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News 12 Staff

512marissaBRONXweek_2025-05-12-06-35-00

Bronx Week is underway. Yeah, it's here and we're highlighting the bedrock of the Bronx, small businesses and the iconic hot spots in our communities. Newswell's Marissa Santaelli this morning is inside the Madonia bakery on Arthur Avenue. I'm sure it smells wonderful there. Yeah Chrissie, this is our first stop this morning and you're totally right. The second I walked through the doors, the first thing I smelled was fresh baked bread and cookies, really a trademark here at this business for almost a century. And with me now joining me, co-owner here Jason Lalima. Jason, I gotta tell you we're talking all things Bronx Week. Thank you for having us this morning. I gotta ask you, thank you so much. I gotta ask you during Bronx Week, do you see more foot traffic, more people coming in, more than. Oh yeah, a lot more than usual because people, uh, you know, they wanna be, it's beautiful weather out. People wanna be out and about, so the restaurants are all doing the outside, uh, stuff, so everybody's getting sit outside, have nice drinks, taking the atmosphere and do a lot of shopping. Absolutely, and I think not just people coming here from here in the Bronx but from all over here to support local small businesses. Yes, a lot of people come from upstate. A lot of people come from downstate. I mean, they're all coming here, especially during this week because they, everybody's coming up with some new items, you know, so. You got it you got it when it's Bronx week. So I gotta ask you, how do you guys prepare for such a big influx of people coming? Um, I just have a lot of bread in the walking box, have all my guys on staff ready to go, and we just keep making and we keep pushing it out fresh, fresh every couple of hours. Keep baking bread, bacon bread, bacon bread. So everybody's getting hot loaf of bread. And enjoying it. I think that's what people come here for, and that leads me to my next question here. If someone has never been here to Madonia Bakery, never been, I don't know how, but never been, what's the one thing that they should come here and try? There's so many things. OK, well, the first thing our staple is the olive bread, so you have to try the olive bread. And then we have a lot of new items since then. So the charcuterie bread is one of our new favorites, uh, salami, Asiago, and provolone cheese, a really good, uh. Uh, accompaniment to your meals. I love it. Now you're making me hungry. So I gotta thank you for joining us this morning. Thank you for opening your doors to us. It's Bronx Week. If you're if you're in the area, come on down to Madonia Bakery. The doors are now open. I think I'm gonna enjoy some cookies here and maybe bring some back to the studio. Christy, I'll send it back to you.

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512bronxweek7am

Bronxites get excited. Bronx Week is here. So here on 12 we're highlighting some small businesses and iconic hotspots in our community. News Tw's Marissa Santaelli, she is taking a tour of Arthur Avenue for us this morning. So Marissa, what's your next stop? Christy, good morning. Our next stop here, we're at Moron pastry shop. They've been here for hours already stocking the shelves. You can see rainbow cookies, pinoli cookies. It smells so sweet in here and we're joined by the man behind it all, the owner of the shop here. Good morning. How are you? I am so happy to be here and happy to be around cookies this morning. I think I'm gonna start my morning a little sweet, so I got to ask you, we're talking all things Bronx. What makes Bronx Week so special for your business here? A lot of new customers, people that are not known to the area come down and they're like so ecstatic to be here and they can't believe that this actually exists somewhere. All the food that we have to offer, you know, you can't really find this anywhere. Absolutely I think the Bronx Arthur Avenue is one of a kind. It's a staple for decades and your business has been here for 25 years, right? 20 years 20 years is so special. So I got to ask you, how do you guys prepare for Bronx? Just keep the shelves stocked and That's all right? I got to ask you one final question here. If someone's coming in from out of town, they got to get one thing here. What is it? You know what I would say try our rainbow cookie. It's very authentic and it's really delicious. All right, I got to bring a few back to the studio. I'll get a few. Thank you so much for joining us. I thank you guys for joining us here at Moron pastry shop. We're gonna be here all morning and Christy, I'll send it back to you in the studio. I love it, yeah, now I know what I'm gonna order when I head out there. Thank you so much, Marissa.

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512BXNoForkfix_2025-05-12-14-06-53

Bronx week is in full swing. Welcome back. And here on News 12, we're highlighting local hot spots and small businesses in the borough. Our News 12's Marissa Santarei was on a tour of Arthur Avenue all morning. Marissa, what is your final stop? Yeah Chrissy, we're ending our day here at No Fork. It's a restaurant right off of Arthur Avenue, and it's a mix between Italian cuisine and Albanian cuisine, something really special right here in the heart of the Bronx, and I'm joined by the owner here, Ar. Ar, I gotta tell you something special about this business is the catch here you can only use your hands to eat, right? Yeah, hands only. There's no forks obviously like the name is, um, all the food that is served is. To be eating with your hands and you know that's kind of where the the name originates as well and you know it just tastes better when you're eating with your hands that's just kind of what I believe and what we're trying to instill in our customers as well. I love it so we're talking all things Bronx Week, right? So is Bronx Week actually bringing more hungry customers to the door? Yes, somewhat, you know, um, I feel like we're positioned in Creston Avenue, not necessarily on Arthur, so we don't see as much of an impact as other businesses on Arthur Avenue do. however, it always helps. That's why I'm always supporting programs like that. They're always bringing new faces, new people to the neighborhood, and you know at the end of the day this is all a chain, uh, reaction when other businesses are busy eventually I get busy as well we kind of bounce back and forth customers to each other. It's all about community and all about uplifting and supporting small businesses, right? All right, so tell me about what we have in front of us right here. So this, what can I say this is just the most delicious sandwich you're ever gonna try. Uh, it's a 12 inch sandwich every everything is home. Made, um, you know, we make the bread ourselves. The sauce is made, uh, we make it ourselves. We make everything, uh, in house so you can get the exact taste that you would get back home, which is in Kosovo. Um, we use beef prosciutto, which is one of the highest quality of prosciutto that you can try. We're gonna try right now so I'm, I'm more excited for you to let me know what you think of this, but I'm obsessed with it and as you can tell, I've gained a little weight, but I eat this every day. I'm ready for it, so cheers, right, let's try this together. Mm. Oh my God. This is so good. So good. All right, if you're interested, come on down. The doors are open right on Creston Avenue. My mouth is so full and I can't speak. Christy, I'll send it back to you.

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News 12’s Marissa Santorelli visited some of the community staples on Arthur Avenue.

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MADONIA BAKERY ON ARTHUR AVENUE

MORRONE PASTRY SHOP

No Fork

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