Food Television News

Cooking Channel April 2011 Highlights – Two Tasty Premieres: ‘Eat Street’ and ‘Unique Eats’ + The ‘Urban Grocer’ and New Episodes of Cooking Channel Favorites
New series 'Eat St.' captures 'revolution' in gourmet food, says host

TORONTO - Canadian comedian James Cunningham has noticed what he calls a "revolution" taking shape in North America's gourmet food world — mouth-watering mobile meals.

As host of the Vancouver-produced series "Eat St.", debuting Wednesday on Food Network Canada, Cunningham has been travelling around the U.S. (with a stop in B.C. as well) for the past nine months to profile popular street eats. (Will also be shown on the Cooking Channel starting April 12, 2011 8:00 PM )

Along the way, he's noticed that many food trucks and carts these days are far from your average greasy-spoon street stop — they're run by professional chefs serving comfort dishes with a gourmet edge.
"With what's been happening with the economy ... we have all these great chefs looking for a way to bring their food to the people," the Toronto native said in a recent interview.

"Either you sink a whole bunch of money into a restaurant, or you do what they did and get really creative and you open up a food truck and serve this great gourmet stuff to people on the street.
"It's a gourmet restaurant without the restaurant."

The first episode of "Eat St." (airing at 9:30 p.m. ET) opens with a profile of the Grilled Cheese Truck in Los Angeles, which has a rabid following and a menu that includes the Cheesy Mac&Rib (with southern-style macaroni and cheese, pulled smoked pork and caramelized onions) and the Brie Melt (made on cranberry-walnut bread with sliced pears and honey).

Then it's off to Austin, Tex., to visit two stationary trailers — Izzoz Tacos and the G'Raj Mahal, which serves authentic Goan dishes from Goa, India. The final stop is Schnitzel & Things mobile food truck in New York City.
The second episode visits the Brunch Box in Portland, Ore., which has the Redonkadonk burger — dressed with a fried egg, spam, ham, turkey and bacon stuffed between two grilled cheese sandwiches.

It just blows your mind because whenever you walk up to a street truck you think: 'Oh, I'll get a hot dog, I'll get my little gyro, or I'll get my fries," said Cunningham, whose TV credits include "Last Comic Standing" and "Just for Laughs."
"And what comes out of that window is just unbelievable."

"Streeteries" profiled in upcoming episodes include a lobster cart, a pulled-pork truck and a mobile converted school bus that serves classic French cuisine, including escargot and French onion tart.

In B.C., stops include Victoria's Red Fish Blue Fish (a stationary retrofitted shipping container that serves seafood) and Vancouver's Japa Dog cart, which serves hot dogs with a Japanese twist.

"It seems like Vancouver's on the cutting edge of food trucks in terms of Canada, for now," said Cunningham, noting B.C. has better weather for street food than most parts of the country.

"But I think once the show starts to air, (more street food) is going to pop up. My brother is actually a chef and he saw the first episode and he was like, 'That is brilliant. ... Your public is right there, you get instant feedback.'"

Curbside cuisine also gets a lot of online buzz these days as customers use social networking sites to track down the whereabouts of their favourite food trucks. The Grilled Cheese Truck, for instance, has over 16,000 followers on Twitter.

An "Eat St." App that uses GPS to track street fare near you is also available for download as of April 4.
Cunningham said most of the street-food businesses the show visited seemed to be thriving, with long lineups that caused some trucks to run out of food.

Customers enjoy street fare so much because it's an experience, he noted.
"Something happens when you take the food outside, I don't know what it is, but it's been a really great experience.
"Unfortunately it hasn't really blossomed as much as it could up in Canada, but I think it's coming here."

The Urban Grocer Premieres Sunday, April 10th at 8pm ET/5pm PT  Join the Urban Grocer, Caitlin Zaino, as she tours the best, freshest urban food spots in Buenos Aires, Argentina. From the posh to the underground, from the main stream to the off-the-beaten-path, Caitlin seeks to discover the most innovative, cutting edge foodstuffs this city has to offer. She plans to capture the heart and soul of the new generation that leads the way in nouveau Argentine food and to find out what they care about while discovering how the city’s history informs the way that they are now defining the future.