A Family Affair – Sicily in Brooklyn
When you enter Ferdinando’s Focacceria, you are sure to encounter owner Francesco ‘Frank’ Buffa, a slight, silver-haired Sicilian, engaged in light conversation with a neighbor or friend, or even the owner of the French café on the opposite corner of Union Street.
“I have no competition,” Frank explains, matter-of-factly.
He doesn’t boast; rather, he plainly acknowledges that nearby eateries pose no threat to a 110-year-old business, the original façade and interior of which are so well maintained that vintage photographs are hardly distinguishable from newer ones, save for their faded quality. The restaurant’s narrow, wooden double doors remain, as do many other original details – its tin ceiling, tile floor and brick walls among them. A hand-painted, ceramic wine jug, or “amphora,” colorfully depicting a traditional Sicilian dance scene, sits atop the front counter and puts visitors in the mind of 1904, the year Buffa’s father-in-law, Ferdinando, first opened the Sicilian eatery in what was then known as South Brooklyn.
Mellifluous music – namely “Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from “The Godfather”) – plays softly in the background. The restaurant is a rare specimen: it’s a remnant of another era that’s retained its vitality and popularity by remaining the same. Buffa’s simple formula – to satisfy customers by preserving the restaurant’s unpretentious food and atmosphere – has stood the test of time.