TRR photo by Richard A. Ross Co-owner Carmela Foglia smiles at the prospect of the April 17 re-opening of the DeFilippis Bakery. (Click for larger image)

G&C DeFilippis Bakery is back in business

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONTICELLO, NY—The bakery business is tough enough. In the case of The G&C DeFilippis Bakery in Monticello, tough became seemingly insurmountable when a devastating explosion and fire destroyed the bakery building on March 28 and threatened to wipe out the seventeen-year-old family bakery business of co-owners Carmela and Angelo Foglia and Guilio DeFilippis.

That loss was unthinkable.

Standing amid the ruins of the bakery, Carmela said, “Make sure that you write that we will re-open as quickly as we can.”

That promise has been kept.

Though the damage resulted in the condemning of the original building, help was right at hand from family and friends working on the new location. The bakery reopened on April 17 in the former Promenade building at 234 Broadway.

They accomplished this feat through a blend of countless hours of work, family baking expertise and tireless dedication.

“Anyone who could hold a hammer helped. We have lots of friends, some of whom are contractors and electricians,” said Foglia.

Dan Kagan, owner of the Feast and president of the Monticello Chamber of Commerce, helped expedite the reopening. Kagan provided the bakery with a temporary workspace. In addition, he helped to line up the one-year lease of the new facility from Ray Nargizian, another member of the chamber.

	TRR photo by Richard A. Ross Guilio DeFilippis shows the delicious wares of the bakery’s first day back in business. (Click for larger image)

“Dan was great. When he came through the door after the fire, I thought he was an angel in disguise,” said Foglia.

Another concern for the bakery was how to service their wholesale customers in the interim.

“We couldn’t bake bread. We had to buy it and resell it to our customers,” Guilio said.

That problem no longer exists.

The customers began returning on the morning of April 17. Two of those customers were Karen and Joe Petruzzi of Liberty.

The Petruzzis know all about good Italian bakeries. They moved to Liberty from Queens in November and were delighted to discover authentic canollis, the cylindrical pastry shells filled with delicious canolli cream and the alluring espresso-flavored tiramisu.

“In Queens, there are lots of fine Italian bakeries, but this is even better than what they have back home. Thank God they reopened in time for Easter.”

Carmela and Guilio grew up in the midst of the bakery business. Vinny and Mary DeFilippis opened the original bakery in Middletown, NY on July 4, 1987.

“I remember two things well,” Carmela said, “the smells and the work. The bakery was a twenty-four hour a day venture.

“When I was a teenager, I couldn’t go out until I worked a shift. Then, when I came back home, I had to work again.” Carmela, who met her husband, Angelo, in Italy, taught him to be a baker twenty-two years ago.

Whether the bakery will return to its original location at the other end of Broadway is uncertain. But with the scintillating smell of bread and pastries wafting through the door and onto the street, everyone seems satisfied and delighted to have The G&C DeFilippis Bakery back in business on Broadway.

The G&C DeFilippis Bakery offers countless other Italian specialties, as well as a tempting delight of traditional breads and pastries. Business hours are Monday to Saturday from 6:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Sunday from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The telephone number is 845/791-4103.