the corner!...

Commence random photos to kill time while waiting in line...

The truck finally comes into sight...

Weathered menu lovingly taped onto the side of the truck - yeah, I know... fancy!

A super cute red tip wagon at Red Wagon's food truck

Almost there... can see the window!

Alley Burger.... oh I've been waiting so long to eat you!!! Its not the same having your  "share burger" sit down version at Charcut.  I was so super excited that the 50 minutes in line seemed to just breeze by. The line was ridiculous, probably 50 people long! We filled out the order form for 3 Alley Burgers...

but 4 people before I ordered - they sold their last alley burger....BOOOO! Instead , I got Whole Truck Burger with Quebec cheese curds, an egg and the regular mixings. It was soooo delicious, the egg added a nice moisture to the burger. Unfortunately they were so busy they mixed up my other burger... yeah, I ordered 2 and they forgot my egg and bacon on my second burger.. so sad! :'(

Hello my precious....! Totally worth the wait.

Sweet success is met with the fries toppings...unfortunately they were sold out of poutine. But if you've had the duck fat fried poutine with truffled oil at Charcut...man it's gooooood.

Next success was the Grilled Cheese truck. These guys were incredibly busy. My brother ordered a grilled cheese with pickles, onions and other veggies with 4 types of cheese. 

It was pretty tasty - perhaps because we waited 45 minutes for them to cook our grilled cheese... or I was just plain starving but the time they served up the grilled cheese. Yes.. 45min after we paid, the grilled cheese was finally handed to us... Maybe they make the cheese from scratch in the back.

For $7 and 45min to prep a grilled cheese - it was quite small and unremarkable. Might be because they're new to the food truck scene for only 1 week? Hopefully they'll learn from this food trucking event and speed up service.

Next time, gotta go early to make sure you snag some food. You digest everything while waiting in the long line-ups! Next stop... Edmonton's What the Truck Food Truck Extravaganza  alongside Al Fresco block party, with plenty of food trucks including Battista’s Calzones, Carnival Cravings, Fat Franks, Filistix, The Lingnan, Molly’s Eats, Nomad, Smokehouse BBQ, The Act and hopefully many others. Food trucks participating in Al Fresco are donating a portion of their sales to Zebra Child Protection Centre. Eating for a good cause? I'm so there! Look for the trucks on Saturday June 9, 2012 5pm-11pm 104 Street from Jasper Avenue to 102 Avenue Bring your appetites and hope to see you out there!!