Empanadas, burgers, grilled cheese top food-truck list, readers say
Whether you find yourself playing cornhole with friends on a Saturday afternoon at the Beer Garden by Shippan Landing or shopping for the latest trends at a department store, chances are you have come across a handful of these chariots of cuisine.
Food trucks have been taking over the traffic-filled streets of Stamford for the past few years now.
Whether you find yourself playing cornhole with friends on a Saturday afternoon at the Beer Garden by Shippan Landing or shopping for the latest trends at a department store, chances are you have come across a handful of these chariots of cuisine.
HAPA Food Truck, Mama’s Food Truck and the Melt Mobile were named Stamford’s finest restaurants on wheels and standouts for local diners, according to our readers poll.
HAPA melds together American street food with Asian Pacific cuisine, according to Chris Gonzalez, chef and co-owner, of HAPA. The truck’s side dishes, like its ‘Furikake Fries,’ use traditional Japanese seasonings and Korean spices to form a cross-cultural exchange between east and west.
“My experiences growing up in the Philippines, traveling, migrating here across the U.S. from Hawaii, Vegas, L.A., N.Y., now Stamford, and marrying into an Italian-American family, inspire my recipes,” Gonzalez said in an email. “Every dish tells a different story, like a blended culture trip, which gets molded by available ingredients. And is always changing.”
On Yelp, Stamford locals rave over the ready-to-order rice bowls, tacos, burgers and sides.
“I highly recommend ordering the short rib tacos, the short rib quesadilla, the hapa burger, their poke bowl ... basically the entire menu,” one reviewer wrote after visiting HAPA’s truck.
Mama’s hit the ground running in the fall of 2017. Judy Juarez, Orfilda Juarez and Veronica Cruz Alejandre really started to have people lining up at their windows this past spring when the women — who had transformed an old school bus into a fully-equipped kitchen — landed a spot outside of the Lord & Taylor on High Ridge Road.
The truck’s menu is composed of a variety of Latino-American fusion that takes dishes like tacos and burritos and adds a new spin. The standout item, though, is Mama’s empanadas, or savory pastry turnovers. “That’s where it all began for us,” Judy Juarez said. “We can have so much fun with them. They’re not your traditional empanadas.”
The three women have concocted their own original recipes like mac and cheese, barbecue pork and buffalo chicken incorporating them into the traditional flavors and fillings that make up an empanada. Mama’s even has seasonal empanadas like its Thanksgiving special, which blends together turkey, stuffing and gravy sauce — all the staples of a Thanksgiving table into Latin-style hot pockets.
For the Juarez’s and Cruz Alejandre, the truck is a business, of course. But what they love most is the food they serve and the interaction with customers, Juarez said.
“We live in a country where there are so many different cultures and so many different opportunities to meet different people and connect, and that’s the end goal of the truck ... bringing connection and love through food.”
The Melt Mobile has been in the game for the past seven years now with owners Darlene Anderson and Diana Hall serving up delicious, gourmet grilled cheeses. The two source their ingredients from local eateries and food purveyors like Beldotti
Bakery. “They make all our fabulous bread right here in Stamford, by hand, fresh every day,” Hall said.
Anderson and Hall are looking forward to sharing more delicious recipes this season. This fall they have a new menu item labeled the ‘Autumn Melt’ comprised of smoked gouda, aged white cheddar, Granny Smith apples, caramelized onions and apple wood bacon on 7 grain: “Fall is fun because we can play with all of the autumnal flavors ... sage, apples, cranberries, nuts,” Hall said.
To stay current on new menu items and locations, visit HAPA, Mama’s and the Melt Mobile online.