There are two great truths: Queens is the most diverse acreage on the planet and if you want a good, cheap meal, follow the truck drivers and road sales representatives.
On the byways of our borough, you can find vendors of everything edible, from pralines, to the classic “dirty water dog,” to Chinese pancakes.
However, for filling the belly and satisfying the soul, you just can't beat the wagons dealing Italian sausage heroes, adorned with griddle roasted onions and peppers.
I decided to search them out after noticing one sausage truck missing from its usual spot alongside a cemetery gate - the owner retired and the kids did not want the “family business.”
It may seem odd that the place to find a sausage hero is usually just outside one of our many cemeteries, but that is where there is always room to pull up a big rig or cement truck. That's where I had my first taste of this Italian delight, long ago, alongside of Calvary Cemetery.
Back in the day, there were two trucks, a few hundred feet apart: Red's, where you got franks, and Frank's where you got sausage. The spot, which is in Sunnyside, is on the south service road of the Long Island Expressway, between Greenpoint Avenue and Laurel Hill Boulevard. A glance through the wrought iron fence frames a view of the graveside scene from “The Godfather.”
Frank has gone to his reward, either in Florida or in an early grave at the hands of a robber, according to local legend. Nevertheless, the sausage truck is still there, just a little farther down the road.
For the last 11 years, hungry patrons have been greeting Rudy and Juana Salgado and feasting on substantial portions of sweet or hot sausage under a blanket of grilled but crunchy onions and peppers. You can get it laced with barbecue or hot sauce, and they offer hot Italian cherry peppers, pepperoncini, jalapenos and sliced pickles. The condiments used to be out in the open, but the City forbade them to have a table.
Truck drivers, as well as truck horses, are expected to eat while standing.
There they do stand, every Monday through Saturday, from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., awaiting or enjoying their $4.75 feast. Rudy mans the griddle as Juana orbits, renewing the veggies so they're always done just right.
They are training an assistant, because in their quest for the American Dream, the Salgados will be opening an actual restaurant in nearby Maspeth, with Juana in charge. The offerings will be the same: roast chicken, burgers, hot dogs, coffee, danish and, of course, sausage. That spot will open at 4 a.m., to the delight of deliverymen everywhere. In the meantime, this Capistrano for cholesterol will carry on.
Got a favorite sausage spot? Let me know. I'll be hungry again, eventually.
Hero-ic dining Al Fresco
By Victor G. Mimoni
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