WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JUNE 22, 2017 23
Owner of new cafe wants to serve delicious
foods and be a part of the community
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
A new business owner is looking
to bring a unique dining
experience to Ridgewood this
summer when he opens the doors to
Sebastian’s Café, a combination café,
deli and bakery on Metropolitan
Avenue.
Santiago Marte, a Corona native, is
in the process of opening Sebastian’s
Café — which he named aft er his son
— at 55-03 Metropolitan Ave. His goal
is to provide residents with high-quality,
fresh foods, and he also hopes to
truly become a part of the Ridgewood
community.
“I’ve been in the food industry ever
since I was 10,” Marte said. “My dad
had a grocery store in Brooklyn; also
my fi rst cousin has a couple of supermarkets,
as well as my uncle. The food
business is in our family.”
Marte decided to bring his love and
passion for the food service industry
to Ridgewood aft er he and his wife
surveyed the area and was drawn to
the location on Metropolitan Avenue
because of the proximity to both Grover
Cleveland High School and P.S. 290
A.C.E. Academy for Scholars at the
Geraldine Ferraro Campus.
He said he and his wife noticed
that parents, students and teachers
of the schools did not have an easily
accessible place to go to get coff ee or
breakfast foods, a healthy lunch, or
a place to grab a quick dinner aft er
school lets out.
In order to alleviate that problem,
Marte plans on serving a multitude of
foods at his café with a hot food section
with American and Latin cuisine; a
full deli with salads, sandwiches and
wraps; fresh-cut fruit; beverages like
smoothies, fruit juices, natural juices,
coff ee and espresso; rotisserie chickens;
and an on-premises pastry chef.
Everything he serves will be reasonably
priced, Marte said, to cater to
the residents, students and teachers
who will be frequenting his shop.
“People say that Ridgewood is up-andcoming,
but they need to remember that
the people that are still here, you have
to maintain,” he added. “So those people
you have to take care of. We’re not going
to be like these new cafés you see in Williamsburg
or something like that, that
charges you $12 for a coff ee or $5 for a
pastry. We’re not going to gouge people.”
What truly distinguishes Sebastian’s
Café from other delis in the
area is a pair of seating areas, one
inside the café, and the other is an
outdoor patio section with tables and
umbrellas so customers can enjoy a
nice summer breeze while they eat
their food or drink their coffee.
To give back to the community, Marte
wants to give what left over food he
has to a local church or organization
that will help feed the homeless.
“My idea is, whatever food is left over I
want to donate it to the church so that way
they can give it to the homeless if they
have an outreach program. I want to be
a part of the community because most of
these businesses don’t become part of the
community. They just open their doors
and eventually want everybody to buy
from them. But if you don’t give them
the story of your background and give
an idea of what you plan to do, people just
don’t want to go buy from them.”
Marte also plans to have specials
for members of the Police Department,
Fire Department, EMT workers, and
of course, the teachers from the two
schools across the street.
Once Sebastian’s Café is ready to
open, Marte is aiming for a mid-July,
early August date, it will be open
from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through
Saturday.
BUZZ
Photos by Anthony Giudice
Sebastian's Cafe is set to open later this summer
Grover Cleveland HS students ace EMT exam
One hundred percent of the students
at Grover Cleveland High
School’s EMT program passed
Photo courtesy of Grover Cleveland High School
the New York State EMT exam and are
now offi cially certifi ed EMTs. Denise
Vittor, principal of the Ridgewood
school, is proud of her students who
will begin a career as fi rst responders,
giving back to the community.
