Hospitality workers doing sell-out nomadic live fire pop-ups as a side hustle in Toronto

Hit up a Slowpoke pop-up, and you might stumble upon whole pineapples and hunks of cheese slowly cooking over a live fire.

It’s a far cry from typical summer barbecue fare like burgers and hot dogs.

Slowpoke is the brainchild of Matt Bod and Christina Takaoka. Both have other jobs, Bod as a brewer and distiller at Great Lakes Brewery, and Takaoka working a front of house position at the AGO. Bod has a long history with front of house positions as well, and was also a touring punk rock musician “in another life.”

“I started cooking with fire at home in 2020, cliché, and just kind of honed my skills for a couple years, gradually moving from using charcoal briquettes and wood chips to full-on live fire cooking,” Bod tells YourCityWithIN.com.

“Christina has primarily worked FOH and events management but is an excellent home cook, and that skill has been pretty invaluable to the operation because we both have to wear a closet’s worth of hats at all times to make this work.”

They first started up Slowpoke in October 2023 when Bod just went for it and booked an event to force the project into existence. The name is fitting in that sense, taken from a nickname Bod’s mom used to call him in an attempt to get him to hurry.

They cook on site using actual wood fire, which Bod says “is pretty damn rare in the city of Toronto.” They’ve set up roaring live fires on Ossington, Dundas West, Bloor and just off King West that might seem more appropriate for the middle of the woods.

“We tend to gravitate towards lesser known American barbecue dishes using unique cuts of meat that we feel are underutilized. These cuts typically cost less than more popular items like brisket, which also allows us to keep the price point accessible,” says Bod.

“Barbecue is traditionally food that’s both made and eaten by working people, and this is something that’s front of mind when we’re planning out menus. We also draw inspiration from both Tex-Mex and traditional Mexican cuisine, the Caribbean and a whole host of other global barbecue cultures.”

That includes options like pit beef sandwiches, smoked fire-roasted pineapple on cornbread and the show-stopping caciocavallo impicatto, a hanging cheese melted over fire that might be served with, say, jalapeno honey and focaccia.

Bringing a wood fire to life on the streets of Toronto in order to bring all that deliciousness to life is no easy task. Slowpoke typically has three fires going at once, and they need to arrive at least three hours before service to ensure their food is ready on time.

“The first one we light is the firebox for the offset smoker, which takes somewhere between 40 minutes and an hour to warm up. The next one we light is in the brasero, which is a big iron cage with lots of space between the bars. The fire in the brasero is for making coals, which fall through the bars as the fire burns the logs down,” says Bod.

“The coals then get moved around the grill to create different heat zones. Last but not least is the fire that sits directly underneath the plancha, which is kind of a large iron flattop griddle. This one is mostly coals, but we keep a log or two burning under there as well so that flame is directly hitting the bottom of the plancha.”

He breaks down the many challenges of nomadic live fire cooking into four big categories: rain, mud, space and heat, saying they “consume a hell of a lot of Gatorade.”

“Our grill is completely open. If the rain is heavy it becomes literally impossible to keep the fires going,” says Bod.

“Our barbecue pit is on wheels and weighs approximately 1,000 pounds. Most of the time we’re on pavement so it’s not a huge deal. But sometimes we’re on dirt, and when that dirt turns into mud the pit immediately sinks down into it and gets stuck. The first time Christina and I ever unloaded it ourselves this is exactly what happened, and I think both of us nearly had full blown mental breakdowns in the muddy back lot of one of our favourite spots on Dundas West. The owner of the bar came out to help and all three of us struggled for about 45 minutes before a fourth person showed up and we were finally able to get it unstuck.”

It’s well worth it, though. Slowpoke sells out about half the time, sometimes within as little as an hour, and has sold out so far at Ossfest, Paradise Grapevine, Sonnen Hill, Great Lakes Brewery, Pharmacy Bar, Decoy Bar and other places.

The best way to find out where Slowpoke will be next is to keep an eye on their social media, and they can also be booked for events or catering.

“Our long term goal is to open a brick and mortar location but given the very specific requirements of what we do and our, uh, complete lack of capital, that may be a pipe dream,” says Bod.

“For now we’re taking it day by day. We’ve had a blast working with some of our favourite people at some our favourite venues in the city so we’re gonna keep doing that while we work to pick up more catering work, work on perfecting new menu items and generally keep everything chugging along.”