A Chip Truck Review

this train don’t go to paradise

by Alice Horwood

Last summer you could head north on Water St. past Trent, ’round the bend, crest the hill, and there it was...Paradise.

The food wagon that is. Where Michael Yates proved a chip-truck could be divine. The extensive menu featuring organic and vegetarian options including veggie gravy...wild salmon burgers...and the best fries I’ve ever had. Ever. And I’ve eaten a lot.

But alas, we’ve fallen from grace and Paradise is no more. So I was looking forward to hopping on the Gravy Train, Bucké Hawrish’s new venture in the heart of downtown.

Hard enough to look past the atmosphere - a dingy RV out back of the Pig’s Ear just isn’t a brightly painted wagon half-way to my favourite swimming hole - but I was prepared to like the food. And I do. I’ll certainly be eating here this summer (once I figure out when it’s open). (edtitrix’ note: see hours, click here.)

The burger is good in a straight-up kinda way, with an eastern flourish in the mayo. The bean burrito is a generous portion of homemade beans with a cooked salsa - but I agree with my dining companion - too autumnal. Some raw salsa, and lettuce’d make it more seasonally sapid.

The grilled veggie sandwich has delicious veggies on an indifferent white-bread bun. With two artisan bakeries within walking distance, there is no excuse for this. Good bread would make this one of the best quick lunches downtown.

And then there are the fries. I might forgive indifferent bread for great fries. But alas, these aren’t. They’re real potato but they tend towards limp and pallid. And the gravy is boring. I hear changes are in the works - maybe Bucké and co. could ask Michael for a lesson in crisp and golden. It still wouldn’t be Paradise, but I’d see light at the end of the tunnel.

In related news, it was with sorrow that I heard The Frog and Peach is no more. Sure wish I’d eaten there one last time. Maybe Stan Dueck’d be a saint and loan the ’Train his gravy recipe.