Farmingdale code change would allow food trucks

Farmingdale’s Main Street could see its first food truck if the village board of trustees approves a change to its code. The board has scheduled a hearing for its meeting on Monday night.

Chef Marc Anthony Bynum, who runs Hush Bistro on Main Street, asked the board if he could operate a food cart on Friday and Saturday nights for the late-night crowd after his kitchen closes, Mayor Ralph Ekstrand said in an interview.

“We thought he could do it until we looked into the law,” Ekstrand said.

Operating a food truck falls under the village’s regulations for peddlers, which was established to restrict peddlers such as knife sharpeners or brush salesmen from operating outside of daylight hours.

“Without changing the law, we can’t allow him to do that,” Ekstrand said.

If adopted in its current form, the code change would limit food trucks to restaurants with brick-and-mortar businesses on Main Street, Ekstrand said.

“We didn’t want people bringing in food trucks from Manhattan or Brooklyn or wherever into the village and competing against our merchants,” Ekstrand said.

Hush Bistro manager Margaruite Bynum, who is the chef’s sister, said they chose Farmingdale when they opened in November 2014 because of the “revitalization of Farmingdale” and now they want the food truck to be part of that.

Their food truck would offer a different menu from the restaurant from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. including fish tacos, burgers and fries, she said.