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To this day, cooks at Ferraro’s Family Restaurant & Bakery use handwritten, yellowed recipes, housed in a rusty metal box, for the place’s doughs. They date back to its founders — about 125 years ago.
In 1899, using one of those recipes, Concetta Ferraro baked Italian bread in a brick oven from her Canton front yard. Her husband sold it to his brickyard co-workers for 8 cents a loaf and was so successful that the couple opened a bakery in 1900. Eventually, it became Ferraro’s restaurant — opened in Canton in 1987 by Concetta’s grandson, Frank. Current owner Vanessa Evans, who started as a cashier 27 years ago, often hears stories about the well-known family — including Frank’s dad, Louie, pictured in the restaurant’s entryway standing by a bread truck.
“Some older people still talk about how, when they were little, Louie would drive around after he was done with his bread routes,” says Evans. “When he had leftover bread, he would throw it off the bread truck to kids.”
Scratch-made, homestyle food adds to the restaurant’s comforting feel. Evans’ favorite dish is Concetta’s unique take on pasta ($14.99) — spaghetti, chicken, broccoli, cauliflower and mushrooms cooked in a skillet and topped with a simple sauce of garlic, butter, oregano and Italian seasonings — all accented with melty Parmesan.
The bakery case is not to be missed. Many of its offerings are original to its first bakery, including a raisin cookie ($1.59) — sugar cookies stuffed with a raisin-filled glaze — a tart elderberry pie ($16.99), an airy cream puff ($2.99) and an iced smile sugar cookie ($1.59).
“People come in like … My grandmother used to bring me these every weekend whenever I was little,” Evans says. “It’s nostalgic.”
The casual spot’s lunch counter is a time capsule, dotted with customers who stop in daily. They’re full of stories — one taught Evans’ son to drive, while another, a former waitress, still visits to talk to her regulars.
“Everybody is so close,” says Evans. “I bring them to my house for Christmas Day.”
She hopes those relationships sustain far into the future. She was like a daughter to Frank, and he called daily to give her advice until he died late last year. Tearing up, Evans expresses how touched she is to keep Ferraro’s going as a friendly place for neighbors to gather over honest home cooking.
“I want something that will keep being passed on through families,” she says, “to where 50 years from now, there’s kids coming in here being like … I remember being there with my grandparents.”
3822 Navarre Road SW, Canton, 330-478-8010
