Burrito Pilgrimage: Going to Sooke to find the Ginger Brothers Burrito Truck.

The Ginger Brothers sling burritos in the parking lot at Slegg Lumber, along the Sooke Road. It may at first seem like an odd location, but actually there is a lot of logic to it. Slegg is a hub for people in the trades, and often they happen to be hungry when they arrive at the parking lot. This is the same reason that Home Depot always puts a franchise food place right beside its cash registers. The difference between Home Depot and Slegg, though, is that Slegg is hosting a locally owned business that serves up original and delicious food. Home Depot offers a franchise named after an underground train tunnel system in New York, and the food there is rather unsavory. Let’s talk then about burritos.

Kris and Jay, the Ginger Brothers, are not really brothers, but they are really redheads. Each was working in contracting when they decided to go in together on a burrito wagon. Two hundred and fifty hours of renovation later (they are contractors, after all) the Ginger Brothers cart was born. There isn’t anything quite like it in Victoria. The outside of the truck is covered over in chalk paint, and different messages adorn the walls. Both proprietors go on about how they have stopped selling Nestle products. Nestle is simply doing too much evil right now. They were sad to stop providing San Pellegrino pops, though. People love those, but they are a subsidiary of Nestle.

You can find Ginger Brothers Burritos, breakfast and lunchtimes, at Slegg from Tuesday to Friday, at the Sooke Night Market, and also on weekends at the Western Speedway. The Ginger Brothers are also working their way into some festivals this summer. Keep your eye out for them. They have a Facebook page, so if you are curious how to track them*, that would be a good way.

This is a new venture. It was a ten-week old business at the time I conducted the interview, but already they are covering their costs. It seems like business is an even split between Slegg shoppers and people who are driving in specifically for the burritos. To me it was a small pilgrimage to travel up through the odd assortment of strip malls and persnickety flowerbeds that form the sacred organs of Langford into Slegg’s parking lot. The penitential bus ride was worth it. The burritos are hearty and satisfying. I tried a beef one, but a lot of people where swearing by the breakfast option. It was the original reason the Ginger Brothers came together: to create a truly amazing breakfast burrito.

How the “brothers” will operate through the winter is still a bit of a mystery**. Each still enjoys taking building contracts when they come around, and it could be tough to operate a food truck with such large windows in the lashing rain of winter…but maybe they will work something out. Dining on the benches in the warm summer was certainly a congenial experience for this writer.

*As of August 1, 2015, the Ginger Brothers Burrito truck will be found, Mon-Sat 10am-6pm at 354 Harbour Rd, Victoria West.  This is at the Beta at Dockside Green.  These are the same great burritos, now in a new and more accessible location!

**There’s talk that the Dockside Green Location will stay open all winter. More to come…

Ginger Brothers Burritos

2901 Sooke Rd

Victoria, British Columbia

(778) 922-1700

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