Food for thought: Little Italy block party largest yet for Tortaboyz

Food, music and community filled a Preston Street parking lot as the sixth Tortaboyz Block Party Cookout took over Little Italy. Carlos Gavied was busy working a grill Saturday afternoon. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia

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Moudy Husseini and Luis Guerra have been best friends since they were five.

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Throughout their adult lives, both Husseini and Luis followed their dreams in the restaurant business, though separately. When the stars aligned in 2021, towards the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two of them and Luis’ brother, Sergio Guerra, opened Tortaboyz, a food truck business near a large Preston Street parking lot.

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Fast forward to 2026. While the trio had long moved on from their days managing a parking-lot food truck business — instead establishing a storefront for Tortaboyz at 354A Preston St. (also in Little Italy) — the “Tortaboyz” found themselves hosting a sixth annual block party on Saturday in Little Italy’s behemoth of a parking lot where their food truck was located not long ago.

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“All three of us kind of grew up in low-income neighbourhoods where we never really experienced things like this,” Husseini said as he glanced up at hundreds of attendees with more continuing to flood in.

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The big picture for Tortaboyz, they said, was always rooted in bringing the community together.

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Tortaboyz Block Party organizers, left to right, Luis Guerra, Sergio Guerra and Moudy Husseini. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia

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Admission to the cookout was free, so the meals themselves represented the only costs for attendees, and the Tortaboyz said they didn’t invite restaurants to participate that they wouldn’t eat at themselves. That was part of the appeal, according to them.

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“We’re huge foodies,” Husseini said. “We bring restaurants that we want to eat at.”

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This year, the gates to the festival opened around 12 noon on Saturday, Aug. 29, at the Adult High School parking lot on Preston Street for what was their biggest block party yet.

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The location has changed each year. In the first year, there was space to accommodate only 200 people, Husseini said.

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At that time, too, the Tortaboyz were among a small group vendors serving food.

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On Saturday, roughly 20 food vendors and 10 market vendors attended the event, with a handful of DJs and live performances animating the parking lot. Husseini said he hoped total attendance for the day would reach between 5,000 and 10,000.

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Team photo time for participants in Tortaboyz Block Party Cookout on Saturday, Aug. 29. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia

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Luck wasn’t on their side in 2025, when the Tortaboyz dealt with permit obstacles and unfortunate weather, resulting in the cancellation of the block party. This year they aimed bigger.

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Husseini said it took the Tortaboyz six months of behind the scenes planning to bring the event to fruition.

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Pop-up chef Kevin Singh was among the 20 food vendors this year with, arguably, one of the longest lines at the start of the block party. Kevin’s Hot Chicken doesn’t have a storefront in Ottawa, but rather thrives on marketing through social-media platforms.

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“I’m the owner, the social-media manager, the accountant … the dish washer,” Singh quipped as he dipped a piece of coated chicken breast into bubbling oil.