El Olomega, the family-run Salvadoran pupusa truck that was the last vendor standing at the Red Hook Ball Fields, has shut down for the 2026 season, ending more than half a century of Latin street food at the corner of Bay and Clinton Streets. Hell Gate first reported the closure.
The reason came down to a bill the truck could no longer split with anyone: nearly $14,000 in Parks Department concession permit fees. For decades that cost was divided among a lineup of vendors who packed the ballfields every summer. As one truck and cart after another pulled out over the past decade, the fee stayed the same, and the last vendor left standing had to cover the whole thing alone.
El Olomega, run by Marcos Lainez and his family, decided it could not. “It’s not profitable anymore. It’s really hard to do business,” Lainez told Hell Gate. “They make it so difficult on us.”
The ballfields at Bay and Clinton had been a food destination since long before food trucks were a thing New Yorkers waited in line for. For more than half a century, vendors dished out pupusas, huaraches and other Latin street food there, first for the Latino families who gathered around soccer and baseball games, and later for foodies from across the city who showed up for the award-winning stuff.
Vendors started leaving about a decade ago. Lead was discovered at dangerous levels at the ballfields, which led to construction projects and park closures. Every closure meant lost days for the vendors who depended on game-day crowds, and one by one the trucks and carts abandoned the corner. This year, the roster hit zero.
Hell Gate’s reporting does not spell out how the roughly $14,000 fee breaks down, or which construction projects are currently active at the site. The vendors’ collective operated for years as the Red Hook Food Vendors, sharing costs across the group, which is what made the permit math work when the lineup was full.
Featured image: Courtesy queenseagle.com