Scratch Box Gastro Truck

Address: 1280 Stittsville Main St, Stittsville, ON
Hours: 11:30am – 6pm (M – W), 11:30am – 7pm (Th – F), 12 – 7pm (Sat), closed Sunday
Website: https://scratchboxgastro.powerpages.ca/
Green factor: Compostable containers

Stittsville has lots of two things – dull suburban housing and food trucks. Unsurprisingly, it’s the latter of the two that brought me to Scratch Box Gastro Truck after a leisurely weekend hike in the west end.

Located at the corner of Stittsville Main and the beginning of Carp Road, Scratch Box shares a burgeoning food truck lot with Big D’s Dog House, a gourmet hotdog and poutine truck.

Scratch Box’s menu leans in the direction of approachable comfort food that also frequently utilizes the smoker that’s set up next to the truck. On the day I was there, they had several sandwiches, fries, and some fancied-up poutines.

I can never resist the salty, savoury and tangy mix that a Cubano sandwich entails, so that was an easy choice for me. My wife went for their double bacon cheeseburger with the fries upgraded to a poutine.

After a short wait, one of the SBGT staffers kindly took our hefty boxes of food over and we dug in under the hot, summer sun.

My Cubano ($14, fries included) was satisfying in all the ways a Cubano should be, although I wouldn’t say it’s the best I ever had. The pulled pork had a great flavour, with further savoury support from slices of ham and gooey cheese, while pickle slices brought some acidity to the show. There was a bit of a heavy hand with the mustard, which tended to dominate flavour-wise. The bread was light and airy, with a nice and crisp exterior.

The fries were hand-cut and cooked with a deft hand at the fryer, as they were perfectly crisp and seasoned with just enough salt. And those super crispy bits at the bottom *chef’s kiss*.

My wife’s burger ($14, plus poutine upgrade) was a great example of the pleasures of simple things done right. Its two patties had fantastic sears on them from the grill, and combined with some melty American cheese, bacon, and the usual burger veg, it was a very solid burger. Further Burger Fundamentals included a toasted bun and proper meat-to-bun ratio.

The poutine had the same great fries that I had, plus a decent handful of plump curds, and a light gravy that had pleasant peppery and herby notes to it. That is to say, my poutine-loving wife was quite happy.

The mobile food industry isn’t an easy one, but Scratch Box is putting their best foot forward with effort and execution that goes above and beyond a lot of their competition.