Food Truck Blending Dominican Flavor With American Fare, Papi's Grill, Opens In East Patchogue

EAST PATCHOGUE, NY — When Jose Garcia was in culinary school at Suffolk Community College in Riverhead, he became turned on to the idea of starting a food truck because the concept seemed like a cool one that was becoming more acceptable to the food-loving public.

He and his classmates would talk about how they were becoming popular because the public was starting to trust them more. Sanitary code requires a lot of vendors in terms of the cleanliness of the truck and freshness of its food.

"It really requires a lot of fresh food because really you're not supposed to keep a lot of food on the truck, so you're constantly just buying what you need," said Garcia, who lives in Yaphank, and operates El Campo Deli in Mastic, which is well-known for traditional Hispanic foods like pupusas, tacos, and chimichangas.

The idea of the business came a little closer to reality one day when Garcia and his best friend and deli partner, Thomas Johnson, got to talking about how they would like to start a food truck.

But they wanted to make it "totally different than just tacos, which everybody else has," Johnson said.

"We were joking around, and about it the next day, some lady had came in, and she asked, 'Oh, can I put a for sale sign in your store? I want to sell my food truck,'" recalled Johnson, who lives in East Patchogue. "So he and I looked at each other, and we were like, 'Oh, it must just be meant to be,' and we ended up buying the food truck, and we came up with a specialty menu."

"We have some pretty neat creations of food that we're making," he added.

The pair made it happen at Johnson's gas station, USA One on Montauk Highway in East Patchogue.

"And then we created the name 'Papi' because, you know, almost everybody that comes to me is like, 'Hey, Papi,'" Garcia said. "So I decided it's a very catchy and fun name to put on the food truck."

Papi's Grill was official.

It was a fitting name because both men became fathers last year.

The truck's fare is a blend of the flavors of the Dominican Republic from his culture with that of American food truck staples.

"So, there's a big twist," he said, adding that it's Dominican-American. "I was trying to smash them a little bit together and make that new and up-and-coming thing that everybody loves, which is smash burgers."

He decided to put "a little bit "of the Dominican flavor into, kind of, the American cuisine by adding some fried cheese, cabbage, and raw onions.

"That's like what's mostly seen in chimi sandwiches, which is like a very common Dominican sandwich," he said.

One of the top dishes that the food truck serves is the smashburger, which has Dominican fried cheese, coleslaw, and avocado

"It's basically a block of queso de frio," Johnson says, adding that it is added to the top of the burger. "It's firm white cheese that holds its shape. It doesn't melt."

There's also a smashed taco with ground beef that is pressed, loaded fries with Chimichurri, and a buttermilk waffle chicken sandwich.

It’s a buttermilk chicken sandwich with coleslaw that is really delicious, and everybody keeps coming back for it, Johnson said, adding that the cutlet can also be on a bun or in a waffle bowl with coleslaw at the bottom.

"And then we're slicing up the buttermilk chicken," he said. "That one's actually really, really popular."

The loaded fries dish has chorizo, jalapeño, pineapple, and grilled mozzarella with a drizzle of cilantro and some avocado.

"It's basically a little bit sweeter," Johnson said.

The prices run about $12 per dish.

The food truck also sells fresh-made juices like passion fruit, tamarindo, and morir sonando, which is evaporated milk and orange juice.

Serving food is something that Garcia is "really happy to do," he says.

"I'm just really like serving food by itself," he said. "I'm always used to just working in a deli where it's like a lot of things going on, and then just to focus on preparing good food itself is really my biggest goal here.

"I went to culinary school, I love to cook," said the former chef, adding he aims to "promote quality and food to people."

For now, the food truck's hours of operation are noon to 9 p.m. daily, but that could change with Wednesdays off.

Customers have been telling Garcia that they feel alot more comfortable knowing him from his deli.

"So they're like, 'Oh, so now it's really going be good,' because we do promote really good food over there, and we're moving here to East Patchogue to promote a little bit more of that good food."