LEAH GRAZIANO
Special to The Leader
Though Fredonia may be a small town, it has a large variety of food to offer.
There are many food establishments that have called Fredonia home for years.
One in particular is Aloe Vera’s Eatery located at 33 Church Street.
Aloe Vera opened its doors in 2015. The owner, Marissa Griffis, is a Fredonia resident.
“I was sick of this place opening and closing. It used to be a famous place called Hook and Ladder Deli. That was here for quite a few years and then, in-between that, a bunch of different people opened it,” she said. “So I just decided I was going to open it one day. I wanted to bring it back to its roots and bring it back to what it used to have as far as freshness, the salads, the wraps, that sort of thing.”
Aloe Vera’s serves wraps, salads and homemade soups. They also feature a signature dish called the “cold plate.”
The “cold plate” is a create your own plate that was inspired from the Hook and Ladder Deli.
Aloe Vera’s has a chalkboard wall that is filled with specials.
Most of their business comes from Fredonia students and residents of the village.
“The bulk of our business is from the businesses around. We are kind of in walking distance to a lot of places,” Griffis said. “We get a lot of people that have that half hour for lunch and it’s quick and it’s walking distance. We also do have a lot of students that come in and on Saturdays we have a lot of families that come in.”
Aloe Vera’s Eatery is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.
Fredonia also has space for new places to stop by and eat.
The Mustard Seed is one of the
newest restaurants coming to Fredonia.
Right now, The Mustard Seed is located in South Dayton, N.Y.
It plans on opening its doors in town this coming March.
The Mustard Seed is run by pastor Nettie Puleff from the Fredonia United Methodist Church.
The restaurant began as a Bible study for women.
Puleff would feed everyone in the group and eventually she opened The Mustard Seed.
The name of the restaurant comes from the parable in the Bible.
“Jesus said that if you have faith the size of the mustard seed, you can say to this mountain ‘move’ and it’ll move,” she said. “He laid that name on my heart because it was going to take a lot of faith to start a restaurant out in the middle of nowhere.”
The menu offers choices that cater to everyone.
“We meet all dietary preferences. If you’re gluten free, if you’re dairy free, if you’re vegan, if you’re on a cancer diet or some special diet, I will come right out to the table and tell me what you can eat and we will make you something wonderful,” said Puleff.
The Mustard Seed’s kitchen is food safe. This means that those who have a certain allergy has their food prepared in a designated area to avoid contamination.
“We really compartmentalize our kitchen so that people can come in and never be afraid to eat,” said Puleff.
What also makes The Mustard Seed different than other restaurants is that they provide a community jar.
“We have a community jar that people contribute to. Let’s say you come in and 10 percent of your meal goes to something good, but it also provides meals for people who come in to eat who can’t afford to eat,” she said.
The Mustard Seed will be located at 31 East Main Street.
If you take a drive down Main Street, you can find the newly opened East Main Cafe.
It is located at 183 East Main Street where the old Kasia Coffee used to be.
It opened it doors this past October.
The manager, Nate Manning, is a 19-year-old electronic dance music DJ and producer who used to attend Fredonia.
“I was a marketing major. I took one semester. Towards the end is when we started to look at this place and literally the day that I handed in my papers to not attend for the next semester was the exact same day that we
signed the lease,” said Manning.
Manning’s family owns two other establishments, Manning’s Fireside Manor located in Dunkirk, N.Y., and Tom’s Family Restaurant located in Irving, N.Y.
They have been in the restaurant business for 7 years.
East Main Cafe’s menu is American cuisine with a specialty in Greek. This is something that his family has done at their other restaurants for years.
Aside from that, they offer pastries and specialty donuts.
While on a trip to Philadelphia, Manning saw the wide variety of foods that he wanted to bring back to his cafe.
“This is what Fredonia needs, Fredonia needs different,” Manning said. “We brought some different menu items in, some different ideas like the donut idea, and kind of matching it to what the place is. The place is very quirky, the place is very fun. It’s a college hang out. It’s a place that has a lot of potential once people find where it is.”
East Main Cafe is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends.
So, what makes a good restaurant successful?
“I think that a successful restaurant has identified a niche with food that is in demand for our population. I think that it is healthy when we have a lot of different options,” said Sue McNamara, a professor of management in the School of Business at Fredonia.
When students are in town, the amount of business that establishments get grows.
“If you run a good restaurant, serve good food, welcome both the community and students, you’re probably going to be OK.”