The whole dispute began at a house party, or so the story goes.
According to Bill Demarest at Nyack Free Press, Rockland County Sheriff Lou Falco attended a Halloween party last year at Nyack Mayor Jen White’s house. When White “touted her spaghetti sauce,” Falco said not so fast. A challenge was made and a competition born.
And now Sheriff Falco can officially declare he has the best spaghetti sauce in Rockland, sort of. Falco’s sauce won the day in the recent first annual Get Saucy cook-off that included Nyack Mayor White, Director of Public Affairs for Orange and Rockland Tom Brizzalara, Rockland County Clerk Paul Piperator, and Dorothy Filorama, vice president of Institutional Advancement at Dominican College.
The Get Saucy event, held at the Nyack Seaport, was a fundraiser for Nanuet-based People to People, Rockland County’s largest food pantry, which also significantly contributes to other, smaller county pantries, including Sloatsburg’s United Methodist Food Pantry.
September was Rockland Hunger Awareness Month, part of an initiative by members of the Rockland Community Against Hunger (RCAH) to highlight the silent issue of hunger and food insecurity throughout the county.
Some 100 people attended Get Saucy, including Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef and People to People Executive Director Diane Serratore, who happens to be from Nyack. The event cost $65 per person and included six different pastas and had an Italian cuisine theme. Judges included Chef Marcello Russodivito, who owns and operates the popular Suffern eatery Marcello’s Ristorante, along with a panel of other local chefs.
The Get Saucy event was sponsored by businesses including the Nyack Seaport, 21 Burd St., Nyack, Rockland Bakery, United Water, Rand Realty Better Homes and Gardens, USIS and others.
With Sheriff Falco’s win, the event could become a popular annual event as now the sheriff will have to defend his sauce against all comers.
Visit Nyack Free Press to see additional photos of the event.
Photos courtesy of Bill Demarest and George Pejoves.
