Extreme Fries: 3.6/5

Bacon Cheeseburger
Score: 3.6, $6 (tax inc.)

There's a new food truck in town called Extreme Fries any they make a good burger! Well, the truck’s not new but the wrap is and you can’t miss it – owner Bobbie Mack calls it the “hot pink bomb.” Bobbie found the truck for sale in October and jokingly texted her husband "what would you think if I quit my job and bought a food truck? Over the next couple weeks I couldn't get the idea out of my mind and I took the leap!”

Bobbie loves to cook but didn't want to put in a chef’s long hours so the truck seemed like a good fit. “I cook food how I like to eat. You won't find anything on that truck that isn't my favourite. I have been making and selling my own home made sweet pickle relish for 10 years every summer Saturday at Pine Ridge. That's where my love of working with the public started. I just wish I had a little more time to chat from the truck. It gets kinda crazy.”

Most days you can find Extreme Fries parked on Broadway near Edmonton. Check their Facebook page for up-to-date info. This year the City of Winnipeg (COW for short) implemented a food truck parking spot lottery. Another favourite – Burgers R Us – were drawn for the western end of Broadway, but thought they’d be too far from the action and have a hard time making a go of it, so opted out of Broadway this year.

The flavourful burger had a slightly charred patty, crispy fried cheddar cheese, sautéed onion, chili sauce, bacon and fresh groceries. Everyone loved the chili sauce. “The chili sauce is my recipe" said Bobbie. "I started out making a hot dog sauce but my kids found it too spicy. It was just meat and chili powder. Then I tried a Greek style sauce and to me it had flavour but was tame. I mixed the two together and boom!  Bobbie Mack's chili sauce.”

Bobbie added “Good bacon is essential and finding the right way to hot hold your bacon without incinerating it is very important. Grilled onion is the way to go on a burger. Hot dogs need raw onion. I also include a favourite in my condiment bar - Awesome Sauce, which is a cousin’s creation.” Cary wrote “A good food truck burger at a decent price. It’s  all about the toppings, so use the plethora of condiments provided and add a little bit of the Awesome Hot Sauce if you like a little bit of zing.” Stephanie exclaimed “Perfect day for a food truck burger! The Awesome  Sauce had a nice amount of spice to it.”

The uniformly shaped beef patty was a good size, fairly dense and filling. You can taste all the toppings with the copious quantities of cheddar cheese, fried onions, and of course the chili sauce, making it messy – but not too drippy to carefully eat over your lap. On my second visit I tried a double and it was good, but I think tilted the designed flavour balance too much towards beef. Bright green leaf lettuce and red, ripe Roma tomatoes crowned the cold side of the open faced presentation in the combo.

Of course they wouldn't be Extreme Fries without great fries, and they were. The potatoes are hand cut and the fries were dark, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. There were lots of them! The combo container was bursting. Roxanne noted “the fries were awesome and toppings very fresh.”

There was no shade on Broadway so we took our burgers across to the Woodsworth Building picnic tables. There was *one* table in the shade and the first shift of Burger Clubbers crowded around it. The second shift had to melt under the sun. Winnipeg set a record with the temp reaching a scorching 36 c.