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What happens when 2 Au Pied De Cochon alums and a girlfriend get together after a year’s sabbatical in Mexico?
They start Grumman '78, the first and only (and as of this writing, still illegal) food truck in Montreal. Defiance, though, tends to go straight to the heart of Montreal and its food empire, so kudos to Hillary McGown, Marc-Andre Leclerc, Gaelle Cerf and all those who have created and sustained it. Grumman '78 (the make and model of their truck) is but one example. As Gaelle admitted to us, “This food truck can be really cold in the winter, but I really wanted to eat good Mexican food, like the kind I ate in Cabo.”
Montreal's strict laws prohibit food trucks, but recent publicity has allowed the trio to gain a permit to park their truck at specific events, so maybe the legal noose is loosening. Grumann '78, though, is not only a food truck. It's morphed into an event space--complete with an open kitchen--set up in an abandoned garage in the St. Henri area of Montreal (see above). And, it's become a pop-up restaurant as well, named Nouveau Palais, that serves amazing Mexican food out of a defunct Chinese take-out space from midnight to 3 a.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Grumman is thus a food project, with balls.
Why are we blogging about them? Because projects like this are the future of food. They are the social network of food. And to the last bite, their tacos are the most amazing we have ever eaten. And we eat a lot of tacos.
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Editor's Note: A somewhat parallel but reverse situation occurred here in St. Louis, where Chef John Perkins was able to parlay the success of his Entre Underground dining events and launch a catering company, Entre Events, and just this last summer, a rolling unit as well, Entre Mobile. And don't be surprised if in 2012 at least one of the estimated 26 food trucks in town spins off a brick and mortar replica...several have good enough food to make a go of it. SLM investigated 16 local trucks--the total at the time--in an October 2011 article here.
