Bus Cafe Serves Up Salmon In Newhallville

Chef Larry Lucky stood in the kitchen installed in the back of Lucky’s Star Bus Cafe, deftly cooking up a piece of blackened salmon, which he explained was a customer favorite.

The year-old, family-run business recently relocated from Fair Haven to Newhallville — bringing to the neighborhood Lucky’s decades of restaurant experience and his seasoned culinary chops.

“I have everything I need here,” Lucky told the Independent in a recent interview inside his mobile kitchen.

Most of all, he explained that the bus cafe was a family-run business in the truest sense of the term. “Everything I do, I consult family,” he said. “I can’t do it myself.”

Lucky’s Star Bus Cafe is currently parked at the corner of Dixwell Avenue and Dudley Street, right next to the Farmington Canal bike trail, from Tuesday to Friday, 12 p.m. to 9 p.m.

On regular days Lucky offers salmon, chicken, pork chops, hamburgers, veggie burgers, and hot dogs, along with some specials. Thursday is soul food day, when the menu expands to include BBQ pork, collard greens, and other staples.

The Friday highlight is a happy hour (the bus is BYOB). Lucky’s is often hired for catering jobs on the weekends, but this weekend, the bus is staying where it is. Saturday, Sept. 5, Lucky’s is throwing an end-of-summer luau party with Hawaiian dishes. This Sunday, Sept. 6, it’s hosting live gospel and R&B.

The crew of the bus, keeping the operation going from the kitchen to the seating to the business end, are all family — wife Linda, her sister Joyce Foreman, and Joyce’s son Jaykeen Foreman — among many other nieces and nephews. ​“My family members are truly in my heart,” Lucky said. ​“I couldn’t do it without them.”

Though Jaykeen threw the love right back. Looking at Lucky, he said, ​“that guy does everything.”

Born and raised in New Haven, Lucky, 61, has been a chef for over 30 years. He got into the restaurant business at 17, starting off as a dishwasher, and worked his way up to be chef at restaurants around the area, including Audubon’s, which used to be on Audubon Street. He also has been driving charter buses for nearly 20 years. The germ of the idea for Lucky’s Star Bus Cafe came from his son, Tyerise.

“His son said ​‘Dad, I got an idea,’” Jaykeen said. “‘We can get a bus and gut it out, and make it warm. And people can eat on the bus, or off the bus.’ And Lucky said, ​‘son, let’s do it.’ And he did it.”

Lucky was taken with the idea. ​“You see a lot of food trucks,” Lucky said, but ​“there’s nowhere for people to sit.” Lucky started researching the possibility. At the time he worked for the New Jersey-based Academy Bus Lines. He pitched the mobile cafe idea to the company’s owner, who agreed to sell him the bus he needed. Lucky’s brother is a mechanic. He test-drove the vehicle and assured Lucky that the idea could work.

Lucky worried about the finances of starting such a venture; he knew from experience that ​“restaurants are risky,” he said. So he bet on himself; he and Linda took money out of their retirement fund. Another bus driver pitched in some money as well, as did a childhood friend who became a police officer. That let him avoid having to take out a loan from a bank. Three years ago, he bought the bus in New Jersey and drove it back to New Haven himself. And then he and his family ​“took all the seats out and started working on it.”

Lucky hired professionals to install the parts of the cafe that needed it — the kitchen and the wiring, for example. He hired two friends — plumber Gerard Grete and an electrician who goes by Chubby — to help out, too. ​“They did all the work in the cold,” Lucky said, in the middle of winter. ​“I feel blessed. Truly appreciative,” he said.

But much of the work he and his family did themselves, gutting the interior and redesigning it. They installed long counters for people to eat at. They put in a sound system and TVs to show movies on DVD. They found and installed an old-school Pac-Man video game. They figured out how to get the bus to have WiFi and even a working public phone. It was about ​“keeping it interesting,” Jaykeen said.

That all took two years. ​“Why is every day all about that bus?” Lucky recalled Linda saying in the middle of the work. But Lucky was committed to the idea, to seeing it through.

When it came time to name the business, Lucky had the idea of calling it Lucky’s Mobile Cafe. His lawyer, Lucky said, wanted something with a little more personality. ​“I am passionate, to my soul, about Star Trek,” Lucky said, pointing to the insignia pinned to his collar. They went from there.

Lucky’s Star Bus Cafe opened for business a little over a year ago. His family helped spread the word. Lucky’s mother, Lucky said, ​“was so excited about it, we started calling her the ambassador,” as she brought in people to try the cafe out. The bus started out on a spot on James Street. ​“It was OK for lunch,” Lucky said, ​“but there was no dinner.” People didn’t come to James Street in the evening. They needed a new location.

When the pandemic hit, the family closed the bus for a few months, and took the chance to find a different place to park the bus. Lucky found the spot on Dixwell Avenue and talked to the owner, who agreed to rent him the spot. Lucky and his family cleaned up the area around it. The owner was delighted, Lucky said. ​“Lucky, I love the atmosphere,” Lucky recalled him saying. ​“I love the look.”

As the weather has warmed, ​“we’re doing well,” Lucky said, especially on Thursdays and Fridays. ​“Every weekend is busier and busier.” They play low-key jazz during the day. ​“Later in the evening, we kick it up a bit,” Lucky said. Catering is also picking up, as they can move their whole operation wherever there’s room for an extended bus. ​“We call it a food truck on steroids,” Lucky said, noting that his bus cafe ​“is the first one in the country.” In addition to drawing customers from the immediate neighborhood, it gets traffic from the bike path; a rider informed Lucky that his cafe is the only mobile food spot on the trail for maybe 40 miles. Plus, he said, the food, from the blackened salmon to the chicken sandwich, ​“will make your knees buckle.”

But it still comes back to family — Linda, Joyce, Jaykeen, and others, including niece Jada, who ​“does everything in this vehicle but drive it,” Lucky said. His family is there for every aspect of the business, from food prep to keeping the lot clean and customers satisfied. ​“It’s all about keeping it clean, from the front to the back, inside and out,” Lucky said. He also insists that the quality of the food stay consistent and high. ​“It’s okay to have specials, but our main menu items have to be exactly the same.” At the same time, he is always relying on his family for ideas about how to make the cafe run better. ​“I’m not an owner who just does it my way. I take advice, from my family, friends, and customers.”

“We’re a team,” Jaykeen said. ​“I tell my kids, ​‘we need a team!’ When we go out there, if we don’t have a team, we lose.” Lucky calls Jaykeen an ambassador as well. ​“I love coming on the bus and telling people about it,” Jaykeen said. ​“It’s so different…. We keep going, moving up, pushing it.”

“If we do it right,” Lucky said, ​“we’ll make it.”