Food Truck Road Trip! (Guest Post)

We're in sunny California right now eating fish tacos - posts to come. Meanwhile, here's a guest post by Matt from his Niagara road trip.  

When I decided to visit the Niagara region to check out the emerging beer scene, I knew exactly what I’d be checking out for lunch. In her online food reading, Jen had stumbled across Gastronomo Vagabundo, which is a food truck in the St. Catharines area that specializes in fish tacos. Remember the “I believe...” speech from Bull Durham? Well, the way Kevin Costner feels about kisses is the way I feel about good fish tacos.

If you follow Gastronomo Vagabundo on Facebook, you can find out where their food truck is going to be. It is usually at Montebello Park in downtown St. Catharines, which, as luck would have it, was only a few minutes from my base of operations for my weekend road trip.

When I arrived with my brother-in-law Mike, we were greeted with this menu:

I decided to have the prawn tacos and the pork tongue fritters and in the name of research for Jen’s blog, Mike ordered one of everything. While we waited, we noticed everyone else who had ordered was also snapping pictures, so I didn’t feel too silly taking pictures of the menu and truck either. I’m sure they are used to the cell phone paparazzi by now.

So, how was it?

The prawn tacos were absolutely amazing. The tortillas were soft and the prawns were crispy and light and the sweet pineapple and mango hot sauce added freshness and a nice balance.

The pork tongue fritters were a nice surprise. I hadn’t had pork tongue before but had no reason to fear it. Pigs are magically delicious and their tongues are no different. It was just a tender little morsel of dark meat in a dry, crispy coating sprinkled with dukkah, which Google tells me is an Egyptian mix of herbs, spices and seeds or nuts.

The vegetarian tostada was exactly as advertised, with a nice bean mix, tomatoes, onions and cucumbers over a fresh, crispy-yet-chewy tostada. Although you can’t see it in the picture, there was fresh guacamole hiding in there too. You know what sucks about fresh guacamole? Nothing.

Not that we really needed it by this point, but the dessert managed to taste as good as it looked. The chocolate meringue was light and wonderful and the cocoa nibs were a nice surprise and added a bit of texture. I can only imagine how good their desserts will be once the fresh fruit starts coming off the vines in the Niagara region.

While I wish it was in my own city, Gastronomo Vagabundo was definitely worth seeking out and I get the feeling they will become a regular part of any upcoming Niagara road trips.