NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Trendy food lingo is not often used to describe hospital cafeteria food — until now.
Today, phrases like “farm to table,” “wood-fired” and “locally grown,” which have graced upscale restaurant menus for years, are being bandied about the Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center as the hospital creates a new dining option for patients and their families.
Construction is underway at the 10th Street facility in Niagara Falls to build a $600,000 bistro and banish forever the word “cafeteria.”
“We’re no longer going to use the word ‘cafeteria,’ ” said Joseph Ruffolo, president of NFMMC, as he stood in the middle of construction for the newly branded 10th Street Cafe.
The planners imagine that even neighborhood residents might be enticed to visit the hospital to dine at the completely renovated facility, where wood-fired pizzas will be available until 7 p.m. for dine-in or take-out orders.
Even the design of the new facility has been planned to be inviting, built with no doors so the smell of the baking dough, sizzling sauces and melting cheeses will waft out the doorways and down through the halls.
“I assume there will be a lot of patients calling for takeout,” Ruffolo said. “We also anticipate employees ordering ahead to take out food or dine in.”
While food service will shut down at 7 p.m., the lounge area will be open 24/7 for staff and families to relax, watch TV and connect with the Internet.
Ruffolo has a soft spot in his heart for the new bistro.
He recalls a cafe in the 1970s at the hospital, where his aunt, Fran Simone, used to work. It was known as “Jan and Fran’s” and was situated near the lobby when he started working in the hospital kitchen as a teenager. The place specialized in BLTs with a full