The Breakfast Shack food truck at the corner of 30th St and 30th Ave in Astoria, Queens. Photo: Caroline Hroncich

On a brisk Saturday in April, Joe DeMato, 31, cooked lamb sausage gravy in a large metal pot on the stove in his food truck, The Breakfast Shack, in Astoria, Queens. He was flanked by two employees, Shanasia Hearvy and E Bau, who took orders and grilled burgers as they prepared for the brunch rush. DeMato’s father, Anthony, was at the back of the truck, assisting with a few repairs. As 12:30 p.m. rolled around people began to congregate outside of the truck, chatting happily as they waited for their food.

Although it’s normal to see people crowded around The Breakfast Shack, these were not just any customers — they’re DeMato’s friends and family. They come to the truck on the weekends to eat brunch and spend time with him, a meal that has become an important staple in his life ever since he opened The Breakfast Shack in 2016. On this particular day his father, cousin and several longtime friends were present.

DeMato, shown kneeling, greets a group of friends and family at a Saturday brunch. Photo: Caroline Hroncich

“It’s become like the only time that we get to see each other, because I’m always with the truck,” DeMato said.  

John Esposito has known DeMato since the pair attended Chaminade High School in Long Island. Esposito frequents the truck and on this day he was joined by his mother, Maryann, and his father, Joe. They sat on a bench and ate pork tenderloin as they reminisced about their high school prom.

“He’s a brother, not a friend,” Esposito said of DeMato, as he took a bite of food.  

Every Sunday when DeMato was growing up his family got together for dinner. His mother, Valerie, or his grandmother shared the cooking and hosting responsibilities, organizing big dinners for birthdays or holidays in addition to the Sunday meal.

“We used to go shopping and prepare everything,” Valerie recalled.

Now things are more hectic. They no longer have time for big dinners every week, but they try to keep the tradition alive at least once a year on Christmas Eve when the family, in true Italian style, celebrates the Feast of the Seven Fishes. DeMato looks forward to a special lobster sauce, cooked for eight to ten hours and then served on a bed of linguine.

“That’s like my favorite meal of all time,” he said.

But Christmas only comes once a year, and most of the other 364 days he spends at The Breakfast Shack, on the corner of 30th Avenue and 30th Street. Instead of congregating at a relative’s house, family and friends now come to him. In the summer Francesca Laucella, his grandmother, who lives two avenues away, walks down with his mother. Usually news of the gathering spreads to his cousins, who also live in Astoria, as well as other close friends. They spend two or three hours outside of the food truck eating, talking and reminiscing.

Maple-bacon wrapped pork tenderloin medallions on a bed of home fries. Served with a poached egg, ramp pesto and purple potato chips. Photo: Caroline Hroncich.

“It becomes a little reunion kind of thing,” he said.

Valerie DeMato is a retired middle school English teacher, and she stops by often to buy coffee from her son and lounge at a table nearby. But her favorite time to visit the truck is the weekly group brunch.  

“Of course I’m here for brunch on the weekends,” she said. “I’m very proud of Joseph.”

DeMato grew up in Bayside with his mother, father, and older brother Michael, a teacher in Virginia. He went to college to become an English teacher but quickly realized that he was most passionate about food.

“What I really wanted to do was work in restaurants,” he said.

He graduated from St. John’s and got a job at the Carlyle Hotel, saved up his money and bought a food truck. In the beginning, his father, Anthony, who had recently retired, helped him out by taking orders, making coffee and fixing mechanical issues with the truck. Today he’s there less frequently but still stops by whenever his son needs extra assistance.

“On occasion if he needs help, as much as I can do,” said Anthony, a retired Con Edison electrician.

The Breakfast Shack has three full-time employees and is in the beginning stages of opening a storefront, but DeMato stresses that his friends and family have actively assisted him in growing his business. He affectionately calls everyone who’s been apart of the effort “The Shack Fam.”

“This has really been an effort of many people,” he said.

A tip jar at The Breakfast Shack reads “For The Fam!” Photo: Caroline Hroncich.

It’s only fitting that “The Shack Fam” and DeMato’s actual family gather together for brunch on the weekends. Valerie says breakfast food has always been important to the family and DeMato loved to cook growing up. When the boys were little they made her breakfast in bed on special occasions, like her birthday or Mother’s Day. They prepared oatmeal, eggs and toast in the kitchen, put it on a tray, and topped it off with a vase full of flowers. Then they brought it up to her room and served it bedside, gathering around while she ate.

“I’ll never forget that,” she said.

DeMato still prepares brunch at the food truck, but he’s graduated from eggs and oatmeal to a rotating menu of weekly specials that includes everything from red velvet doughnut French toast to roast pork breakfast paninis. All of the food is organic. On the blustery Saturday in April DeMato served breakfast pork tenderloin, lamb burgers, savory bread pudding and biscuits with sausage gravy.

“It’s fun for me,” he said, of the get-together. “I don’t see them as often as I used to.”

As the day wound down, the group finished their food and headed back home. Choruses of “bye Joe!” and “great to see you!” rang out as friends went their separate ways. DeMato stepped out of food truck to say goodbye to his friends and family. A few moments after he descended, a passerby walked up to the parting group, and asked if the truck was still open. DeMato smiled, replied yes and turned to board the truck. It was time to get back to work.

Caroline Hroncich