For all those TIFF goers who are part cinephile and part foodie, the schedule of gourmet food trucks parked outside the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema has been posted.
Beginning Friday, a rotating roster of three food trucks will be in front of the cinema — a main festival venue — between 7 p.m. and midnight.
Filmgoers can munch on tacos, pulled-pork sandwiches, lobster rolls, Korean Yam fries and much more, while they’re waiting in line, or refuelling during screenings.
Area residents are also in for a treat because the trucks, which will be parked outside 506 Bloor St. W., are accessible to anyone.
Mark Macdonald, the founder of the Toronto Food Trucks website, worked with TIFF to create a food truck component to the festival. The trucks can park on Bloor St. as part of the festival’s lane closure permit.
“I think it’s a natural partnership and it’s generating a lot of excitement,” said Macdonald, a web designer who’s also a food lover.
In Toronto, food trucks have had a “break out year,” he says, and what better way to show off the great street food that our city has to offer than in pairing up with a festival that showcases this city.
Matt Basile, owner of Fidel Gastro’s food truck, is looking forward to reaching out to a new, and nocturnal, clientele. (Most truck service is during the day.)
He’ll be serving his regular menu of “Extremo Sandwiches,” but plans to add some extra dishes. Among them is the Alabama Tailgater, a skewer of deep-fried balls made of bacon, beef carpaccio, cheddar cheese and crushed jalapeos, served with chili aioli. He’s also working on a Nutella-and-espresso pulled-pork sandwich — it has yet to be named — served with plantain chips.
“This is will be a great opportunity to do a night service (at an event) that already has a lot of entertainment buzz around it,” said Basile. “And you never know who’s going to be eating your food.”
So is there someone in particular he’d like to serve?
“I love Christopher Walken,” he says of the American actor who’s starring in A Late Quartet, which is screening at the festival.
“If Christopher Walken eats a sandwich off my truck, I’ll rename it The Christopher Walken truck.”
Here are the food trucks that will be outside the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema:
• Sept. 7: Buster’s Sea Cove, Food Dudes, Per Se Mobile.
• Sept. 8: Gourmet Bitches, Gourmet Gringos, Hogtown Smoke.
• Sept. 9: Food Dudes, Hogtown Smoke, Per Se Mobile.
• Sept. 10: Caplansky’s, Curbside Bliss Cupcakes, Blue Donkey Streatery.
• Sept. 11: Food Dudes, Hula Girl Expresso, Stuft Gourmet Sausages.
• Sept. 12: Per Se Mobile, Rome’n Chariot, Urban Smoke Fusion BBQ.
• Sept. 13: Caplansky’s, Fidel Gastro’s, Pretty Sweet Cupcakes.
• Sept. 14: Blue Donkey Streatery, Gourmet Bitches, Gourmet Gringos.
• Sept. 15: Buster’s Sea Cove, Hogtown Smoke, Rome’n Chariot.
• Sept. 16: Fidel Gastro’s, Gourmet Gringos.
