The Aftermath: Connecticut Food Truck Festival

We went to the Connecticut Food Truck Festival in North Haven today.

With a $5 admission fee, parking was supposed to be free. If you can find one. We saw so many cars waiting to go inside the fairgrounds. At that point, we decided our time was better spent AT the Festival, instead of looking for free parking, so we parked right across the fairgrounds and paid $5.

There were plenty of food trucks with food to try. If you have the patience to wait in line for 30 minutes. AT LEAST.

There was live music. I brought a picnic mat and plopped it right across the band. I forgot how loud the music can get, so conversation was pretty hard to manage. We listened to the Alpaca Gnomes.

I overheard some attendees saying different food trucks priced everything differently. My El Jibarito from Samba’s Cuisine cost me $4 with a side of fries. You won’t see me complaining.

My husband bought two different pulled pork dishes, one was $7; the other, $8. My sister bought Porchetta from Vanchetta Rolling Rotisserie. Now, we didn’t plan to all buy pulled pork. Our brilliant plan mostly consisted of splitting up, going to different food trucks, and trying food from each food truck. The plan didn’t materialize. Who’d expect we’d all buy pulled pork? I couldn’t have seen that coming. Nevertheless, taste-testing pulled pork in American, Italian and Brazilian styles was a good experiment.

My sister bought cannolli from DiSorbo’s Bakery. Our last purchase was good ol’ shaved ice.

Minor irritants during the festival?

The queue. The lines were long enough to be discouraging. I loved Aurora’s Gypsy Cafe’s truck decoration, but the line was LONG. I went to Samba’s Cuisine, waited about 45 minutes in line to order and another 15 minutes for my meal. Midway, I was close to giving up, but since I already waited that long and we drove an hour to get to the festival, giving up was a total waste of time. Luckily, the guy who I thought was Chef Izolda was nice. I also wanted fried dough, but it was like waiting in line for a ride at a theme park. Whew! Decide how much time you’re willing to invest in waiting.

Mysterious prices. I don’t remember seeing prices on the food being sold. Buying food without knowing how much it costs? Bad idea. I got lucky because mine was a mere $4. My other companions were surprised their food nearly cost $10.

Overflowing trash cans. I was so happy when someone finally came to remove the trash. What’s the point of having a trash can if it’s full?

Inadequate food supply. By 3a.m., we saw two food trucks leave. Other trucks were closed because they ran out of food. The Festival was supposed to last till 7p.m. It was really apparent that they underestimated the attendance.

I left some tips in Connecticut Food Truck Festival’s Facebook Page for those going tomorrow. You can find it here.

To be fair, this is the festival’s first year, so I’m cutting them some slack. Congratulations on coming up with this excellent idea for a festival! It was truly well-attended, so they really did a great job promoting the event. Next year should be way better!