He’s on the ride of his life. And it was all down to the right timing for food truck king Matt Basile, writes Intan Maizura Ahmad Kamal
OH no.
I really hate to make a grownmancry.WhenTorontobased food truck entrepreneur and king of pop-ups, Matt ‘Fidel Gastro’ Basile’s eyes suddenly started blinking suspiciously and his voice and speech, which had hitherto been joyfully rapid, turned thick with emotion, I knew it was happening - again.
But I only asked whether his journey to success has been surreal.
“I’m not crying,” reassures Basile, host of the action-packed reality show Rebel Without a Kitchen, airing on the Asian Food Channel.
Furtively, this unconventional and inventive former advertising man wipes the corners of his eyes.
I saw that, I wink at him conspiratorially.
He grins.
And I feel a lot better.
“Well, I’ve been known to cry on my shows,” he confides.
“All that lack of sleep, stresses, and wondering whether there’s going to be a business tomorrow...” Basile, one of the early leaders of Toronto’s street food movement, was in KL recently for his Matt Basile’s Kitchen Revolution Tour of Asia, and also to promote the premiere of Rebel Without a Kitchen, Season 2.
The show sees him steering his food truck, Priscilla, through Toronto, hitting underground food markets, exclusive private events and some of the city’s coolest places, showcasing his skills at taking and redefining street food to a whole new level.
BE HIS OWN BOSS
That he’s living a dream is an understatement.
The lively 30-yearold gets choked up just thinking about it.
“It’s crazy how life works sometimes,” he declares, for the umpteenth time, shaking his head in awe.
“At no point did I think that I’d be in the food business.
For me, cooking and eating are things I do to unwind.
I never believed in mixing business with pleasure.” Before the culinary whirlwind, Basile was in advertising, an industry he persevered with for four years.
“I wore a lot of hats within the industry and was exposed to many different large brands and creative processes that the average person, at 24, wouldn’t have been exposed to.
It was great.” Basile, who’s also a restaurateur, thought that his life was set.
But that was before he started getting the nagging feeling that his job wasn’t going to keep him fulfilled for long.
So he quit his copy-writing job.
The recession followed soon after, he recalls.
“I was newly single and had career anxiety due to not knowing what to do for the rest of my life.
I wanted to be my own boss and the only thing I really understood and loved was food.
But my options were pretty limited at the time.” It was at this juncture in his life that Basile started penning down his business plan.
“The plan was just to open up a sandwich shop called Fidel Gastro,” he confides.
“But I couldn’t get the financing together.
It was also around this time that pop-ups started and they became really popular.”
GRANDPA, THE INSPIRATION
If there was one thing that Basile was adamant about, it was that he never wanted to work in someone else’s kitchen.
“I wanted to create something from scratch — just like my grandfather.
And my version of that was starting the business.” Eyes animated, Basile, whose father was also in the advertising industry and his mother, a social worker, shares that he spent much of his childhood years with his Italian grandparents.
He speaks very fondly of his grandfather, and cites him as a source of inspiration.
“My grandfather was never in the food business but the values he attached to food were very different from anyone I had known.
A new immigrant to Canada, he was a proud man.
He’d make his own bread and tomato sauce, cured sausages, pasta sauce and spaghetti — all from scratch.
In the summer, he never had to buy produce from the grocery store.
I learnt everything I know from my grandfather.” The first pop-up he ever did, recalls Basile, was on a table at an art space.
“My table looked a little empty, so I went to this little knick knack store across the street where I found an Elvis bust on the counter.
I bought it.” Chuckling, Basile adds: “It wasn’t meant to be any thing but people loved it.
They took photos with it.
So every event I went to thereafter, I’d bring the bust with me.
It became our ‘shtick’.
When we launched the food truck, everyone said ‘oh, you have to name the truck after a woman just like for a boat’.
So I said ‘ok, I’ll name it Priscilla after Elvis’ wife’.
A year and a half later, we opened up a restaurant.
And named it Lisa Marie, after Elvis’ daughter!” Basile , supported by his girlfriend, soon propelled himself into the Toronto food scene with his exciting innovation - Cubanstyle sandwiches, known as Extremo Sandwiches, which he served from his food truck.
“I’d go around the city, rent a space, and people would come and follow us.
I think our popularity was down to our energy and the fact that no one was really doing it at the time.”
PRISCILLA AND THE FOOD TRUCK BUSINESS
His beloved Priscilla measures 5.8m long by 2.7m wide.
It’s the very same truck that he started out with more than six years ago.
A vintage-looking truck, the red and white chequered vehicle was a fire marshal truck in its previous life.
“We’ve invested a fair bit in it, upgrading it with equipment, but it’s still a very basic food truck.
It’s perfect for us because bells and whistles aren’t really our thing.” Adding, Basile shares: “Inside, there’s a deep fryer, four burners, grill and fridges.
There’s no crazy machinery in there.
The one thing that separates our truck from other trucks is our large service window, which allows people to see everything that’s going on so they feel more involved.” Adding, he says: “And we feed off of energy.
We play loud music - rock and roll, electronic dance music, old school hip hop.
We’ve classified our company as a street food experience company.” Sometimes, says Basile, who connects with his customers through the social media, people have to wait for ages before making their orders.
So it’s important that there’s some trade-off to be had, which is more than just a sandwich.
We ensure that we engage with our customers; they’re yelling ,you’re yelling, and we take photos.
It’s the perfect combination - good food, good brand and a high energy experience.” What’s the downside of this business? “ The weat her,” he replies, grimacing.
“You can prep the food, have the staff, go out there...
and then it rains.
The weather can really cripple business.
In winter we don’t operate because the weather is so harsh - and that’s like six months of the year.
So, we fill that period by doing more pop-up supper clubs.” Unpredictability — whether of weather or business — is a given, acknowledges Basile.
But if there’s one thing he has learnt, it’s the importance of always having a positive outlook.
“It’s a cut throat business.
To be an entrepreneur, you need to be positive, creative, brave, and have plenty of luck.
With the right time, right place, right idea.
the world’s your oyster.” Concluding , he confides : “Eventually I’d love to have my own family.
I’d like my food truck business to be the legacy that I can leave behind for my child ren and the
generations that follow.”
SALT AND VINEGAR PRAWNS WITH PICKLED CIPOLLINI ONIONS AND TRINITY SAUCE
Ingredients:
1 stalk of celery
2 red peppers
2 Spanish onions
2 tbsp of smoked paprika
1 tbsp of kosher salt (approx)
1 tbsp of black pepper
454g (1 lb) + 1 tbsp of salted
butter, divided
1 tbsp of dried chilies
1 can (500ml) of unseasoned
tomato sauce
Head-on prawns (5 per order)
4 garlic cloves, thinly shaved
Cipollini onions
Vinegar
Steps: Trinity sauce The most important element to this entire dish is the trinity sauce.
I learnt very quickly that it’s not a tomato sauce that has peppers, onions and celery but instead a pepper, onion and celery sauce brought together with tomato.
1. Finely chop the celery, peppers and onion.
In a large saucepan with a little bit of olive oil over medium-high heat, lightly cook the celery, peppers and onion for approximately 5 minutes or until soft and brown.
Toss in the paprika, salt and pepper, and stir until the vegetables absorb all of the seasoning.
2. Hit the pan with a cup of water and a 226g of the butter.
Continue to stir the veg until all the butter is melted leaving a thick buttery sauce that covers the vegetables.
Add in the dried chillies, and give one last stir.
Dump in the can of tomato sauce and the remaining butter, and let it reduce for approximately 20 to 30 minutes or until thick.
On With Their Heads
1. Take your head-on prawns and carefully remove shell from around the body but leave the tail and heads fully intact.
Run a knife down the back side of the prawns and using your finger scrape down the back of the prawns to clean.
2. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet over high heat, and melt the butter for approximately 2 minutes or until it starts to brown.
Add the thinly shaved garlic, and cook for approximately 1 minute, and then add the head-on prawns.
Cook the prawns in the brown butter and garlic for approximately 4 minutes per side.
3. Soak the Cipollinis in oil and fire roast them.
Let them sit in vinegar and salt to give them a light pickling
4. Garnish the entire dish with finely chopped green onions.