My Easter Tradition? Olive Bread That's Been Rising 100 Years

Say Hello To My Easter Tradition. 'Olive Bread' from Madonia Bakery on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, N.Y. that barely makes it to the car! This is No Ordinary Bread!  This is psycho delicious bread chock full of a zillion olives that will crack any dieting mortal.

It's the bread my friends and I traditionally drive from the suburbs to Arthur Avenue for, and wait on line for, peering over the shoulders of people in front of us, hoping nobody buys up all the loaves up before we get to the counter!

At the counter we wrestle with how many olive loaves to buy and then we spot the jalapeño bread and have to buy that, and then the other breads, cookies and pastries call our names. It's a 'time sensitve' adrenaline pumping counter decision!

Continuing this tradition this year! Madonia Bakery knows about tradition. They've been keeping the olive bread and family bakery business going for over 100 years! I invited Peter Madonia to join me today just to give him and Jason Lalima a high five!

Peter Madonia came back to the family business after 12 years as the Chief Operating Officer of the Rockefeller Foundation. He was also Chief of Staff to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and serves on many foundation boards. He and Jason, whose father became a partner in Madonia Bakery years ago, both work really hard to keep the bakery running just as their fathers would like. Peter gives much of the credit for the bakery's success to all the really great people who've worked for them for a really long time. 

Enjoy the  inside scoop of why this bread is so famous from Peter Madonia who'll share how they've been coping through Covid and how incredible it is that his Grandfather actually started the business during the second wave of the Spanish Flu in the early 1900's.

And if you want to have some fun watching how Jason makes his fathers bread Google the cool video from Eater.com on You Tube.

Madonia Bakery is located at 2348 Arthur Avenue, The Bronx.