food

Crossroads House is honored to present “Comfort Foods,” a cookbook created in honor and memory of Connie Ficarella and featuring recipes from the Ficarella family and the volunteers and staff at Crossroads House. This beautiful keepsake contains more than 200 recipes as well as pictures and tributes to a life well lived and loved.

Get one for your home and more as wonderful Christmas gift -- 100 percent of the proceeds go to comfort care in our community serving your family, friends and neighbors.

The cookbook is only $14 and can be purchased at Ficarella’s Pizzeria, 21 Liberty St., or at Crossroads House, 11 Liberty St., in Batavia. Please call ahead for pick up at Crossroads House.

You can also order the cookbook online from Ficarella's here or Crossroads House here.

Local delivery of the cookbook is available from Ficarella’s, and anywhere in the United States from Crossroads House.

With winter on the horizon, Chuck Martin has found a location for indoor dining in Batavia for his BBQ stand, Angry Charlie's.

In June, Martin and partner Ken Prufrock opened Angry Charlie's at a location on West Main Street. By a week from Tuesday, they hope to be ready to open at 341 Ellicott St., Batavia, at the corner of Ellicott and Swan, the former location of Pasquale's Italian Eatery.

The restaurant will be open Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

There will be indoor dining for about 25 people and as long as the weather holds, a couple of picnic tables outside.

The change will also allow Angry Charlie's to free up its food trailer for catering and events.

There will also be a couple of menu changes: brisket every day, smoked haddock on Fridays, and (whether permitting) BBQ chicken on Saturdays. There will also be a children's menu.

Previously:

Each region of Italy is known for their particular style of pasta sauce. Just as in Italy, Western New York has its own style of sauce and its popularity has led a local maker, Albanese’s Finest, to start producing sauce locally for everyone to enjoy.

The Albanese family is renowned for its sauce.

Sauce maker Darrin Albanese (in photos) learned how to cook mostly from his mother and father, David and Theresa, and also learned some cooking from aunts and uncles at his family's restaurant, Albanese’s in Albion.

So eight months ago Albanese parlayed his legacy into crafting a classic Marinara Sauce, Meat Sauce and Pizza Sauce. They are made the same as he made them in his own kitchen, with the finest ingredients (hence the name Albanese’s Finest). He uses fresh herbs, not dried, and no added sugar or salt.

The simple straightforward approach wins customers with its result -- fresh, homemade taste.

Albanese plans to add at least three more varieties before the end of 2021. 

He has his sauces made at Permac Enterprises, owned by Pauly Guglielmo. It's a specialty small-batch food production facility that operated for 15 years in a pizzeria. In May, Guglielmo closed the deal then moved operations to a new 5,000-square-foot facility on Appletree Avenue in Bergen.

Permac is one of only six USDA cannery manufacturing plants in New York State that specializes in taking recipes from individuals, restaurants or food production brands, and adjusting it for large production. Guglielmo has increased the staff by 30 percent this year and expects to grow more in near future.

Albanese has plans to grow, too, and hopes to sell his sauces nationally someday. For now, most of his sales are in Western New York and can be found in 60+ locations.  

The first store to take on his sauce was ANG Shur Save in Churchville and it is now also available around Genesee County at:

• Harrington's Produce and Market Cafe, Batavia
• Southside Deli, Batavia
• Save-A-Lot, Batavia and Le Roy
• Tops Friendly Markets, as a specialty item in a display case, Batavia and Le Roy
• The Divine Tree, Le Roy
• Sweet Life Country Store, Elba

Albanese says without the help and support of his daughter, Kaleigh, and the encouragement of his close friends and some family, his sauce still might only be served at his house. 

You can follow Albanese's Finest Sauce on Facebook

Photos by Jim Burns.