Cerame restaurant in Brighton, NY has new owners and a new menu
“I like hen Parmesan,” stated longtime buyer Phyllis Composto of Brighton. “He’s for dying to. It is nice. Even whether it is shelled, they take their time making ready it, and it arrives scorching, appears to be like nice, and could be very scrumptious.”
Below new possession, Cerame’s will proceed to serve these favorites – and Thai meals.
In what’s actually a primary of its variety in Rochester, the restaurant started serving each forms of delicacies after promoting it to Could Dogan and her sister Pornthip Perkinsis, natives of Thailand.
So, the choice now might not be between fettuccine Alfredo and cheese ravioli, however between shrimp scampi and pineapple fried rice with spring rolls.
The siblings, together with Could’s husband, Anusha Dugan, immigrated to the US in 2011, settling in Watertown. In 2016, they opened a Thai restaurant there, however inside a couple of years they determined to search for a brand new alternative in a bigger metropolis, which is how they ended up in Rochester.
Their plan was to open a Thai place right here. However as followers of Italian delicacies as properly, in mid-2022, they discovered themselves at Cerame’s for lunch.
“We tried the meals, and we actually preferred it,” Could, 40, stated.
When she realized the corporate was up on the market, she stated, “We stated, ‘Why do not we do each?’
Final summer time, they made a proposal to homeowners Bob and Sharon Searam of Rochester. The deal (phrases of which weren’t disclosed) was accomplished in early October, and the Ceramis are serving to with the transition.
Their son, Robert Ceram, 41, who labored on the restaurant for about 5 years earlier than turning into an electrician, confirmed the brand new homeowners how Ceram makes manicotti and gnocchi, although Perkinses had cooked in Italian eating places whereas dwelling in Europe.
Bob stated the time was proper to promote the corporate. He and Sharon are of their late 60s and able to decelerate.
He added: “My spouse is affected by some well being issues.” She stated: That is sufficient. It is loads of stress.
Nonetheless, the second is bittersweet.
Cerame’s was began by Bob’s father, Michael, whose first enterprise was a café on Joseph Avenue. Bob, the youngest of three Cerami brothers, has labored at Cerami since he was a teen, beginning out as a part-time dishwasher whereas a pupil on the Aquinas Institute.
After graduating in 1973, he moved into full-time work.
“My father advised me he would ship me to any faculty, and he would pay for it,” he stated. “I advised him, ‘I do know what I need to do. You understand, why would you go to school?’
It has been there by way of the ups and downs, from the 1974 fireplace that destroyed the primary Cerame’s restaurant at Twelve Corners to the 1975 reopening of the present location at Winton Place Plaza (initially referred to as Todd Mart Plaza), close to the Henrietta metropolis line.
Alongside his father, mom Elizabeth, and older brother Richard, Bob moved into a wide range of roles, studying as he went and infrequently pausing to have a good time household milestones.
“We even had my son’s baptism right here. Confirmations, issues like that,” he stated, wanting across the place, which initially had darkish, rustic decor and was reworked with a lighter however nonetheless cozy palette in 1990.
In 2011, Richard died of mind most cancers. In 2013, two years earlier than founder Michael Ceram died on the age of 93, Bob and Sharon took possession of Ceram, which many loyal clients take into account a second house.
Stated Composto: “Whenever you go there, you are feeling such as you’re a part of the household. I do not care how busy they’re, they by no means give the impression of speeding you, they usually apologize if you need to wait a couple of minutes.
Lori Malsegna began going there as a toddler, taken by her aunt and uncle who lived in Henrietta.
“Cerami has turn out to be like household to us,” stated Malsegna, who grew up in Hilton and later moved to Henrietta. “And we are able to at all times depend on a great dinner each time we go. My favourite dish is hen Parmesan. I married into an Italian household, and while you make hen Parmesan, the standard approach is to pound the hen into very skinny slices, and Ceram at all times does that.”
Dugan, who lives in Victor along with her husband (who can also be concerned within the enterprise) and their 7-year-old son, needs to proceed catering to diners like Composto and Malsegna, even when she edits out a number of the Italian choices. She’s undecided which but.
A lot of the staff are staying, Dogan would not plan to vary costs, and he or she’s holding the Cerami identify, a minimum of for now.
However she hopes the presence of Thai dishes will immediate individuals to develop their culinary horizons.
“My son says issues like this are very fashionable in California,” Bob Searam stated. “He says they combine every thing up there, so why not? It offers individuals extra choices.”
Italian Villa Cerami is positioned at 3450 Winton Place, Brighton. From Wednesday to Friday, it’s open from 11am to 2pm for lunch. Wednesdays and Thursdays it’s open from 4:30-8pm for dinner. Friday dinner hours are 4:30-9 p.m. On Saturday, Cerame’s is open for dinner solely from 4:30 to 9 p.m., and is closed Sunday by way of Tuesday. The restaurant’s new homeowners are ready for a liquor license that may allow them to serve wine and beer. Name (585) 427-7350, or go to cerames.com.
Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers common assignments. Ship story tricks to mgreenwo@rocheste.gannett.com. Observe her on Twitter @MarciaGreenwood.
