Crate Expectations

Hometown favorites: Luke Naughton

packs up a Syracuse Crate with goodies

made in and around the Salt City.

After five years of thinking about the idea, Luke
Naughton finally got his butt in gear and created Syracuse Crate, which
ships Central New York food items in three different sizes anywhere in
the United States. “I have three crates to choose from, ranging in
price from $69.99 to $79.99 to $89.99, a sort of good-better-best,”
says Naughton, standing inside his “office,” a spare bedroom in his
Onondaga home. “And coming soon will be Create-a-Crate, where folks can
custom order what they want to ship. For each crate sold, $4 goes to
the Food Bank of Central New York.”

Meanwhile, there should be no complaints from those who
receive a Syracuse Crate. Included in the $89.99 “supercrate” are
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que sauces, Hofmann hot dogs and mustard, Hinderwadel’s
salt potatoes, Grandma Brown’s baked beans, Terrell’s potato chips,
Paul De Lima coffee, Speach candy, a pint beer glass and Ramona’s
dressing. Never heard of that last one? You’re not alone.

Created 2½ years ago by Ramona Waldecker, the eponymous,
Baldwinsville-based business offers six flavors of bottled yumminess
that can be used as a dressing, a marinade or a sauce. “The Sweet
Country Italian {which Naughton includes in his crates} was created 30
years ago at my family’s restaurant, the Good Times, in Ballston Lake,
near Saratoga Springs,” Waldecker says. “I have since tweaked it a
little bit.”

The other five flavors are a reduced-fat rosemary Dijon
vinaigrette, Cajun black bean, citrus Greek feta, champagne white
chocolate mandarin and mildly spicy chipotle. The 12-ounce bottles
range in price from $3.99 to $5.99, and Waldecker is creating an
organic marinade as well. Ramona’s products can be found in local
P&C stores, smaller retailers like Nichols’ in Liverpool and Green
Hills in Nedrow, select Wal-Marts and, by the end of April, Wegmans. 

Or you can visit her Web site, www.ramonasdressing.com,
where you can place an order or even submit a recipe using a Ramona’s
product for potential inclusion in Waldecker’s upcoming cookbook.

Another way is to just purchase one of Naughton’s crates.
He packs the perishable items in dry ice and extra Styrofoam and
surrounds the entire contents of the crate with shredded local
newspapers. He has received requests for Gianelli sausage and Columbus
Bakery bread, but hasn’t yet puzzled out how he can keep that crusty
creation fresh. Shipping is via Postal Service priority mail and takes
no more than two days; fees vary depending on the weight of the crate
you choose and where it’s going. 

Naughton opened for business March 20, and his nearly
$12,000 outlay so far has included 1,500 boxes from Empire State
Container in Eastwood, the foodstuffs, the dry ice he purchases every
time he packs a crate and marketing materials. Already he has shipped
two crates to South Dakota, which he finds curious, and he reports that
the state from which his Web site, www.syracusecrate.com, receives the
most hits is North Carolina.

In fact, it was his siblings’ moves South that got him
thinking about putting Syracuse Crate together. “I got tired of
explaining the Hofmann hot dogs that were in my luggage before I got on
the plane to go to Tennessee or North Carolina,” he says. And while he
has shipped more than 20 crates, he wants to up that number to the
aforementioned 1,500 this year. “My ultimate goal,” he adds, “is to
focus on other upstate New York cities that people are moving out
of—Rochester, Buffalo, Albany—and ship their items as well.”

But he doesn’t expect to quit his day, er, night job,
anytime soon. His three-nights-a-week bartending gig at Kitty Hoynes
not only keeps the bills paid (his wife Erin works as a sales
representative for a liquor distributor) but it provides him with
valuable contacts and networking opportunities. “No matter how
successful Syracuse Crate becomes, I plan on still working at Kitty
Hoynes,” he says.

So if your Southern-fried sister has had enough of
hushpuppies and grits and is begging for some salt potatoes and baked
beans, go ahead and order her a Syracuse crate. But then be sure to
ask, “If you want this stuff so badly, why did you leave town in the
first place?”               

Chipotle Seafood a la Angel Hair

This recipe appears with permission from Ramona Waldecker. 

1 pound any size shrimp peeled and diveined (raw or cooked)

1 pound any size scallops, although bay scallops work best

2 cups chopped broccoli

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ cup Ramona’s chipotle sauce 

1 cup cooked angel hair pasta

Fresh parsley for garnish, chopped

1 lemon for garnish 

Cook the pasta according to package.
Rinse with warm water to take off the starch. Drain well. Drizzle on
the sauce. Mix well and cover with plastic to keep warm. Set aside.
Meanwhile, on medium heat, add olive oil, broccoli, scallops and shrimp
to a saute pan. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the seafood is
pink and tender. Pour over the pasta. Add the chopped parsley and place
the lemon wedges around the bowl and serve. Makes 4 to 6 servings.