At Roma Foods, we savor summer because it gives us the opportunity to combine some of our favorite things: food, cooking and the great outdoors.  To us, there are few things better in life than cooking outside with friends and enjoying a glass of wine as the sun sets.  Roma Foods provides all the essentials our customers need to enjoy a perfect backyard barbeque.  Our grilled sausage, a mild sausage with fontinella cheese, garlic and fresh parsley, is back for the season and always a favorite with our regular customers!    Burgers, steaks, tenderloins…we have everything you need for grilling success this summer.  As always, the meat we sell our customers at Roma Foods is ALL NATURAL with no added antibiotics, hormones or steroids and a proud product of the USA.  We firmly believe that eating well is part of living well and have the overall wellness of our customers in mind as we debate what high quality meats to carry in our stores; this emphasis on wellness is why all of the meats we sell our customers are natural.

An additional aspect of summer we love is that fresh seafood is abundant in the northeast; this means that we get to share great seafood dishes with our customers.  One of our favorite summer recipes are clams steamed on the grill, served with lemon juice and garlic.

With grilling and fresh seafood in mind, we have the following in-store specials for our customers for Memorial Day:

-          1/2 bushel clams,   $64.95

-          One dozen clams,  $3.99

-          All Natural Bone in Cowboy Rib Steaks,  $8.99 lb

-          Kobe Steak Burgers,  $3.99 each (7-8 ounces)

For those who want to have a perfect summer BBQ but don’t feel like doing all the cooking, we can help you with that as well.  Roma Foods catering services provide prepare platters of cold cuts, pasta salads, green salads and all the other fixings you need!  Prepared hot and cold dishes such as chicken dishes, antipasto and more are available for your convenience.  Our over-sized party subs, always a favorite at any party, are available in various sizes ranging from 3ft to 6 ft! Click here to view our catering menus!

If you have questions about our Memorial Day specials, call us at 518-785-7746 (our Latham store) or 518-587-6004 (Saratoga store).  Additional information about both stores can be found on our website at www.romafoods.com.

With Mother’s Day happening this Sunday, we want to make sure all of our loyal customers are prepared to show their mother’s just how much they mean to them!  Mother’s Day holds a special place in the heart of Roma staffers, especially Frank Bolognino, owner of Roma Foods in Latham and Saratoga, NY.  “My mother, Phyllis, worked right up to the end,” he explained.  ”She did payroll, wrote checks and any and all office type work related to the store.  She never stopped.  Having her be such an integral part of Roma Foods took a weight off not only my work load at the store, but my peace of mind.  To this day I miss seeing her at the store. She always had a smile on her face and a kind word.  She was a wonderful mom.”

In honor of Mother’s Day, beginning Wednesday of this week, we will be featuring specials to help you prepare the perfect meal for one of the most important women in your life.  We are featuring:

• Whole or Half All Natural Tenderloin (Filet Mignon) at $14.95 lb, cut to order.
• 8-9 ounce Cold Water Lobster Tails, for $12.99 each.

If you don’t feel like doing all the cooking on Mother’s Day, let us help you in the kitchen!  Roma Food can prepare platters of cold cuts, pasta salads, green salads and all the other fixings you need for your meal.  Prepared hot and cold dishes such as lasagna, eggplant parmesan, chicken dishes, antipasto and more are available for your convenience. Click here to view our menus!

If you have questions about our Mother’s Day specials, call us at 518-785-7746 (our Latham store) or 518-587-6004 (Saratoga store).  Additional information about both stores can be found on our website www.romafoods.com.

Spring has sprung at Roma Foods and all we have on our minds is making the perfect sauce to accompany some of our favorite spring dishes like homemade pizzas on the grill and a light pasta primavera!  But what makes a good sauce?  A good tomato of course!

When it comes to tomatoes, we love San Marzano tomatoes, a variety of high class plum tomatoes!  They are grown in the San Marzano Valley in Italy and are considered by many chefs to be the best sauce tomatoes in the world.  Compared to the Roma tomatoes, which is the tomato most people are familiar with, Marzano tomatoes in a league of their own.  The tomatoes are thinner and pointier in shape and the flesh of the vegetable is much thicker with fewer seeds.  As a result of their thick skin, they retain their natural juices and cook down easily in any recipe. These tomatoes have strong taste that is sweeter and less acidic. Some even describe the taste as “bittersweet”, much like you would find in high-quality chocolate. Because of their high quality and origins near Naples, San Marzano tomatoes have been designated as the only tomatoes that can be used for Vera Pizza Napoletana, a true Neapolitan pizza!

“Simply put, San Marzano tomatoes are the best tomatoes in the world,” exclaimed Frank Bolognino, owner of Roma Foods in Latham and Saratoga, NY. “Not only are they delicious, but they are a rich, heart healthy food.”  The San Marzano tomato is now protected by tight rules, like many wines and cheeses, obtaining the DOP (Denominazione d’ Origine Protetta) label in 1996 from the European Union for the processed product.

Luckily, Roma Foods carries large variities of ALL NATURAL MEAT!  At Roma Foods, we promise that the high quality meats we serve our customers are:

• Free of antibiotics.
• Free of added hormones.
• Free of steroids.
• The animals are fed a 100% vegetarian, corn-based diet.
• Midwest-fed cattle.
• Proud products of the USA.

We firmly believe that eating well is part of living well and have the overall wellness of our customers in mind as we debate what high quality meats to carry in our stores.  This emphasis on wellness is why all of the meats we sell our customers are natural.

Our natural meats come from locally owned, US farmers.  The facilities that process the meat routinely test the meat to ensure the promise of no antibiotics or added hormones. Their certified feeding facilities are regularly monitored and audited by third party auditors.  All these quality checks ensure that Roma customers get the highest quality and healthiest meats in the Capital Region.

Stop into Roma Food’s Latham location, located at 9 Cobbee Road, to talk to our butchers about the natural meats we carry!

Lent is over and Easter is on the way to the Capital Region!  Easter is a big holiday for many of our Roma customers and this year we will continue to satisfy them with all of the holiday goodies we sell, and make, right here on-premise! 

With Easter only a few short weeks away, Chef Paul has been in the kitchen non-stop cooking up delicious food for your family for this Easter.  A traditional Roma favorite is our homemade Easter “pies,” of which we prepare four different types:  Ricotta, Wheat, Rice and Ham.  The “sweet pies,” Ricotta, Wheat and Rice, are made with ricotta, eggs, special flavorings, and sugar served in a pie crust.  Our Ham pie is an Italian quiche, made with whole eggs, ham, spices and grated cheese which is traditionally served as a breakfast treat on Easter morning.  The cheese used to prepare the Ham pie is a seasonal, specialty cheese also known as “basket cheese” and formaggio fresco!  Our various pies are always a holiday favorite, so please order ahead to ensure that you will have all of the Easter necessities.  If you’re looking for the perfect main dish for your Easter dinner, we would have to recommend Roma ham or lamb from our butcher shop.  Because our meat is all natural and nitrate free, it is good for your body without sacrificing the taste.  Roma’s natural meat is tender, juicy and consistently delicious!

Looking for something to satisfy your sweet tooth?  Try our hollow Italian chocolate Easter eggs! These chocolate eggs have a surprise inside and are a traditional Easter gift for young and old.  As far as traditional Italian sweet cake and bread, we carry Colomba.  Colomba is a soft and fragrant dough finished with sweet, candied fruit.

Please order ahead of time at 518-785-7480 to make sure you have everything you need for your Easter celebration!  We look forward to seeing you!

“The Dream Sub contest was Roma’s way of saying ‘thank you’ to all our loyal customers who support our business every day,” explains Frank Bolognino, owner of Roma Foods in Latham and Saratoga, NY.

How did the contest work?  Customers were asked to visit the Roma Food Facebook page and click on the “Dream Sub” tab found on the left-hand column of the page.  From there, they were asked to build their dream sandwich using an assortment of Roma’s cold cuts, cheeses and all the fixings used to make the perfect sandwich.  After the sandwich was built, they were asked give the sandwich a special and personalized name.  Once entries were submitted through the Facebook page, the fun began!  Roma Food staff created each nominated sub and put it through the staffing “taste test” and the winner was chosen!   The prize for the contest was a free sub for the winner as well as having the sandwich added to the Roma menu.  In other words, the winner of the contest became a Roma Foods celebrity!

The winner of the first ever Dream Sub Contest was announced via Facebook on March 4th and was awarded to Bev Feltt and her sandwich “The ROMAncer”! 

Dream Sub Contest winner Bev Feltt!

Bev blew the competition away with her entry she dubbed “The ROMAncer”, a sandwich named after one of her favorite delis in Latham, NY.  How do you build the ROMAncer?  You start with our In-Store Roasted Turkey and Roast Beef, then add Asiago and Sharp Cheddar Sheese and finish it off with Lettuce, Tomato, Roasted Peppers and Bacon served on a torpedo sub roll with authentic honey mustard!  How could you not want to eat that!?

“I really like Roma’s because they have a nice variety of cold cuts and specialty foods that you might not be able to find elsewhere,” Bev told us.  “All the people are very nice and treat you like you’re their most valued customer.  When I saw that they were having a contest, I just HAD to enter it.  I tried to be creative with my entry and I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious the ROMAncer actually was.  I’d make one myself at home, but it’s just not the same!”   We liked the sandwich so much that the week after we announced Bev’s sandwich as the winner, we decided to name it our “Sammich of the Week,” the specialty sandwich that changes weekly.

Stop into Roma Foods today and order The ROMAncer right off of our menu!  You’ll be glad you did!

Do you think you have what it takes to be the next winner of the Dream Sub Contest?  Lucky for you, we are launching a new Dream Sub contest next week through the Roma Facebook page!  Go towww.facebook.com/romafoods starting Monday, March 26th to submit your sandwich entry to the contest!

Why is St. Patrick’s Day such a celebration at Roma Foods?  Legend has it that St. Patrick banished snakes from Ireland, chasing them into the sea after they attacked him during a 40-day fast he was undertaking on top of a hill.  Today, Roma Foods uses the holiday to help our customers enjoy all their favorite aspects of St. Patrick’s Day, the food and drink, without the stress of having to cook!

This year is no exception.  In fact, Chef Paul is cooking up something special for all our Roma Foods customers to enjoy the weekend of St. Patrick’s Day.  A homemade special dinner will be available at Roma Foods in Latham, NY on Friday March 16 and Saturday March 17.  Chef Paul will prepare our all natural store-cured corned beef and cabbage served with potatoes, carrots and a biscuit- $8.95 for one order or $16.95 for dinner for two!   This dish has always been a favorite at Roma and we invite you to taste it this St. Patrick’s Day!  Because our corned beef is all natural, it is good for your body and you don’t have to sacrifice taste.  Our natural meat is tender, juicy and consistently delicious!

For those who enjoy the simple pleasure of cooking a homemade meal, our butcher shop is serving brisket corned beef  for $6.99lb.

Please order ahead of time at 518-785-7480to make sure you have some for the celebration!  We look forward to seeing you! 

All ingredients for this recipe can be found at either Roma store location!

All ingredients for this recipe can be found at either Roma store location!

Lent is the Christian observance of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday.  In the Roman Catholic Church, it is traditional to abstain from meat from mammals and fowl on Ash Wednesday and every Friday for the duration of Lent…which means FISH FRIDAYS at Roma!

For those of you not celebrating Lent, Roma’s offers a good opportunity for you to incorporate the health benefits of the fish-rich diet into your life.  Fish is a low-fat, high quality protein in addition to being packed with vitamins and nutrients.  Fish is rich in calcium and a great source of minerals, such as iron, zinc, iodine, magnesium, and potassium.  Additionally, it contains omega-3 fatty acids which are essential nutrients keep our heart and brain healthy.  There are so many positive health benefits to eating fish but our favorite is that it helps maintain a healthy heart by lowering blood pressure and reducing the risk of sudden death, heart attack, abnormal heart rhythms, and strokes.

We want to ensure that we can help make Fish Fridays a success in your household!  Every Friday all season long, we will offer the following fish specials at our Latham, NY store:

• Fried Haddock dinner, french fries and coleslaw, choice of chili or tartar sauce $7.95
• Fried Clam dinner, french fries and coleslaw, choice of chili or tartar sauce $7.95
• Fried Shrimp dinner, french fries and coleslaw, choice of chili or tartar sauce $10.95
• Fish Fry on roll, choice of chili or tartar sauce, $3.25
• Fried Boston Blue, by the pound, $7.95 lb.
• Clam roll, choice of tartar or chili sauce $3.25

In our Saratoga, NY store, Fridays mean Fried Boston Blue by the pound, $7.95 lb.

To learn more about our Fish Friday options or place your order, call us at 518-785-7746 (our Latham store) or 518-587-6004 (Saratoga store).   Additional information about both stores can be found on our website www.romafoods.com.

**We use canola oil to fry our fish