In 1913 Salvatore & Carmella Perreca came to America to make bread just like they had been doing all of their lives in their little village of Nola, just outside Naples, Italy. Their bread had to have the authentic thick crust and unique nutty flavor found in their native region of Italy. The couple built their coal-fired brick oven and lived and worked in their bakery providing the City of Schenectady with an exotic piece of Italian culture.
Nearly 100 years later, the famous landmark Bakery & Café are now headed by the couple’s grandchildren, Anthony & Maria Perreca Papa, who use the same brick oven and old-world methods as their ancestors. Working around the clock – the pair have grown the business from the venerable bread bakery of their grandparents’ storefront and horse drawn delivery cart, to a bustling destination eatery heralded by foodies near and far as one of the best experiences for the pallet. The bread, of course, is the same hard-crusted loaf brought over from Italy, and the bakery has since expanded into an adjacent café serving the breakfast, lunch & dinner standards from Grandma Carmella’s kitchen such as Eggs in Purgatory (eggs poached in a spicy marinara sauce), Braciole, Slow-roasted Lamb in a fennel seed & garlic crust and Baked Eggplant.