Lunch Pick: Street Meet Food Truck

left: crispy risotto balls stuffed with braised pork and drizzled with a basil-truffle aioli. right: The Street Meet. Photos by Anya Levykh

VANCOUVER

Once could say that the street food scene in Vancouver has undergone a renaissance in the last three years, but that wouldn’t be quite accurate, since it wasn’t very good to begin with. A more accurate term might be chrysalis. For years, we were the caterpillar to other cities’ butterflies—aswith Portland, Oregon, for instance. And while we still don’t have a city of food “pods” with hundreds of options, what we do have is varied, inventive and flavourful. Yes, we’ve broken out of our cocoon of hot dogs and roasted chestnuts in favour of real food.

Take Street Meet, for instance. This cheerful, sunshine-coloured food truck opened a few months ago and specializes in tastes from around the Mediterranean region. The menu revolves around what’s fresh, seasonal and locally produced, kind of like the owners, chefs Alessandro Vianello and Mike Carter.

Carter and Vianello seem to run a straight-up business. The truck runs on propane, all containers and utensils are fully biodegradable, their used cooking oil is sold to a local bio-diesel co-op, and, most importantly, all ingredients are sourced and traceable. Sloping Hill pork, Polderside chicken and Ocean Wise seafood are staples.

Salt Spring Island lamb and creamy local feta on a hefty bun

Potato chips

A recent visit had me trying the lamb burger ($12), with Salt Spring Island lamb and creamy local feta on a hefty bun. The meat was cooked perfectly, with a hint of pink and a lot of juice. The burger came with a large mound of crispy potato chips that had the barest hint of grease. The crunch on these was fantastic, to the point where the person sitting next me on the park bench where I chowed down looked affronted at the level of noise I was producing (yeah, don’t eat these next to a sleeping baby). The crispy risotto balls ($5) were another standout item, stuffed with braised pork and drizzled with a basil-truffle aioli.

Finish off with some of the Sicilian cannoli ($3/each or $5/two) – lovely cones filled with tiramisu cream – and you have a meal fit for the gods.

Located at Burrard St. & Pender St. | www.streetmeettruck.ca

Hours: Monday-Friday, 11:30am-3pm