Olivia Gross Photo
Hamden Food Truck Fest kicks off summer.
Seven thousand people gathered at Hamden Town Center Park for the annual Hamden Food Truck Festival, with 24 food trucks and tents set up to feed them.
People milled about between the trucks at Friday evening’s event. It was a clear, warm night and many Hamden residents brought blankets and beach chairs to come together and listen to music performed by the rock n’ roll band Not Sorry and DJ Rachel.
DJ Rachel and Not Sorry performing.
This was the festival’s tenth year in operation organized by the Town Center Park Commission in conjunction with the Department of Arts & Culture and Economic Development.
Park Commission Chair Matthew Fitch said that this year, the food trucks were more curated and spaced farther apart. He said that toned-down marketing led to a smaller crowd than in the past and fewer trucks; also, some of the vendors went out of business during the pandemic.
Food Truck Fest organizers Alisha Martindale, Erik Johnson, and Madison Stout, with the park's mascot, Sloane.
Fitch was excited to see the community out and together once again: “We even have the nuns back — they’re always first in line for the lobster rolls. It’s great to see them back, a great community feeling.”
Thomas Barletta with his creations.
Chompers, based in Canton, Conn., took the prize for the most unique product at the fest. Coined as “crunchy balls of goodness,” their deep-fried meatballs came in three varieties: chicken parmesan, bacon cheeseburger, or taco.
Owner Thomas Barletta used to be a chef at “fancy restaurants” before becoming the in-house chef in a fraternity house at Kansas University. “The guys always came in drunk and stoned, so I gave them the fried meatballs, and they loved them,” he recalled. “They had me make them all the time.”
After Barletta heard that his brother was making bundles from a poutine food truck, he realized that the hourly wages of working at a restaurant just did not compare. He remembered thinking, “Why the hell don’t I do this?”
So he did. Barletta rented a tent and borrowed a fryer for the Southington Apple Harvest Festival. He made enough money from that one event to buy the truck.
A chicken parmesan chomper.
He beckoned at the other trucks and said: “You can get barbecue, pizza, or baked potatoes anywhere. Not this. You can only get it from me. That’s why I have a following.”
Father and son Cyon and Seth Jones, of Mi Tai food truck.
Mi Tai is a year-old food truck operated by the Jones family. Cyon Jones explained that the truck’s concept was inspired by the dessert that his grandmother made for him when he was a child: fried dough made of flour, sugar, condensed milk, and cinnamon, rolled into balls, fried, then dusted with cinnamon sugar. It’s a dessert of Guyanese and Indian descent. Cyon moved to the U.S. from Guyana when he was 14 years old, took up the culinary arts after high school, and found a love of cooking he wasn’t ever able to shake.
The truck specializes in Caribbean food, especially Guyanese and Haitian recipes. (Cyon’s wife, Carline, is from Haiti.) Their menu includes shrimp skewers, vegan crabcakes, and braised oxtail. “We want to bring our love of food to the people,” Cyon said.
Cyon is currently a chef and caterer at Yale, often cooking for Yale’s president. He used to be a production manager but felt that he was losing his passion while he was sitting behind a desk, so far from the food.
Mi Tai Food Truck.
Mi Tai is regularly stationed at 879 Dixwell Ave in Hamden. They’ve been there for seven months. Cyon’s dream is for other food trucks to join in and station at the lot on Dixwell so that people can come and experience different cultures’ foods in the same vicinity, like an outdoor food court. It’s right off of the Farmington Canal bike path, so office workers can easily order their food, hop on their bikes, and pick up lunch. Cyon even offered to fully cover the rent cost at the lot so that other food trucks are incentivized to join in.
The kettlecorn station: Tiki Sweets and Treats.
Maria Zuniga: the Hamden community is returning.
The kettlecorn booth was popping with family spirit, hosted by Tiki Sweets & Treats, a four-year old business run by two cousins, Rick and Ron DeMales. They have run an assortment of food stands and trucks before but decided that kettlecorn was the easiest product for them to make. Also, they use a 40-year-old technique from a friend of their grandfather’s. When asked for the secret ingredient, Ron shook his head. “Now,” he replied, “I can’t give my recipe out.”
Hamden resident Maria Zuniga sat on a blanket on a sunny hill overlooking the food trucks. She said that since the COVID pandemic, the feeling of community in Hamden dipped but is getting better now with events like this one. Her favorite food truck was Holy Guacamole.
The biggest food truck was certainly Christiano’s Mobile, which was made up of not one but three separate stands: lemonade, churro, and fried dough, respectively.
Owner Jill Perez used to own Christiano’s Pizzeria in North Haven along with an accompanying food truck. The truck quickly became more popular than the restaurant, so Perez transitioned to solely running the pizza truck, and she added fried dough to the menu. Ironically, the truck quickly became dedicated to only fried dough. Nine years later, with three stands that run from the beginning of summer until October, Perez has found her calling.
Jill Perez, owner of Christiano's mobile.
The teens of Hamden were present as well. Friends Isaiah Riley and Chance were enthusiastic about the food, especially the barbecue. When asked about the Hamden community, Riley said, “I don’t think there is a Hamden community. But this seems representative of Hamden. Everyone looks super different, and everyone is in different walks of life.”
Chance and Isaiah Riley.
Pamela Washington has lived in Hamden for almost 30 years. She comes to Hamden Food Truck Fest every year: “We love doing this. It’s so well organized now. It’s really diverse, too. I enjoy that.” Washington said that in her 30 years in Hamden, the town has grown more diverse. She said she is pleased that there is now also diversity in the town’s leadership, not just racially, but in age as well.
Paula Rice and Pamela Washington: They remembered to arrive before the lines.
“It’s just a nice gathering on a summer evening. There’s so much going on in the world and it’s nice to just be here together.”
This sounds like so much fun. I wish I had known about it ahead of time, but with such a large turnout, I understand why Hamden wanted to keep it more manageable.
And-
“ Mi Tai is regularly stationed at 879 Dixwell Ave in Hamden. They’ve been there for seven months. Cyon’s dream is for other food trucks to join in and station at the lot on Dixwell so that people can come and experience different cultures’ foods in the same vicinity, like an outdoor food court. It’s right off of the Farmington Canal bike path, so office workers can easily order their food, hop on their bikes, and pick up lunch. Cyon even offered to fully cover the rent cost at the lot so that other food trucks are incentivized to join in.”