Food Truck Festival Delights (And Stuffs) The Stomach

I skipped breakfast Saturday for the first of the two days of an inaugural New Haven Food Truck Festival, held all along the Long Wharf waterfront. In anticipation of barbecue, I wore a brown T‑shirt to mitigate the damage when I got sauce all over myself while eating ribs. And I brought along Leo, my son and eater-in-crime, to make sure we sampled as much food — and as many rides — as possible.

The festival, which runs through Sunday, has food trucks lining Long Wharf Drive as it threads the narrow strip of land between I‑95 and the water. It’s in roughly the same place where there are always food trucks selling a variety of Mexican street food. This weekend, that local scene is expanded by other local and also out of town food trucks to form a half-mile gauntlet of flavor and festivity that starts with a police barricade closing Long Wharf Drive to traffic at the beginning of Long Wharf Park and ending with a cluster of carnival rides and games where Long Wharf Drive turns to meet Sargeant Drive again.

We arrived at 11 a.m., when the festival opened. Unless you’re willing to be a little guerrilla about it and also lucky, the closest parking is at Sports Haven (and costs $5). We parked at Sports Haven and enjoyed the walk along the water, where a cormorant or seagull occupied seemingly every pylon of the remains of the old piers.

We passed by the police block and proceeded through the festival itself. Tickets to the festival are $5 for adults; kids get in free. The proceeds from the ticket sales, according to the festival, are to go toward ​“micro loans and other financial assistance to New Haven’s emerging small business entrepreneurs.”

As it was early in the day, it was fairly quiet — all the better to get the food we wanted immediately (see above re: not breaking my fast).

I stopped at Valencia Luncheria, out of Norwalk, to buy a pork arepa with mozzarella cheese. Valencia’s owner had heard about the food truck festival, explained truck manager Kathy Turey (pictured), and ​“we figured we had to do this.”

New Havener Curt Pardee, in line behind me, ordered a mango arepa and ate it while I was talking to Turey. ​“Oh, that was totally delicious,” he said. ​“And you know how mango’s stringy sometimes? This one melted in my mouth. It was a real experience.”

For lunch, Leo decided on Pieorgis on Wheels, out of Derby. Magda Nogas (pictured), her mother, and her aunt were all born in Poland and make their pierogis from scratch.

Armed with lunch — or at least part of it — we found a spot behind Ricky D’s Rib Shack to chow down.

Leo declared the pierogis ​“delicious.”

My arepa was also delicious. The pork was sweet and tender, the arepa grilled just right, and the salsa was a great sweet and herbal match.

While I was stuffing my face, The Cobalt Rhythm Kings smoked through a lively set of blues.

Next to us, Clodomiro Falcon of Trumbull, who had volunteered to work at the food truck festival, was polishing off a rack of Ricky D’s ribs. How were the ribs? I asked. ​“Excellent!” he said. ​“I am enjoying myself.”

Leo and I were both still hungry. So I grabbed two tacos from Tacos Los Michoacanos. This is as good a time as any to mention that I go to the taco trucks at Long Wharf pretty much whenever I can, and Michoacanos has never disappointed. Today was no exception: They served me two tacos that were just the right balance of meat and vegetables, which I ate before Leo even had a chance to take a picture.

As regular vendors at Long Wharf, the folks at Tacos Los Michoacanos were a little worried about what the food truck festival would mean for their business that day, since people had to pay to get in and the road was closed. Some of their regular clientele might not come, and that shortfall might not be made up by the additional people coming to Long Wharf, since there were also a lot more trucks there than usual.

This sentiment was echoed by Rebecca Sanchez, running the El Azteca truck, another Long Wharf regular. ​“If they did this every day, my business would go down.” she said matter-of-factly. ​“But it’s good for every once in a while. I like it because it’s not something you see every day.”

She served me two more tacos, both pork. El Azteca’s salsa and pico de gallo, which constitute two reasons to drive to Long Wharf for lunch on any given day, were particularly good today. We found a shady spot in a pleasant picnic area that had been set up for the event.

I savored the El Azteca tacos just long enough to be documented consuming them.

Leo then took down a disc of fried dough from the Cafe Romeo truck nearby.

By then, Waterbury R&B artist Lamone had taken the stage with a truly funky band to keep the festivities going.

Finally full — maybe a little too full, which may make some question the decision we made next — we figured we’d try out the carnival rides.

We passed through a small open-air market where vendors sold everything from jewelry and clothing to cell phones and insurance, and took a couple spins on the hang gliders.

Stomachs full and heads spinning, we decided to call our day at the first annual New Haven Food Truck Festival complete. It was 2:30 and a lot more crowded than it was when we arrived. (The official estimate was at least 10,000 visitors during the course of the day.)

“This should happen every year,” Clodomiro Falcon had told me while we were eating. I couldn’t agree more. After all, I never did get around to eating that barbecue.