LOWE: Make way for Nomad Gourmet
Sometimes Halifax is slow on the uptake. That doesn’t faze Nick Horne in the least.
The mechanic/foodie-cum-streetside restaurateur is plotting, with wicked methodical muster, the next great takeover of the Halifax food scene.
Secret weapon? His Nomad Gourmet food truck, hitting Halifax streets in August.
While other cities have embraced gourmet street eats — Hamilton’s got Gorilla Cheese; Ottawa loves Relish — Halifax has maintained its practised wait-and-see stance.
Horne says his food truck will be a solution to what he calls “the lunch conundrum,” when you want great food but don’t have time for a great restaurant.
“Nomad,” he says, “bridges the gap.”
The truck will pick up where Bud the Spud falls from gastronomic grace.
Horne is targeting Haligonians, not tourists, and he’s not hawking grease.
“I’m a foodie at heart,” he says.
The 33-year-old cures his own charcuterie, bakes bread and puts away food from his 1,000-square-foot Tantallon garden.
Not what you might expect from a Beaver Bank boy who has spent his adult life as an auto mechanic.
Nomad Gourmet isn’t what you might expect from street food, either. There isn’t even a fryer on the truck.
Ah, the truck. Horne picked up his 1977 Chevy one-ton step van (like a Purolator truck but with a four sinks, a steam table, a griddle and two fridges) in Los Angeles, the street-food mecca, back in June.
“I ate a few tacos (in L.A.),” Horne says. “I ate some great carnitas.”
Horne planned his 12,000-kilometre, round-trip, truck hunt (because “down there, the trucks have no rust on them”) around a “beautiful,” red step van.
He soon discovered the truck’s kitchen wasn’t up to code.
That day?
“I ate at Denny’s,” he laments. Nomad Gourmet won’t feature anything close.
“We’re starting with fusion tacos,” Horne says. “Southwestern-inspired, pulled pork, brisket.” Nomad will have sandwiches, eastern Canadian dishes, some seasonal dishes, Hibiscus flower sweetened tea and agua frescas.
Horne’s only promise: “If something is working, you’ll see it stay.”
If the menu seems like a moving target, that’s precisely the point. Flexibility is what differentiates food trucks from bricks-and-mortar restaurants.
Street chefs were early adopters of social media tools like Twitter, where followers can find trucks as they move around. Horne is @NomadGourmet.
So will Nomad sneak from its city-sanctioned spot on Argyle across from the World Trade and Convention Centre?
We’ll see.
Horne likes that he’s subject to the same health inspection as regular restaurants and happy to rent his spot from the city because it offers stability.
But he wants to offer breakfast and current rules don’t allow vending before 9 a.m.
“The premise of a food truck is that it moves around,” he says. “But your vending licence with the city is tied to that spot and that spot only. So we are lobbying council to lift that so food trucks can share spots or have more than one spot.”
Lezlie Lowe is a freelance writer and taco-lover in Halifax. Follow her on Twitter @lezlielowe.
New Vistas for the Nomad Gourmet
Submitted by dennis.cato on July 20, 2012 - 8:30am.
"But your vending licence with the city is tied to that spot and that spot only. So we are lobbying council to lift that so food trucks can share spots or have more than one spot." (The Nomad Gourmet)
Well, let's hope the Nomad Gourmet gets his wish and, while he's at it, why not lobby to lift the ban on the hours as well? Fusion tacos, hibiscus flower sweetened tea and aqua fresca? They'd all be a great hit in Spryfield after dark.
“The premise of a food truck
Submitted by BC on July 20, 2012 - 9:06am.
“The premise of a food truck is that it moves around,” he says. “But your vending licence with the city is tied to that spot and that spot only. So we are lobbying council to lift that so food trucks can share spots or have more than one spot.”
Ha Ha Ha Change something in Halifax??? Will have to set up a committee and have public meetings, that way it looks like they are doing something but as usual, nothing gets changed.
Consultant report ?
Submitted by beejay on July 20, 2012 - 12:24pm.
You forgot the consultant's report, as city staff are not qualified to perfom such a task.
But at what cost?
Submitted by BSacamano on July 20, 2012 - 10:31am.
Looks like Lowe's written another column on a recent obession of urban hipsters. But just like Halifax, she's a bit behind the times. Google tells me that CNBC did a gourmet food truck article in 2010, the Globe had one in 2011, and the Toronto Star did several back in in the spring.
I have to confess that I'm surprised to see urban enthusiast Lowe arguing in favour of these trucks. Doesn't she know that unlike restaurants they pay no property tax, hire fewer workers, require fewer licences, and have no ongoing commitment to the area? Why, I bet that the owners just drive them out to some low-tax suburb (Tantallon, perhaps?) and take all that nice downtown revenue with them. In fact, one of the reasons they first appeared in L.A. was so operators could skirt the city's 'progressive' [bureaucratic] licensing and hygiene laws. They were were banned in Montreal back in the 40s for much the same reasons: concerns about hygiene and unfair competition with restaurants.
To be clear, I'm all for this. I think Nick Horne should be lauded for his initiative--we need more of it. But then, I'm a free market kind of guy. I find it interesting that someone who generally supports 'progressive' regulation to build strong urban communities suddenly switches sides when there's a chance to have the hippest new(ish) thing--just like they have in all the cool places!
Looking forward to something new and good!
Submitted by wsavary on July 20, 2012 - 1:40pm.
I'm looking forward to this! There's very little choice for grab and go food in the CBD. Sit down is boring. I walk something other than greasy fries or salty fat dogs. Bring it on! I sure hope backwards Halifax doesn't destroy this business with their draconian rules and thugish enforcement.
L.A. Mobile Food Trucks
Submitted by Luddite Len on July 20, 2012 - 2:18pm.
Greetings from Los Angeles! And congrats to Mr. Home! As a lover of Halifax I was very pleased to hear of Nick's awesome adventure in alternative grub. Here in rust-free L.A. we now have over a thousand food trucks!
It all started many years ago with simple trucks that basically catered to local building projects. In recent years these metamorphosed to gourmet trucks with gourmet chefs, ranging from highend latino food to kosher Korean (!) and to everything else in between. It's been a remarkable evolution. The food is inexpensive and consistently of very high quality.
So congratulations to Nick. We look forward to seeing him on our next trip east. And even though he doesn't plan on catering to tourists, we'd love to find his classic '77 Chevy and purchase a local lobster roll or some smoked salmon.
Go for it, Nick!