LITTLE SILVER – When Angella and Denes Feher started serving chimney cakes from their food truck four years ago, their customers had questions about the hollow pastry – a popular treat in the couples’ native Transylvania. The most common one: “Where’s the filling?”
“In Europe, you don’t fill it. It’s a hollow pastry,” said Angella, a Little Silver resident who co-owns the Chimney Cake Factory food truck with her husband. “But Americans look for filling, so we started to cut the pastry and fill it with ice cream.”
“It’s something completely different,” Angella said.
This Sunday, the couple, who moved to Little Silver last year, will have a chance to share their unique treat with their community for the first time at the borough’s inaugural spring street and food festival, “A Taste of Little Silver.”
“It has been tremendous to see the support from all the businesses in town wanting to get involved,” said Rick Brandt, a founder of Little Silver Charitable Foundation, the 501(c)3 behind the event.
Brandt and his organization hosted last year’s community fundraiser, Little Silver Day, which featured catering from several borough merchants. This year, Brandt noted, they decided to try something different.
“One of the things we wanted to do this year was have an event that would highlight all of the businesses in Little Silver,” he said. “We wanted to give businesses a platform to show who they are and what they offer.”
Some of Little Silver’s oldest and newest businesses will have tables at the event. Sickles Market, a family-run institution that has been around longer than the borough, will be serving fresh cut watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe. The recently opened health food eatery, The Healthy Palate will also offer a sampling of its vegan menu.
Fans of Italian eating will be able to peruse tables from Gianni’s Pizzeria, Angelo’s Italian Market, Luigi’s Famous Pizza and Olivia’s Trattoria and Artisan Pizza. Olivia’s will be offering a $10 dollar Italian combo dish consisting of chicken francese, penne vodka and eggplant rollatini. In addition to the combo plate, Olivia’s owner John Sommers said his table will serve refreshments and, of course, cannoli.
“You’ll be able to spend the whole day there going from table to table and getting to try a little bit of each business,” said Brandt. “You’ll get a physical taste of the restaurants. But you’ll also get to see some of our other businesses.”
Local dentists, realtors, salons and shops will have pop-up tents to promote their businesses and show visitors who they are and what they do. Entertainment will also be provided by dancers from the local Dance Plus dance studio and three local bands that will play throughout the day.
The free event is rain or shine and open to all, according to Brandt, who hopes residents of Little Silver and all its neighboring towns will come out and try out some of the borough’s wide-ranging specialties, whether they be Transylvanian treats, tasty Italian food or a set from one of the youngest cover bands around.
“It’s a good mix of who and what Little Silver is,” he said.
This article was first published in the May 18-25, 2017 print edition of The Two River Times.