TAKING IT TO THE STREETS
Just in time for summer, Dash joins Ottawa’s growing food-truck scene
If you come across Mike Beck’s new Dash Mobile Cookery food truck, and he happens to be serving his Cuban-inspired Sour Orange Braised Pork on a bun, it will probably take just a couple of minutes from the time you step up to the window to order until you’re chowing down.
In those first few juicy bites, you may get a taste of the overnight marinating, then nine or so hours’ slow braising it took to make that sandwich (he shares his recipe on page C3). But you wouldn’t begin to guess how much sweat and time went into getting his shiny new food truck this far.
“I probably had the business plan for a food truck 10 years ago,” says Beck, 42, who says he’s “been cooking since before cooking was cool.”
For the last year, Beck — a graduate of the Charlottetown Culinary Institute who has cooked at such spots as the Manx Pub, Juniper, Wakefield’s Soupçon — has devoted most of his waking hours to working on his truck in his West Wellington driveway.
“I bought it last March in a field near Pearson Airport — because Ottawa isn’t very industrial, there aren’t a lot of trucks around here,” says the father of two, who grew up in Barrhaven. “I planned for a three-month build, but I wasn’t finished until September. I tore the truck apart and lined it all with stainless steel and installed all the cooking equipment. I learned how to do 12-volt wiring. I couldn’t have done it without the help of friends and You Tube.”
He also couldn’t have done it without the help of his partner, Dana Blake, who has supported the family with her job as a server at the Manx.
“Dana’s amazing — she keeps everything running,” Beck says. “We also couldn’t have done it without supportive families on both sides.”
Dash Mobile Cookery (Beck says naming the truck was more difficult than naming their children, Nina and Lyle), made its debut this month and is newest addition to Ottawa’s burgeoning food-truck scene.
Beck has opted to keep his truck rolling to different events, such as festivals, weddings and special lunches, rather than sign on for specific street spot.
“I’m into roaming around and there are so many interesting and different events to attend,” he says. “I’ve got most of the summer booked already.” He’s particularly excited about catering a summer wedding in Burritt’s Rapids, for which the bride’s father has planted a garden. “We’ll pick the produce the day before.”
Beck finds it hard to sum up what kind of food he’ll cook — “I’ve got diverse tastes and it depends on what’s in season and what ingredients I’ve got” — but he says many of his favourite foods involve slowbraised meats, quick pickles and fried chicken.
“It’s fun food. I make kimchi and a kimchi-grilled-cheese sandwich; it’s a great combo. I’d also like to try something called a fry-bread taco or an Indian taco that starts with fried bannock. I heard about this from a woman from Thunder Bay. I think this is a food whose time has come.”
Beck says Ottawa’s palate has changed dramatically.
“When I first started cooking, we called Ottawa ‘chicken caesar salad.’ Last June, at Ottawa Explosion, I was serving chicken heart tacos and people were gobbling them up.
“Who knows what else I can cook up. Now that I’ve got the truck built, I feel like I’ve got a palette to work on. I love to cook. When I get down to actually cooking and feeding people, the stress just melts away.”