Brian Slattery photo
Last year I went to New Haven’s inaugural food truck festival with my son, Leo, and we proceeded to eat about as much as we could. This year we returned with my sister, Jill, visiting from New York City, to find not just another big crowd walking the length of Long Wharf Drive to sample everything from pulled pork to arepas to Italian pastries, but a first-ever New Haven “dragon boat” regatta in full swing.
By the time we arrived, the dragon boats were on their last race, cheered on by spectators standing at the rail of Long Wharf Pier and sitting on bleachers facing the water. Kevin Monroe and Devotion were nearing the end of a blistering set of gospel.
Instead of hitting an unfamiliar cart, we went with New Haven’s own ¡Ay Arepa! from Rubamba. Jill ordered two arepas and we settled onto the grass in the shade between Long Wharf Drive and the water.
Jill and Leo.
“Delicious,” Jill said.
“Ooh, spicy!” Leo said. “But a delicious aftertaste. Ooh, that’s good.” Thus did a 9‑year-old begin to enjoy eating spicy food.
Jill and Leo couldn’t finish their arepas, so I polished them off. Still hungry, I stalled by visiting the festival’s vendors. Last year the vendors had been placed at the western end of Long Wharf Drive; there’s a good chance that many of the tens of thousands of people who visited the festival then didn’t know they were there. This year, the vendors were in the middle of the action, along with two inflatable rides for kids. There were people selling clothing, jewelry, spices, and chocolate.
Manginniss.
There were also two hot sauce vendors. I put myself in the hands of Chief Spice Officer Jeff Manginniss of the the Guilford-based sauce-making company Sam & Oliver.
Sam and Oliver, for the record, are two black pugs.
“They’re not in the hot sauce, I promise,” Manginniss reassured me.
Manginniss explained that he had heard about New Haven’s food truck festival at the Made in Connecticut Expo in Farmington. He had a booth there, and a customer asked if he would be selling at the food truck festival also. Manginniss investigated and bought the space.
Balser and Guild.
I bought two bottles of hot sauce from Sam & Oliver and headed over to Ricky D’s Rib Shack for a pulled pork sandwich; after a few weeks of not eating meat, I figured if I was going to jump off the wagon, I’d jump all the way off. While in line, I ran into Lauren Balser (of New Haven) and Erin Guild (of Hamden). They’d read about the food truck festival in the Independent last year and came down this year to check it out.
“It’s nice to see people enjoying Long Wharf,” Balser said. Though she also noted (as did this reporter) that it was too bad that so many of the Mexican food carts usually parked along Long Wharf Drive weren’t part of the food truck festival this year, as they were last year.
I took my pulled pork sandwich into the shade, spiced it up with some of the hot sauce I’d just bought, and quickly ate it. By then, Ryan B. Hyeeze had just finished his set on the bandstand, and Greg Rivera with Taino Mambo were taking over.
Still a little hungry, I got two pork tacos from Long Wharf stalwarts Taco Santa Fe, who, along with Ixtapa, were two of Long Wharf’s regular food trucks that I recognized as part of the festival. These two tacos, served hot with generous portions of fresh cilantro, chopped onions, and salsa, did me in at last.
As I took a victory lap around the festival, I saw how true Balser’s observation about seeing people at Long Wharf was. Families and friends alike relaxed in the shade of the trees. Children climbed on the rocks and dipped their toes in the lapping waves. People were making picnics that were sure to last for hours. With the city’s plan to develop Long Wharf further, much of which is geared toward making it more accessible and friendly to the public, and more accommodating to the food truck vendors that are usually there, perhaps the scene at the festival this weekend will be less uncommon.
Well I must say that usually the sequel isn't as good as the first...BUT surprise !!! It was even better, yes it was only one day which condensed the time but doubled the fun, food, talent, people and cultural diversity. I also absolutely must give my hat's off to the City of New Haven, our esteemed Honorable Mayor Toni Harp and to miss Jackie James for making this even better than last year. I must say that if you were impressed by this upgraded festival the star of the show Miss Jackie James has made a beautiful upgrade to herself. Congratulations to FTF 2.0 and the exquisite Jackie James 2.0 what a beautiful combination !!!