Getting your food truck fix this winter can be challenging, especially since there’s only two fine food – aka ‘gourmet’ – trucks that stay open all season: Streat Gourmet and Ad Mare. Soon, however, that short list will be reduced to one.

Last week, Ben Baird, the chef behind the very popular ‘chef-driven’ food truck, Streat Gourmet, announced he was going to have to close for the winter. Streat will likely reopen next spring when the weather warms up. Behind his decision was the following:

• His partner, Elyse Pion, is expecting this spring (congrats!)
• They made the decision to close Streat Gourmet on December 1 before it gets too cold for Elyse to work out of the truck (she is an irreplaceable member of the duo)
• Ben will be focusing his energies, in the short term, on getting Oat Couture Oatmeal Café up and running (the café, located in Old Ottawa South, is scheduled to open in December — Baird developed the menu).

So the message is: Until December 1, he’ll continue to post his daily menu on the Streat Gourmet Facebook site (fan favourites include his duck confit burger; his homemade mac & cheese topped with smoked salmon or beef brisket; and some of the tastiest tacos in town). The truck will remain at the corner of Albert and O’Connor, open from Tuesday to Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

City Bites Hot Tip #1: If you don’t make it to the truck before it closes, Streat Gourmet will be at one last truck event in December for Canada 150. On December 9 and 10, Ben Baird plans to be parked on Parliament Hill giving away free cups of northern Canadian caribou stew.

City Bites Hot Tip #2: Then there was only one — Ad Mare, which serves up sustainable seafood at Slater and O’Connor, will the only fine food truck operating throughout winter. Kudos to Ad Mare for braving the weather!