Lunch on-the-go: Vancouvers food cart vendors

I have finally discovered some of Vancouver’s much hyped-about street food vendors. Off on a hunt for some fast, cheap and yummy food, some co-workers and I took to the streets on a pleasantly warm and breezy day during the lunch rush. First stop: the famous Re-Up BBQ truck (you can follow them on Twitter @reupbbq) located right beside the Vancouver Art Gallery. It was a bit of a wait in line since there is literally one cook inside the little truck making coleslaw from scratch and assembling the pulled pork sandwiches à la carte. And even though there is only one thing on the menu, along with a couple types of drinks – real, Southern Iced Tea and Watermelon soda, somehow the line-up of customers continued to grow. And when I bit into my long-awaited sandwich, I understood why. The meat was tender with just the right amount of fat to make it moist, the barbeque sauce was tangy, sweet and smokey but not overpowering. Adding layers of texture was the coleslaw that is also served inside the sandwich. The coleslaw was crunchy not soggy and surprisingly spicy but gave the sandwich a deeper flavour profile. It was amusing to watch all types of customers (business men in their suits and ties, students with shoulder bags, dressed in jeans, t-shirts and sneakers and also some late summer tourists snapping pictures) standing in line at the food cart then happily munching away at the tasty sandwiches on the steps of the art gallery.

Next stop: the Ragazzi Pizza truck, a slick black truck parked under the shade near the Marine Building on Burrard between Hastings and Pender. I was very curious about exactly how tasty a pizza could be when baked inside a truck but I was pleasantly surprised. There wasn’t a wait for food since there was barely a line-up when we showed up; I’m not sure if this is related to their rather steep price point of $3 plus tax for a slice. Considering that $1 pizza joints are just a mere 3 blocks away from this truck. I ordered a slice of Primavera pizza which was served to me piping hot in one of those nifty triangular pizza slice boxes. I didn’t eat it until I carried the box back to the office but even then, the thin crust was still very crispy and the cheese was still warm. The pizza was a little bit on the salty side though but all in all, it was pretty tasty. I will definitely visit them again to try their Hawaiian pizza.