The Gem Diner in Syracuse calls their version of this dish a frettata; others call it a fretta or frittata. It's a mix of potatoes, peppers, onions, pepperoni, sausage and broccoli, with scambled eggs sliced into it.When Travel Channel celebrity Adam Richman came to Syracuse a few years ago to film his show, "Man vs. Food," he chose the monster-sized "frittata" at Mother's Cupboard in Eastwood as the big eating challenge to end the episode. (He ate the whole thing).
Most Central New Yorkers are familiar with the version of a frittata found at Mothers' Cupboard and scores of other local diners.
It's typically a combo of potatoes, peppers, onions, sausage, pepperoni and perhaps broccoli, cooked on a flat grill, topped with freshly scrambled eggs, then mixed
thoroughly. Diner chefs usually cut or slice the eggs as they're cooking to integrate them
into the other ingredients.
Elsewhere in the country, around the world, and especially in Italy, a frittata is something a little different.
The ingredients (not usually the diner choices cited above) are cooked in a pan, then the eggs are mixed and poured over them. It's cooked slowly over low heat until it starts to firm up. Then the creation is either flipped, or put under a broiler, to cook the other side.
In a sense, that frittata is more like an omelet, in which beaten eggs are typically cooked on one side, then ingredients are added, and then it's folded over and flipped.
"If you let it sit and flopped it halfway through, that would be a traditional frittata," said Doug LaLone, who bought and reopened the landmark Gem Diner at Spencer and Liberty streets last year. "Around, here, the tradition is you slice it up, scramble it up."
Join the fretta/frittata conversation
We're looking for your thoughts on this Central New York diner classic.
• What do you call it: Fretta or frittata?
• Have you ever seen it outside of Central New York?
• Where did you first eat one?
• Which local diner makes the best version?
• What are your favorite ingredients?
Add your comments about all things fretta/frittata at the end of this story.
To make things more confusing, many local diners, and diner patrons, call the Central New York dish a "fretta," rather than a frittata.
At the Gem, they split the difference and spell it "frettata" on the menu.
"It's got everything in it but the kitchen sink," LaLone said. "I even tell people that frettata is Italian for 'kitchen sink,'"
At Ruston's Diner, 6293 North St. in Jamesville, owner Bruce Heaney used a spell check to decide what to call it on his menu. Fretta passed a spell check; frittata did not.
"I think it's one of those things like pancake or flapjack," Heaney said. "It's really the same thing. We call it a fretta, but a lot of our customers, especially from Italian families, call it frittata."
View full sizeThe fritattas at little Gem Diner.The origins of the local diner frittata, or fretta, are uncertain. It seems likely that Italian immigrants to this area brought with them the original frittata -- the one that's cooked in a pan until it's firm.
After that, it evolved into the Central New York diner classic.
Judy Stellakis runs Stella's Diner at 110 Wolf St., Syracuse, with her sisters, Betty and Mary. She grew up in Central New York and cooked professionally in San Francisco, Delaware and Florida.
Stella's calls its version a fretta, and Judy Stellakis said she thinks the dish is exclusive to Central New York.
Stella's fretta is prepared in different fashion than in most local diners: The eggs are scrambled first in a pan, then they are mixed with the other ingredients on the grill.
"It's not a regular frittata," Stellakis said. "And it's not an omelet -- it's a scramble."
As LaLone of the Gem Diner notes, almost anything can be thrown in, though the version that has typical pizza toppings -- peppers, onions, sausage, pepperoni and often mushrooms -- seems to be the most usual version here.
And broccoli, that bane of many finicky eaters, is also common.
At the Gem, as at many diners, customers can get one almost any way they want -- there's a meat lover's, with Italian sausage added to the breakfast sausage and pepperoni, and a veggie version, with mushrooms, tomatoes and other vegetables.
One recent morning, a customer ordered half a veggie frittata with egg whites only. The Gem obliged.
The Gem also offers options of cheese toppings, and you can get it with chili, too.
Some customers go to even more extremes: One recent Gem customer topped a regular fretta/frittata with a helping of the diner's sausage gravy, usually served over biscuits.
A major factor in the local lore of the fretta/frittata is its sheer size.
A whole frittata is typically much more than a meal. Many places also serve a half.
"To get an idea of the size, we have an older couple who come in and split a half, without the potatoes, which is a lot of the filler," said Heaney, of Ruston's.
At Mother's Cupboard, 3709 James St., the whole is 6 pounds, and you win a T-shirt if you eat the whole thing in one sitting.
When the Post-Standard's Weekend magazine went to Mother's Cupboard for a CNY Signature feature on the frittata last year, Anthony Vaccaro, of Fulton, happened to be there working on a T-shirt. He succeeded.
How'd he manage it?
"Halfway through, it kicks your butt, " Vaccaro said at the time. "Then, you know, you're halfway through, so you've got to keep going."
Heaney, a retired Onondaga County sheriff's deputy, says he remembers the days when frettas/frittatas were a staple for the wee hours after the bars closed.
"Diners were open late, and guys would come in, they were hungry and maybe a little drunk, and they'd eat these things," he said.
Dave Laffin, kitchen manager at the Gem, said the frittatas there are especially popular as midday meals on the weekends.
"But we had a lot of orders on the Friday after Thanksgiving," he said. "I thought, 'How can you eat one of those the day after Thanksgiving?'"