At 4:00 a.m., when session bands have played their last set and the bartenders have poured their last pint, the Woodlawn pub crowd spills out onto Katonah Avenue. But there’s one more stop before the end of the night—the Chipper Truck. Run by Alice O’Brien Bermejo and her husband Valentino, The Chipper serves up fried fare seven nights a week from just after midnight until 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning. Alice works the window taking orders and chatting with regulars while Valentino mans the grill and fryers with military-like precision.
Like many of her customers in this predominantly Irish pocket of the Bronx, Alice speaks with a lilting brogue and a ready laugh. In Ireland no night on the town is complete without food to cap off the evening’s revelry, so when the neighbor-hood’s only twenty-four-hour diner shuttered, Woodlawn keenly felt the void. Inspired by the chip vans Alice remembered from her youth in County Leitrim, they opened the Chipper Truck in 2004. “When we used to go to a nightclub when I was younger, it was like a mile from the closest town. It was really out on its own,” Alice explains. “A guy would come on a truck and sell food at two in the morning when the bars would close. You just had to. Food was the end of the night.”
The Chipper quickly found a loyal following, a mix of cops and EMS workers on the night shift and young lads and lasses fresh from a night out. “This is what Woodlawn needed. They needed Irish food. Fast food. Good food. And he’s great. He’s a really good cook,” Alice says, gesturing to her husband as he griddles up a couple burgers. Born in Puebla, Mexico, Valentino has worked his whole adult life making Irish food in restaurants and diners around Woodlawn. “I learn the Irish food, and I keep doing, keep doing,” says Valentino. “Everyone was looking for me. They say this guy cooks good.” Alice and Valentino met at an Irish restaurant where she was waitressing and he ran the kitchen. “When we had our first children, I stopped and he kept going. Then we just decided let’s just do something for ourselves ’cause we weren’t making it on our own. We had to do something, and this is it.”
The menu offers up a dizzying array of late-night comfort foods—cheesesteaks and freshly made quarter-plus-pounders, along with Irish favorites like battered bangers sausages and boxtys, a traditional thick potato pancake native to the north midlands of Ireland. Made from Alice’s mother’s secret recipe, the boxtys are slightly crispy on the outside and fluffy and light in the middle. If latkes and mashed potatoes had an Irish love child, this would be it. A little bit salty, a little bit greasy but mostly just satisfying, they’re ideal for soaking up a few Guinnesses.
“If the men were going out to work, they’d have it in the morning,” Alice says. “It’s a heavy feed that will keep them going for the day.” Not surprisingly, chips are a big seller at the end of the night, and the Chipper Truck offers up a host of topping options. There’s curry chips topped with a legitimately fiery tomato-based curry imported from Ireland, garlic cheese chips slathered in homemade garlic-loaded mayo that one regular calles “orgasmic.” Alice favors the curry coleslaw chips with Valentino’s freshly made Irish-style coleslaw, a chunkier, tangier ’slaw than its American cousin.
“I just love it. I love the people. I love to see them enjoy the food. That’s what it’s all about. It’s not just serving food. It’s quality.”
“No sugar in it,” says Valentino, “just salt and vinegar and extra heavy on the dressing.”
As the late-night crowd gathers, the jovial hum of regulars chatting mingles with the rhythmic sizzle and spatter of the hot oil. Valentino is preparing the taco chips, another import that Alice remembers from her teen years. “We make the taco meat like the Mexican tacos, but mix it with the Irish French fries,”Valentino explains. Though the item was a bit slow to catch on, it’s become one of their most popular sellers. In a single night, they can go through forty pounds of meat for taco chips alone. “Now all the American kids, they love it. They come here and they’re like, ‘taco chips! taco chips!’ At four o’clock in the morning, you’ve got like ten orders of taco chips.”
While virtually undiscovered outside the Bronx, the Chipper Truck is regarded as a neighborhood treasure. “Everybody knows us. It’s not like we come to work here and then we live off someplace else. They see me walking down the street with the kids. They see me and Valentino. If we go out for a night we’ll go here. We’re part of the neighborhood, as well.” The enthusiasm of their customers is unbridled. “This is my favorite spot,” one cop confides as he waits for his bacon cheese-burger. “I love The Chipper. When I party around here, I come here all the time. I love it. It’s good stuff. It sobers you up like that,” he says with the snap of his fingers.
Orders are placed and filled in rapid succession. Valentino’s a master at shorthand, but he longs to be back in the kitchen in the role of head chef. The Bermejos hope to one day open a restaurant to let Valentino’s cooking shine. “But we’ll never give up this,” says Alice. “This is where it started.”
Adapted from Alice O’Brien Bermejo’s recipes.
Beer-battered cod is pub grub, pure and simple. While lager turns out an especially nice, light batter, you can use your own favorite beer to customize the flavor.
2 pounds cod filets
2 cups self-rising flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon white pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten with a fork
1 (12-ounce) bottle of beer (lager, preferred)
2 quarts canola oil for frying
Cut the cod filets into 2-inch-long pieces. In a large bowl mix flour, baking soda, salt, and white pepper. Whisk in egg. Slowly add the beer while whisking, stirring until just combined. Batter should be fairly smooth.
Heat 3 inches of oil in a large Dutch oven or deep fryer to 350°F.
Using heat-resistant tongs, dip fish pieces into the batter. Let any excess batter drip off, then carefully place pieces into the hot oil. Deep fry until fish is a deep golden brown then turn, using either the tongs or a shallow heat-resistant strainer, and fry until golden on the other side, about 1 to 2 minutes per side. Remove from oil with the tongs or strainer, and allow excess oil to drip off. Transfer to a paper towel or brown paper–lined rack to drain. Serve with French fries or chips.
Preparing boxty batter is easy, but cooking the pancakes is a time-consuming process. Slow and low is the way to go with boxty. This recipe is all about having the patience to let the pancakes cook.
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2½ cups whole milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
2½ cups Russet potatoes, peeled and grated (about 3 large potatoes)
2½ tablespoons unsalted butter, for cooking
Move oven rack to center position and heat the oven to 200°F. Place two large baking sheets in the oven.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Whisk in milk and eggs until fully incorporated and batter is smooth. Stir in potato to distribute.
Add ½ tablespoon of butter in a 10-inch skillet or frying pan, and heat over medium. Be very careful not to let the heat get too high because the butter will burn, and that will make the boxty burn. Once butter is melted and bubbly add 1 cup batter, pouring to spread evenly over the pan. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook slowly until the top is nearly dry and the bottom is golden brown, about 7 to 10 minutes. Turn with a spatula and cook the other side to the same degree of doneness. Transfer boxty to oven to keep warm. Repeat until all the batter is used.
