(upbeat music) - Everything you wanted or needed to know about food trucks, here we go.

We got the expert in the house.

Vinny Parisi, editor-in-chief of BestofNJ.com, one of our media partners, and also a co-author of the book "The New Jersey Food Truck Cookbook."

Vinny, how are we doing, buddy?

- I'm doing fantastic, Steve, how are you?

- I'm doing great.

Hey, listen.

Food trucks, bigger in New Jersey than in most places, man?

- I would say so for sure, yeah.

- Why?

- Well, I mean, one of the original food trucks was in Rutgers.

They started off, they were called Fat Trucks and that sort of kicked off this idea of mobile eatery.

And since then it's expanded exponentially to, really, food trucks every weekend, from March through October.

- It's interesting you talk about Rutgers, 'cause back in the day as a graduate student at Rutgers, all along George Street, right on the main campus, there were food trucks.

Those are the food trucks you're talking about, right?

- It's the same idea, yes.

Guys that are cooking, guys and girls cooking right out of their truck, producing all sorts of cuisine.

- So have food trucks become more sophisticated, Vin?

- Oh yeah, for sure.

I mean, you can get just about anything on a food truck now, from a gourmet sandwich or a gourmet meal, to high-quality desserts.

- So let's go through some of these, and before we do that, why this book?

- (chuckles) Well, I mean, I love food and I love New Jersey and food trucks in New Jersey are really hot right now.

They're great local businesses.

They get to travel all throughout the state.

Like I said, there's a lot of food truck festivals every weekend and they're great family outings.

So it was a perfect pairing for Best of NJ to do a book that promotes these great family activities while supporting the local businesses that run them and produce the food.

- What do you mean from "food truck festivals"?

What kind of festival?

- Yeah, so typically a food truck festival is a scenario where you go to either a park or sometimes a venue, and there's anywhere from a dozen to 20 or so food trucks and they pair that with live music, sometimes they pair it with a beer expo.

And it's a place where families can go and sample a variety of foods.

Every food truck, like I said, typically has a different cuisine, from tacos to cheesecake to pizza.

And you can go, there's a lot of family activities, anything from face painting for kids to giant Jenga.

It's really just a day out.

- By the way, this is part of an ongoing series.

We always come up with these series, Georgette Timoney, our executive producer, we're always brainstorming, "Hey, how about a series?"

And the series is called "Food for Thought."

This is one of the first segments we're doing under "Food for Thought," you'll see a graphic.

Trust me, we will limit the number of miniseries.

But what I'm curious about is this, what was the movie, I think it was a John Favreau, help me on this, do you know the movie that his dream was to start a food truck?

Do you know the one I'm talking about?

- Ooh, no.

- Okay, no, someone search it and put it in the chat.

But what struck me is his dream was to have a food truck.

And the reason I'm bringing it up, Vin, is it strikes me that those who have food trucks, who start food trucks, their passion, and that was the whole thing about Favreau in the movie is passion was so into, the movie, thank you, the movie's called "Chef."

Thank you, Aimee and Georgette.

Check out that movie, it's a great movie.

I think we saw it at the Montclair Film Festival that kicked it off, it was great.

Question.

How much passion do you have to have to run a food truck?

- You have to have a ton of passion.

That's actually one of the reasons we wanted to do this book, right?

'Cause every good book starts with a story and every food truck owner has a fantastic story.

A lot of 'em don't come from the food space.

They start out working on Wall Street or being an accountant or something completely out of the space.

And they typically encounter a food truck at an event or something for the first time, and they're inspired to start this business.

They find a passion for it.

It's not easy to operate a food truck.

In many cases, it's more difficult than a restaurant.

- Why?

- A lot of work goes into it.

You have to be constantly getting approval from different towns to travel, but also the cleanliness and the maintenance of the truck is a lot more difficult.

You know, they have to get, basically they're getting audited or inspected on a regular basis to make sure their equipment is up to snuff, to make sure the food truck itself is clean, the food is well prepared, all that kind of stuff.

So you really have to love this job to do it.

It takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of passion.

- We're gonna run some pictures of some of the food trucks you picked.

Down at the Jersey Shore, there's Five Sisters Food Company.

- Yeah.

- Talk about it.

- Yeah, Five Sisters is a great company.

So the name says it all.

It was started by a mother and a father, but they have five daughters and the truck has been in operation for long enough now that the girls have all grown up to an extent that they're all working on the truck.

In fact, the two oldest daughters, they really run the truck now and their parents oversee it.

- They're in the Jersey Shore, down Jersey Shore?

- Yes, that's correct.

I mean, they travel, but they're primarily in the Jersey Shore.

- Okay, and you picked one at the Jersey Shore, one in Central Jersey, and one in North Jersey.

In Central Jersey, you got Big John's Gourmet Burgers.

Talk about it.

- Yeah, so Big John, Jonathan Anderson is his name.

He's got a great story too.

He used to work for Time Magazine and so he was in the city on Sixth Avenue looking out his window every day and he'd see food trucks pull up outside of Sixth Avenue and he'd say, "Hey, those guys always have a long line.

They must make a lot of money."

And eventually Time Magazine dissolved and he was looking for work and he thought, "I love burgers, I'm inspired by these food trucks, I want to give it a shot."

And Big John's Gourmet Burgers was born.

- Where are they in Central Jersey, do you know?

- Well, they travel, so a lot of these food trucks don't have a stationary position.

- Oh, really?

- Yeah, they go out to all different events.

Every weekend, they're on the road somewhere.

- So it's not this, see, I was talking before we got on the air that, and I was betting that you would know this, man.

This is not a food truck, per se, but it's a hotdog truck.

The hotdog truck in my old neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey.

Please tell me you know Tony Dogs?

- Yes.

- Okay, I just wanted to make sure.

And Tony Dogs, the best hotdogs out of a hotdog truck anywhere in the state?

Just confirming.

- I don't know, Callahan's is pretty good too, but they're (chuckles) in the top two.

(laughs) - All right, I liked it until then.

No, but Tony Dogs is a classic.

And Tony started, 1964 they opened up, and countless people go there.

It's by Branch Brook Park by Park Avenue.

Check it out, folks.

Even though we don't do commercials here on public television.

How about Ms. Fu's Yummy Food Truck in Northern New Jersey?

What's this about?

- Yeah, another great story.

So Fumiji is her name.

She's from Japan and she didn't really feel like she fit into the traditional career paths that they offered her in Japan, so she came to America looking to do something different.

Her primary job was as a financial advisor, she's a CPA, but she also is a food lover.

And she got started with her truck, her story is she used to prepare the meals for her son and his friends for gatherings.

And everybody loved the food, so she kind of became the default chef and provider for every special occasion, which eventually led to her starting her own food truck.

And it's a great fusion of Japanese food, Korean food, Chinese food, and even some wild American twists like cheesesteaks.

It's really just about all the foods she loves herself.

- I love it, hey, Vin, do us a favor.

Let everyone know what BestofNJ.com is all about.

- I mean, it's the best place you can go to find local businesses, local events.

What we do is promote local businesses primarily, so both new businesses, and what we're most famous for is our Best-Of lists, which cover the spectrum of categories from food to services, we do lists of the best spas, the best steakhouses, the best barbecue.

Basically, we're a one-stop shop to go for things to do in New Jersey and the best businesses to visit.

- And is it true that you were picking the best nightly talk show and "One-on-One" came up?

- Number one, at the top of the list.

- Yeah, I just made that up, that's not true.

(Vinny laughing) Hey, Vin, I'm gonna plug this.

"The New Jersey Food Truck Cookbook."

Hey Vinny, your co-writer here is Pat Lombardi?

- That's correct.

- Who's Pat?

- Well, he's been our photographer for many, many years and also a contributing writer.

We actually started a web series before this was a book, many years, in fact, just called "The Best New Jersey Food Trucks."

And that's where this idea sprang into life.

So Patrick and I have been working together for many years on both content, and he took all the beautiful photos in this book as well.

- Hey, they really are, check it out, folks.

Vinny Parisi, editor-in-chief of Best of NJ, one of our media partners.

Hey Vin, all the best.

- Thank you, Steve, take care.

- Visit a food truck in New Jersey.

I'm Steve Adubato, that's Vinny Parisi.

We'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

PSEG Foundation.

Kean University.

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New Jersey Sharing Network.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

PSE&G, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

And by The Fidelco Group.

Promotional support provided by Insider NJ.

And by The New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

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