The Toasted Tangerine

The Toasted Tangerine, a moving target of rock n’ grub that doesn’t miss the mark. The sharp black and purple zebra-​striped mobile sandwich press has been on the road since November of last year and sprung forth from Adrian & Alyssa Tangerine’s passions for great food and Led Zeppelin. I like these people already. So fervent was their shared affection for the iconic rock band that before saying their «I do’s» Adrian legally changed his family name to Tangerine after the band’s epic rock ballad.
It’s a nice break for core dwellers’ turning carousel of choices between pan-​Asian, delis and pizza in subterranean food courts, each outpost looking like the last. For those willing to wait, good things will come and at roughly the same price. The only complaint from this food truck seeker is that not all the mouth-​watering options that appear online (
) are available at any given stop. Luckily the fragrant BBQ Chicken Sliders (tender oven roasted chicken pulled and tossed in house-​made BBQ sauce with tart apple poppy seed coleslaw on a whole wheat carrot bun) were good to go in their 100% recyclable packaging at $ 8 a pop. This was not an overly generous serving but then who wants to go back to the office to suffer through the afternoon in a meat coma? My partner in foodtruckery crime chose the fried Spinach and Ricotta Raviolis with fresh Marinara for dipping. Yes, lightly breaded fried ravioli, which made a delectable finger food lunch selection. It all finished especially well by sharing their berry/​lemon/​vanilla bean trifle which is somehow both light and rich at the same time.
The Tangerine’s home base café, Marish’s Boulangerie, nestled on the Lake Shore in Port Credit (possible the only thing that could entice me to visit Mississauga) is famous for its sweets, so it’s no wonder to find lunch time dessert options and sweet sensations mingling with the savoury. Items like the Slow Rider (slow roasted whole pork shoulder topped with a strawberry BBQ glaze and pineapple & jalapeño coleslaw served on a 5-​Grain ciabatta bun) and the Heartbreaker (old-​fashioned smoked turkey, applewood smoked bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, crispy fried onions & fresh peach mustard, also served on their 5-​Grain ciabatta bun) would prompt me to chase this mobile foodie delight from location to location. These guys truly are living reflection from a dream.

I ordered the fried vegetarian ravioli and the pulled pork sandwich. The ravioli was delicious but the portion is pretty small. Four pieces. It works as a snack but not as a lunch. The pulled pork was very dry there was no sauce on it. I don’t know if they do t include it or just forgot iton my order but I couldn’t finish it it was so dry. Not worth the money or the line up.

I waited 45 minutes to order… and then proceeded to wait an hour for the food itself to be made. Terrible. They were setting up shop in the middle of the financial district in Toronto during lunch hour, so they can’t use the excuse that they were not set up to cater to such a large crowd. If they can’t handle it, they shoudnt do business there. It was clear that the kitchen didn’t take into account the possibility of a high volume of customers. At some point the two girls taking orders had nothing to do, instead of making themselves productive by helping the guys cook the food, they stood around drinking their Nesteas. Awful. The long wait time and lack of business acuman for mediocre food was enough for me to never go again.

The Toasted Tangerine, along with three other food trucks, showed up outside South of Temperance today. After hearing some coworkers come back from a different truck (the one with the shortest line-​up) rave about it, I headed over. It was apparently a BIG DEAL, CTV was there and I might have even ended up on TV. I’m not sure why it was so exciting, it’s just people getting lunch. You’d find just as many people in any food court in the financial district. The main difference between the food truck and the food court is that the food court is setup to serve that many people!
I waited about 25 minutes to pay the Toasted Tangerine $ 8 for two pulled pork sliders. Then I had to wait another 40 minutes before I got the food. It’s pretty clever what they do… once they have your money you’re stuck waiting as long as they want to cook your food. No restaurant would ever get away taking 40 minutes to prepare a lunch, let alone for a take-​away lunch.
The food itself was pretty good, but unsubstantial (especially when it’s an hour past your lunch time). You pay a lot for the food you get too: $ 8 for two sliders, smaller than a single sandwich is a lot!
High prices, long waits, average food, small portions… it just doesn’t add up for me.

Seems I’m in Toronto food truck central. Caplanskys, Food Cabbie and Toasted Tangerine are all a short walk for me. Suits me fine!
Pros: The food’s good. I had the pulled chicken and pepper crusted bacon club. Plenty of pepper, tasty, bacony, the sandwich was filling and the only negative was the honey mustard which I think detracted rather than serve as a counterpoint to the pepperiness of the bacon.
Cons: It’s the busiest of the trucks so when there’s a crowd, there’s a 15 – 20 minute wait. The crowd also blocks the sidewalk so if you’re just passing through, you need to make your way through the people oblivious to the fact that they’re in the way.
Now all that area needs is a place to sit and eat when the weather warms up.

One trend that I have no problem admitting that I am all for is the new trend of the Food Truck. Recently with the popularity of the tv show Eat Street it seems that everyone is craving the food truck and The Toasted Tangerine is just what this city needs to help with those cravings.
So far in Toronto you are able to find a couple of food trucks around but for the most part its just a bunch of junk. Enter The Toasted Tangerine, finally a truck that has decided to start serving a more high end (or gourmet if you will) style of food. With such items as the Smoked Salmon BLT (which I tried and it was fantastic) or a Bacon Triple Grilled Cheese Sandwich (which my eating companion tried, and it looked amazing!!!) or the BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwich or Steak Sandwich. The Toasted Tangerine also offers some great Soups and Chili as well as a killer Coleslaw and many other options.
The Toasted Tangerine is exactly what I’ve been waiting for in Toronto and I’m hoping just the tip of the culinary food truck iceberg.