Stale Marshmallows

Yesterday was the first day of snow for the winter season that is taking over. There’s still snow and ice lingering outside and the temperature is predicted to stay below zero for the whole day. Somehow that just screams “FOOD TRUCK TIME”, well at least in my head it did. To twitter I go and what do we have here, The Perogy Boyz food truck is setup just off of 9^th street and 16^th avenue southeast. With an empty stomach and my camera I hit the road.

I arrive early and the truck’s side windows are closed but the menu is already out in front, combing it over I realize I’m about to buy a lot of food. Did I mention I’m Ukrainian and this is my ultimate comfort food. Borscht, kelbasa, perogies and what do we have here, carrot cake perogies? When they finally open and I jump to the head of the line I order borscht to start, tranditional perogies with kelbasa, saurkraut perogies with jalepeno cheddar sausage, duck perogies, and carrot cake perogies. This is a lot of food. I’d recommend eating a lot less. But it your daring then by all means order away.

The borscht is served to me right away, the smell of dill lingers heavy in the air, the soup has the welcoming red beet coloring and tastes incredible. There is lots of cabbage and bacon in the soup, I wanted bigger pieces of beets in it but it’s still working on so many levels. It’s cold and the soups so warm, I finish it off quickly waiting for the rest of my food to show, by this time quite a crowd has developed. There’s as least a dozen of us now waiting in the cold for food.

My four remaining courses arrive. I lay them out of the hood of my Jeep to snap and few photos and immediately throw a saurkraut perogy in my mouth. It’s hot, crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, a little green onion with it and it tastes great, the saurkraut isn’t too tangy but has the right bite with a little potato and onion mixed in for good measure. The dough is soft and is lightly fried on a flat top in the truck. The kelbasa is next and it’s cut into large medallion like slices and piled ontop of some sauted onions and bacon. The kelbasa is mild and goes well with the bacon and onion. The onions remind me of french onion soup, they are so soft and full of flavour, I’m putting them on everything there so good.

My next large container contains the traditional perogies and the jalepeno sausage. The sausage is a single link cut in half, first bite I don’t get much for heat until the end, once I’m about to move on I feel the heat fight back a little and swell up in me. It’s a good burn nothing major but you can tell the jalepeno is in there for sure. The sausage is locally sourced from Illichmans Sausage Shop and are made with no fillers or binders it’s just straight up meat and spices and it shows in the great taste. The traditional perogies are as expected, they take me back to simpler times, lightly flavoured with what I imagine is salt and pepper and then slightly brown on the flat top in butter. They are good, it’s like I’m at home and my moms making them. With the heat off in November and we’re eating outside for some reason.

Duck perogies. It sounds like a strange combination, but I felt obligated to try them. Just three to a small box they are served with a side of ponzu. I immediately eat all three of them without looking back. The fatty duck with saskatoon berries and light ponzu sauce go nicely together, it’s an interesting combination but in the end it’s way to much like gyoza and although I like gyoza I’m looking for more of the eastern european flavours that I’m now craving.

Now dessert, dessert perogies to be more specific. Sprinkled with powdered sugar and place on top of what I can only assume is a caramel molasses mixture these are just super. A spiced carrot, raisin and sweet potato mixture inside a perogy dough is just a solid idea, the caramel sauce is great for dipping although you really have to smear the perogy through this viscous sauce to really pick up enough of it.

It was a cold day to be hitting up a food truck, but definitely worth it. I’d stick to some borscht and one order of perogies with sausage, probably going with the traditional because they are really what you’re craving when you want perogies. The bacon and onion mixture you get with the perogies is a welcome addition and really adds to the meal. I got in contact with one of the Perogy Boyz after the fact and he assured me that his baba passed on the recipes willingly since you really can’t beat the original. A final pointer from the Perogy Boyz, perogies are meant to be boiled, then fried, it’s a two part process to give them that incredible texture. As for the dough, that secret is apparently going to the grave, so you’ll have to track down the Perogy Boyz truck the next time you’re craving some eastern european comfort food.

The Perogy Boyz truck started it’s life in LA. It’s a ’95 Chevrolet chassis on a complete custom build that finished up in November of 2010. It’s starting to look like the Chevy chassis is the food truck choice for a starter platform.

*NOTE: Wondering why I make reference to November? This review was originally written on the 5th of November of 2011. I only just manage to get it onto my site. It originally appeared on Beyond.ca.

One of my favourite cold day foods since moving to Calgary is Pho. Nothing beats trekking through the cold to get your hands on a big warm spicy bowl of soup. I never find Ph? to be all that filling which I swear really helped with this review. The Noodle Bus, one of the new food trucks to be roaming Calgary streets, taking up a location usually downtown before lunch and serving quick delicious food to the masses.

I arrived at the bus at 11:10. After snapping a few photos I make my way to the line (the whole 2 people ahead of me) and begin filling out the handy little paper order sheet, which really reminded me of ordering at other sit-down Pho restaurants. I ordered up Satay Beef and Sugarcane Shrimp skewers, the standard deep-fried springrolls, an order of Beef Noodle Soup with Satay and the round it all up Deep Fried Banana Fritters for dessert.

This was probably considerably more than what someone would normally order for lunch but I was determined to try out as much as possible, I could have ordered more but my figure comes first. My order went in at 11:14 and I was pleased to see them handing it all out to me by 11:19. Five minutes is damn good in my books for putting out this amount of food and I was even apologized to multiple times for how long the beef skewer was taking, I never even noticed, it was worlds faster than ordering from a restaurant.

A marble bench maybe 15 meters from the bus turns into my dining area and dive into the food. The first bite of the meal is into a deep-fried spring roll. Nothing out of the ordinary for me, all the flavours I’d expect are there, it’s hot, crispy and shining up my fingers as expected and tastes great.

Now for a Sugarcane Shrimp Skewer, my god this is good, the sugarcane makes the shrimp sweet, and yes while shrimp is sweet already this is just downright incredible, crunchy outside with a hot chewy centre, it’s good, I would come back just for these for sure.

The Satay Beef Skewers are next and I don’t mess around here, first few bites in and these are rich in flavour, not as much satay heat as I want but hey you have to appeal to the majority. Soy sauce and garlic are notable, with the peanut and chili pepper lingering in the background. I ate all three skewers back to back, possibly without breathing, it was all a blur at this point. With a little heat lingering in my mouth now I eyeball the satay beef soup.

Popping the lid off the soup releases a puff of steam I notice the beef, peanut and chili oil right away. It smells great, but I’m noticing right away that it seems a little mild. Taking a big swig of the broth it’s definitely a pretty standard Ph? broth but I’m enjoying it, the satay isn’t piled on like some places which I’ve become accustom to but I’m liking the mild heat and the subtle taste from the other ingredients. I have no idea how I never took a picture of the soup with the lid off but I chalk it up to being horribly dedicated to eating, the noodles are cooked nicely, I’d heard some people mentioning them getting soft so I made sure I was eating this as soon as possible after getting all my food. By eating right away outside the bus I’m finding everything is adequately in temperature and the noodles are cooked just the amount I like, cooked fully but not falling apart.

Now dessert, the deep-fried banana fritters. Two come in an order, with what I assume is the solids from coconut milk. They are warm, crispy, and my god amazing to eat, dipping them in the coconut dip makes this dessert just decadent. A very simple yet very delicious way to end the meal.

Overall the dining experience was quite enjoyable. Getting some nice hot food and sitting out in the fresh air eating made for a great lunch. The people running the Noodle Bus were friendly and dedicated to serving everyone quickly. The soup was light and didn’t leave the burn that you can get some some Ph? restaurants, springs rolls were greasy but flavourful just the way everyone likes them, the skewers were great and I can’t quite tell which ones I preferred more, they were both simply amazing. And the banana fritters, just so good. Prices seem fairly comparable to a sit down restaurant, my entire meal was 28 dollars but most people are not going to be found ordering three appetizers, soup and dessert from a truck. Considering the speed that they can get your ordering into your hands I’d say it’s worth the price. I’d definitely recommend hunting down these guys on a lunch hour, they tweet where they will be setup for lunch earlier in the day so you can plan your lunch accordingly and why not get out move around on your lunch break and help out some locals who are paving the way for great local food trucks.

And for all the motor heads the truck is a 1994 Chevrolet P30 with the 6.5L diesel.

http://twitter.com/thenoodlebus

*NOTE: This review was originally written on the 18th of October of 2011. I only just manage to get it onto my site. It originally appeared on Beyond.ca.