BRONX WEEKLY S www.BXTimes.com eptember 8, 2019 12
Thompson at last year’s Lt. Clesse Memorial 5K Run. File photo / Edward Watkins
18th annual Lt. Clesse
Memorial 5K Run set
BY STEVEN GOODSTEIN
An upcoming event will
acknowledge a tragic day
in our nation’s history and
also honor one of the 49th
Precinct’s fallen heroes.
This year’s Lt. Thomas
Clesse Memorial 5K Run,
which will be held on Saturday,
September 7, will
honor the late NYPD officer
who had more than 30
years of experience with
the 49th Precinct as well as
those who lost their lives
on September 11, 2001.
The event will begin at
9 a.m. at the 49th Precinct
with a ceremony honoring
the late Clesse, who passed
away from cancer in 2002,
as well as the 9/11 victims
and their families.
From the precinct, the
event will move to Pelham
Parkway for the 5K race at
around 10 a.m. The route
will start on Eastchester
Road and will continue to
White Plains Road before
returning to Pelham Parkway,
where the race will
conclude.
The run will be followed
by lunch and award
presentations for the over-
50 and under-50 first, second
and third place winners.
There will also be a
raffle.
Participation is $20 for
those who wish to participate
in the race, while
children 12 and under can
race for free. All participants
will recieve a 49th
Precinct T-shirt commemorating
9/11.
This year’s proceeds
will be donated to widows
and orphans of fallen police
officers.
In 2013, proceeds from
the run went to victims
who were affected by the
Boston Marathon bombing
.“
This event is important
because it highlights
the sacrifices that people
make and shows that this
great country will come together
for a common cause
in times of crisis,” said Joe
Thompson, president of
the 49th Precinct Community
Council.
“It is important that we
remember what happened
on that tragic day and
also remember an individual
who was very well
respected by both the police
department as well as
the community - and that’s
why we hold this annual
event,” Thompson added.
“It’s very important to
us.”
Thompson continued
to say that Clesse’s tenure
with the NYPD signified
a strong relationship between
the community and
its police officers. He went
on to describe Clesse as
“the perfect role model.”
The event will be
funded by Simone Development
from the Hutchinson
Metro Center, the12th consecutive
year that Simone
has sponsored the event.
Soul Snacks Cafe marches
to the beat of a new drum
BY ALEX MITCHELL
A corner in Westchester
Square is getting sweeter
and sweeter by the minute.
Soul Snacks Café at 2707
E. Tremont Avenue is serving
up some of the borough’s
best baked goods with plenty
of other appetizing entrées
since its grand opening on
Saturday, August 17.
Besides some of the
sweetest chocolate chip
cookies you ever tasted,
there’s buffalo chicken sliders
and plenty of additional
mouth watering delights.
Soul Snacks brings a beat
that others just simply cannot.
It’s owned by renowned
Bronx entrepeneur and
drummer Ralph Rolle, best
known for his work with the
funk-era band Chic, along
with many other notable
funk acts.
Rolle’s musical history
and current endeavors are
displayed throughout the
café, including photos ensconced
with celebrities like
Nile Rodgers to credentials
from festivals, especially
Glastonbury in 2017, while
other momentos capture the
wide breathe of his musical
career.
Rodgers, a great friend of
Rolle’s, hasn’t made his way
into Soul Snacks just yet due
to some recording sessions
in London, England, but he
plans to shortly.
Rolle says that putting
on a musical show and serving
food, particularly his
new, delectable sweet potato
cookies, are essentially the
same thing.
“Either way you’re putting
on a performance,”
Rolle explained, mentioning
that his love for cooking
came from his mother Rose
Rolle while they were living
in Bronx River Houses
during his adolescence. As
a matter of fact, there’s no
chili that compares to his
mom’s, according to the celebrity
drummer. Hence why
Rolle won’t include chili on
his Soul Snacks Café menu.
Though, that menu is
fi lled with plenty of other
unique options that few others
offer, such as oxtail.
“Have you ever even had
oxtail?” Rolle rhetorically
asked. For those readers
that haven’t had the privilege
of tasting oxtail at Soul
Snacks, its taste is best described
as a beef, pork and
chicken hybrid that slides off
the bone when cooked and is
best served with white rice
and cabbage.
On the culinary side of
things, Rolle is best known
for his cookie brand, Soul
Snacks Cookie Company,
which he created at the
Bronx River Houses in 1996
and has been operating out
of Hunts Point since.
The café serves as an
opportunity for Rolle to expand
beyond dessert while
also keeping it as a staple of
his menu, the drummer explained.
His next plan is to install
an ice cream bar where
guests can select two different
fl avors of cookies to
make ice cream sandwiches,
which needless to say will
become a cold, hot commodity
of the east Bronx.
While handling the
opening of new café, Rolle
remains active in his music
career as well.
Currently, he’s pursuing
the ambition of bringing
a drum corps back to the
Bronx, like the one that Rolle
played in while growing up
in addition to working on
some rhythmically electric
dance tracks. “That’s next
on my list,” Rolle said, mentioning
that after the hopeful
success of Soul Snacks
Café, he envisions sitting
alongside a backyard fi re pit
with his wife and simply relaxing.
Ralph Rolle (left c) along with supporters during Soul Snacks Cafe’s grand opening.
Fernando Justiniano
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