Hold on to your buns-Toronto’s street food menu is soon to expand far beyond sausages and wieners. Last Friday, Nathan Philips Square hosted a showcase of what Toronto’s street food could be. The foodcart fair had Andrew Eade and Tara Sachs-two up-and-coming local chefs-salivating at the news.

“People want to see something different on the streets,” said Sachs. “They are waiting for a change.”

Eade wished for grilled cheese carts, while Sachs prayed for crepes. Meanwhile, John Wellner, a health industry employee among the lunchtime crowd, longed for an empanada cart right in front of his office. “I’d eat them everyday,” he exclaimed.

Next month, the province will relax rules that currently limit street vendors to selling precooked sausages and hot dogs. All sorts of things will now be fair game, from prepackaged fruits and salads to reheated samosas and pizza.

But the city says these new food offerings won’t show up on the street until next spring, because vendors must install necessary refrigeration facilities and health inspectors need to okay the new menu options.

This did not dampen Eade and Sachs’ enthusiasm as they gleefully sampled the offerings of the dozen or so vendors at Nathan Philips Square.

“The scallop was excellent; the shrimp, a little overdone,” said Eade, judging a Chinese soup served by Rain Restaurant in a half-melon bowl. Sachs found it refreshing-just the thing for a 32-degree day, she said.

Further on, a $4 tsukeme, a sort of chicken meatball on a skewer offered by Izakaya restaurant, also earned Eade’s plaudits. “People like interacting with their food,” he said, wielding the skewer like a sword. “It’s like creating your own adventure.”

One U of T grad student in attendance was skeptical whether street vendors could mass-produce such delights on a daily basis, but welcomed added options.

Chef Chris McDonald of Cava restaurant- whose Florentine beef tripe recipe was gleaned during an Italian sojourn in the 80s-acknowledged that his fare might be a risky street proposition. But by 12:25 p.m., the hungry lunchtime crowd had picked his giant bowls clean, a sign that it might go down well, after all.