Yellowknife’s food truck lottery for 2023 has concluded without ever beginning. Only one food truck entered the draw, the city said.
A lottery is held at the start of each summer to determine the order in which the usual motley fleet of food trucks gets to pick locations in downtown Yellowknife.
Securing the right location can help you attract the biggest weekday lunchtime crowd.
However, just one food truck signed up this year and, as a result, had their run of the city: Afghan Food Corner. The CBC reported Afghan Food Corner’s debut in Yellowknife last year, run by Afreen Sadiq and her husband, Hasan.
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Notably absent from this year’s food truck lottery? The One of a Thai food truck, by now something of a culinary legend.
One of a Thai’s winding lineups for lunch outside the federal Greenstone Building will be a thing of the past, at least for the time being. Sousanh Chanthalangsy-Bornilla, an owner of the food truck, said the truck would still appear on special occasions but would no longer have a regular streetside spot.
Chanthalangsy-Bornilla said her mother, the creator of One of a Thai’s signature pad thai sauce and a central character in the food truck’s operation, wanted to enjoy more of her retirement. Meanwhile, Chanthalangsy-Bornilla is changing careers while also enjoying success in the field of powerlifting.
“We’ve been doing it for close to 13 years now,” she said of One of a Thai. “We’re going to do the food truck as something that’s more fun for us, part-time.
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“I’ve been really busy with travelling, competing and things like that. That’s also one of the reasons why we’re kind-of cutting down on the food truck, to enjoy our summers more.”
One of a Thai will still appear at the likes of Folk on the Rocks, the Yellowknife golf course’s 75th anniversary, and the late summer mud run.
Admitting she had been hesitant to break the news to Yellowknife, Chanthalangsy-Bornilla said: “We’re going to miss everybody.”
Afghan Food Corner’s summer location for 2023 has yet to be confirmed.
Last year, the food truck took up position outside CIBC, a commendably short distance from Cabin Radio’s studios.
It’s possible for food trucks to join the fray later without entering the lottery first. At the time of writing, Cabin Radio was not aware of other food trucks with confirmed plans for weekday lunchtime appearances in the city.
