New Foodie Festival coming to Mineola

Eat a plantain stuffed with bacon, bite into a cream-filled Oreo churro or try the daring pairing of shrimp in sweet chili sauce with Belgian waffles. Long Islanders can kick-start their appetites when the new Mineola Foodie Festival arrives on May 18 in Wilson Park.

“This is a free event for people who seek out unique foods that are outside the box,” said organizer Grace Kelly, president of LIPopUp. “We wanted to provide a wide variety that includes different cultures and styles of cuisine, which is elevated from a street fair. Attendees should consider wearing their loosefitting pants.”

The festival will feature more than 60 vendors serving from both trucks and booths, as well as a live DJ, kids activities and a market with food products, home goods and kitchen gadgets.

“We hope this will inspire people to come back to try our restaurants,” said Paul Pereira, the village's mayor.

Here are six vendors who will be selling both sweet and savory snacks.

THE STEAK TRUCK

Beef fans can rejoice at the arrival of Frank D’Angelo, owner of The Steak Truck.

“We use a mix of dry-aged prime, wagyu and filet mignon,” said D’Angelo, who operates from the Hunts Point meat market in the Bronx. “It’s all high-end meat that we cut into chunks.”

Sink your teeth into the 9-inch Empire steak sandwich ($25) with caramelized onions nestled in a Bronx-baked baguette. Or go another route via the Steak Box ($25) filled with chunks of steak with caramelized onions served over fries. Both come with your choice of sauce: housemade truffle aioli, southern barbecue or curry ketchup.

Vegetarians don’t fret: There’s the Unsteak Sandwich ($17) and the Unsteak Box ($18) consisting of a mushroom medley with caramelized onions and scallions on a Bronx-baked baguette or served over fries, respectively, with a sauce selection.

THE WAFFLE CHIC

Karen Davis, of Westbury, will bring her Waffle Chic food truck to the festival using the breakfast treat as both an entree and a dessert.

“We use waffles as the base for our gourmet food,” Davis said. “Our focus is to turn ordinary food into extraordinary.”

Start with savory selections such as chicken and waffles — choose fried, jerk or grilled chicken ($20). Shrimp and waffles comes in a sweet chili sauce or pineapple mango chutney sauce ($22) while fish and waffles includes herb-crusted fried fillet of fish ($21).

Dessert features Jason’s Ice Cream Dream, a Hong Kong bubble waffle with your choice of ice cream, filled with strawberries, sprinkles, Oreos, M&Ms, coconut shreds and pineapple sauce ($15). The most popular selection, the Triple Chocolate Delight ($17) is a chocolate waffle served with crushed Oreos, chocolate ice cream, hot fudge and whipped cream.

ALL AMERICAN WONTONS

While eating dumplings on vacation with a friend in Atlantic City, Kelly Kay came up with the concept for All American Wontons of Massapequa. But these are not your ordinary wontons.

Flavors include bacon mac and cheese, Philly cheesesteak, spinach artichoke, honey barbecue chicken and vegan nacho as well as sweet tooth treats like brownie madness, banana Nutella, strawberry Nutella and apple crumb.

These 4-inch fried triangles are served in Chinese food cartons in three sizes: snack — three for $7, meal — six for $12 or party size 24 for $40.

“You can mix and match different flavors,” said Kay. “We don’t serve them with any sauces because they are good on their own.”

LATIN FLAVOR

The father-son team of Orlando and Brandon Santos bring their Puerto Rican heritage to their mobile food booth, Latin Flavor.

“Our flavor is unique because everything comes from our own family recipes,” said Orlando, who is from New Jersey.

Santos serves empanadas ($4 or 3 for $10; beef, chicken and mixed vegetables), rice with roasted pork ($10), chicken kebabs ($10), arepas ($8; mozzarella cheese with sweet corn), sweet plantains stuffed with bacon ($6) and beef potato balls ($4).

“We serve big portions,” said Orlando. “Our empanadas are loaded and our kebabs contain 2 pounds of meat.”

THE IRON MOBILE CHEF

Try a Bacon Jam Burger ($10) from the Iron Mobile Chef Steve Mahoney, of Babylon, who spreads his steakhouse-style bacon jam on a thick burger, which contains a secret ingredient.

Pair that burger with some fresh cut steak fries ($5) made to order with salt and pepper. If you want those fries loaded with cheese and bacon (add $5).

Other selections include a 12-inch sausage and peppers hero ($13), bacon-egg-cheese breakfast sandwich ($7) and chicken fingers ($10). Save room for the fried Oreos (3 for $5), which Mahoney said “are like beignets, nice and fluffy.”

THE CHURRO CHICK

Wanda Salamanca has a deep passion for churros, hence her nickname and business title, The Churro Chick. She specializes in handmade churros that are deep fried and rolled in cinnamon sugar.

“When you bite on it, it’s crispy on the outside and inside it has the consistency of a doughnut,” said Salamanca, who grew up in Manhasset. “These are the typical churros they sell in Spain.”

Her churros come in various formations: the original 10-inch churros ($4), 4-inch churro sticks ($8 for 5) or 1½-inch  churro bites ($8 for 10 pieces). All come with a choice of dipping sauces like caramel, dulce de leche and Nutella.

She also sells flavored churros such as ones topped with strawberries and cream plus hot fudge ($12), one filled with Oreo cream served with hot fudge ($5) as well as savory sticks coated with sugar maple bacon ($8 for 5).

“Churros are like therapy,” she said. “You can smell them from the parking lot.”

By David J. Criblez

david.criblez@newsday.comDavidJCriblez

David J. Criblez is a reporter for Newsday's exploreLI, covering entertainment-related events from local music to stand-up comedy to festivals.