By ZELORY GREGLER //
They had me at “fried oysters.”
It’s a common conundrum among gastronomes: Reservations at the hot new restaurant, mouthwatering anticipation all week long, then you get there and stare at the stupefying menu with dumbfounded indecision. A deer trapped in delectable headlights.
Fennel tomato soup or escargots beurre d’ail? Scallops risotto or fresh branzino? Veal saltimbocca or the 40-ounce ribeye? And oy, vey, the desserts – is there ever a proper choice between chocolate soufflé and crème brûlée?
You don’t have to drop a C-note (on your appetizers) at Blackstone to face this dilemma. Similar analysis paralysis can strike anywhere: a Quarter Pounder or a Big Mac? Lo mein or General Tso’s? Pepperoni/mushrooms or meatballs/peppers?
Sensory overload was evident last week at Heritage Park in Mount Sinai, where Foodie Fridays has become a main event. The weekly wheelhouse sees a dozen or so food trucks encircling the park perimeter, with hundreds (or more) voracious visitors choosing their chow and hunkering across great green fields on lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy a lovely sunset and tasty meal.
Zelory Gregler: He knows oysters.
Kids run and play. Parents share a thermos of “iced tea.” And everyone enjoys a dinner matching their particular mood.
Food trucks are innovation with motors, though they’re not particularly “new.” The modern food truck descends directly from the 19th Century’s horse-drawn chuckwagon, which served everyone from Great Plains cowboys to urban-center workforces.
Through the 20th Century, they evolved – from hot dog carts to ice cream trucks to the “roach coach” that rolled through your corporate park, stocked with hot coffee and buttered rolls and prewrapped hoagies.
And now food trucks have become their own special thing: Movies and TV shows and national competitions and entire festivals center on these mobile kitchens. Even popular entertainment that’s not actually about food trucks prominently features food trucks.
And of course, there are countless regularly scheduled food-truck congregations, like Foodie Fridays at Heritage Park.
On this particular night – with technicians setting up giant speakers and a huge inflatable screen on the park’s north field for an outdoor showing of “Freaky Friday” – the public picnic was graced with an across-the-board bill of fare catering to any and all tastes.
Longing for an endless Summer? Mosey over to Ah Lil Taste of the Caribbean, where the “rasta pasta” comes with oxtail beef patties, jerk chicken or honey-glazed salmon.
Step right up: There’s something for everyone at Foodie Fridays, one of a number of increasingly popular food truck festivals rolling across Long Island.
Hankering for a burger? Naked Burger LI dresses up its all-beef patties with special sauce, lettuce and cheese (even a sesame-seed bun), but that’s just the beginning. Foodies raved this Friday about the gyros, while the sausage-and-pepper sandwiches sizzled across the parkland (and while we didn’t officially confirm it, it’s possible the fries actually were manna from heaven).
How about pizza? You won’t find a better pie than one from Uncle Andy’s Wood-Fired Pizza, passion project of longtime pizzamaker Andy Zichi and his nephew, Giancarlo Constantino (two nice Irish boys, from the sound of it). And yes, that’s actual wood in there, on wheels.
Greek? Ashkenazi Jewish? Tex-Mex? Choose from Yianni’s Pitas (great gyros, soaring souvlaki) or Crazy Knish (you’d be crazy not to order a side of fried pickles) or Quina’s Cookin’, where the tacos and quesadillas overflow with steak and shrimp and a full selection of “authentic Mexican drinks” is iced and ready (including that Mexican Coke you’ve heard so much about).
Traditional Mexican meets Brazilian berries meets Taiwanese treats aboard The Good Food Truck, which made its bones as a bubble tea/acai bowl attraction when it was known as Bubbles N Bowls but has expanded its repertoire with an eclectic selection of quesadillas and “walking tacos” (not to mention the multi-flavor “chicken cones,” piling up nuggets and drowning them in international sauces).
Anyway you wonton: All-American Wonton does the traditional Chinese dumplings in most untraditional ways, thanks to the creativity of innovative owner Kelly Kay (left).
Speaking of international flair, welcome to All-American Wontons, which stuffs traditional Chinese dumplings with a world of fillings you might not expect: honey BBQ chicken, Philly-style cheesesteak, a Human-civilization-may-have-just-peaked combo of figs, honey and goat cheese. Many more.
Kelly Kay, who owns both the All-American Wonton truck and the brick-and-mortar Melville café that spawned it, has been whipping up unique wontons for 13 years and her truck – which boasts a loyal following at multiple Long Island locales – has been visiting Heritage Park sporadically since last year to take part in what she calls “a great local event.”
“It’s nice to see families hanging out,” Kay notes. “There are lots of regulars, and there are always people who pop in and didn’t know this was here. A mix of everything.”
There are many differences, she adds, between running the truck and running the café, which not only serves an expanded menu (adding sandwiches and salads to the stuffed wontons) but also offers catering services and sells wontons wholesale to other eateries.
But they have one important thing in common, according to the innovative restaurateur.
“It’s nonstop,” Kay says. “Getting the propane, stocking the truck, making the wontons by hand … plus all the permits and hoops and everything. Every town has its own permit and everything costs a million dollars these days.
When life gives you lemons: Make Long Island’s best po’ boy — at least, that’s Rob Perricone’s plan.
“You have to be prepared for how much work it really is.”
Hard work is nothing new to Rob Perricone and Tammy Ball, the husband-and-wife duo behind the wheel of The Clamming Lemon’s Surf-and-Turf. Insurance agents by day (he’s the owner of independent online brokerage Coverage Solutions Group, she’s an agent at New York Life), the couple launched a food truck with nothing but matching kitchen skills and a “love of good food,” according to Perricone, who also squeezes in a few hours as a commercial clammer.
That, of course, lends itself to their truck’s shellfish selections, including fried-shrimp and fried-oyster po’ boys – on this Friday evening, the pride of the park.
“Out of all the things we make, I enjoy making the po’ boys most,” Ball notes. “It’s the flavors and colors … it’s just fun!”
“We have fun no matter what we’re doing,” adds Perricone, whether the truck is enjoying a relatively slow afternoon parked at the Spy Ring Golf Club in Centereach or a busy night at Heritage Park.
“The golf course is not as busy as this and I can get ahead of some things on the truck,” notes the insurer/clammer/entrepreneur. “When it’s busy like this, I need the extra help – but it’s always a great experience.”
That’s Italian: Andy Zichi (left) and Giancarlo Constantino keep the flames hot — and the pies coming — at Uncle Andy’s Wood-Fired Pizza.
“Great” barely scratches the surface of that oyster po’ boy, and that’s straight from a bona fide fried-oyster connoisseur. The sweet battered mollusks, the tangy remoulade, the hint of lemon, even the fresh bread – all of it exactly right. The same went for Mrs. Gregler’s shrimp sandwich.
Fortunately, we saved room for dessert. We thought about classing it up with a fancy coffee from the Cafecito cart, but who can resist a Mister Softee’s chocolate shake?
Heading back to the car, with the sun down and “Freaky Friday” up, slurping that choco-goodness straight from circa-1978 South Ozone Park, we passed Uncle Andy’s, just as Constantino yanked a glorious sausage-and-onion pie from those wood-fired flames.
No pizzeria these days, Zichi told me, no shop in the old neighborhood. Just mobility and love.
“We’re always here on Fridays,” zio Andy says. “Strictly pop-up. And we’re killing it.”
Zelory “Celery” Gregler has been cooking for most of his life, and eating for all of it.
