CArPE CAfé olE

lHs showcase world languages and cultures

New Tropical Smoothie Café opening in Cicero

Tropical Smoothie Cafe, a national fast-casual cafe concept inspiring a healthier lifestyle serving better-for-you smoothies, wraps, sandwiches and flatbreads, announced the opening of its newest cafe in Cicero.

The restaurant is owned and operated by Roger Wagner, a multi-unit franchisee and head of local restauranteur group, W2B Management. Set to open its doors to the community on May 18, the cafe is located in the thriving retail block at 7987 Brewerton Road.

To celebrate the opening, the Cicero location is offering exclusive promotions to guests starting with free smoothies for a year to the first 50 guests in line on May 18. There will be a limit one free smoothie per week for 52 weeks. Valid only in-cafe at the 7987 Brewerton Road location. Not valid with any other offer or discount, third party services, online orders or the Tropical Smoothie Cafe® app. Must present original card at time of purchase. Copies not accepted. See cafe for details.

Other daily deals for dine-in guests at this location will include $1.99 smoothies on May 19, $3.99 flatbreads on May 20, and $5 flatbread combos on May 21.

Prior to the grand opening, the Cicero cafe is inviting all local first responders and veterans to sample certain menu items on May 15 and 16. Finally, as a thank you to the community, the first $1,000 earned on opening day will be donated to No Kid Hungry, a nationwide organization, and Tropical Smoothie Cafe national charity partner, aimed at ending childhood hunger.

Submitted photoS

Bonjour. Kumusta. Chào. salve.

Guten Tag. ¡Hola! Those were just a few of the greetings recently heard during liverpool High school’s annual Carpe Café Olé. The lHs foreign languages Department hosted the event, which celebrates world languages and cultures. Carpe Café Olé celebrates the cultures taught at lHs while also allowing students to share their families’ cultures and traditions with the entire school community. The event featured food, crafts and cultural exhibits. Those in attendance also celebrated the students who earned new york state seal of Biliteracy honors and inductee new members into the french Honor society.

Crawfish Festival comes to Clinton Square

By JAson KlAiBEr Staff Writer

With an unmistakable blend of spices wafting through the downtown Syracuse air, Operation Northern Comfort held its 16th annual Crawfish Festival in Clinton Square on Saturday, May 6.

Previously held in April, the seafood extravaganza switched to May when the weather would be slightly less “touch and go,” but it still typically marks the debut of the festival season in Syracuse.

Apart from having the distinction of being first, the Central New York nonprofit’s festival is also scheduled to beat the end of crawfish season.

“The best quality crawfish are up until this week, and then the quality drops off,” said Cicero resident Laurel Flanagan, the CEO of Operation Northern Comfort, on May 6.

Throughout the rest of the year, Flanagan’s organization assigns itself to disaster relief in various parts of the country and assists those in need locally by providing donations and different types of labor.

While more recently the nonprofit has had volunteers help out in Houston, North Carolina, and close by in Oneida when it was hit with flooding troubles, the organization was originally formed in 2006 as a way to lend a hand cleaning up and rebuilding from the wreckage of Hurricane Katrina.

Not long after, founder and first CEO Norm Andrzejewski hatched the idea to host a crawfish-centered festival in Syracuse to pay homage to the Cajun-style cuisine of the areas they were aiding.

Joyce Reap, an early volunteer and now the chair of the festival, admits she was originally skeptical about whether people around here would be clambering for crawfish, but she came around to the idea once she saw attendees standing in line for two hours to snag some at the firstever fest in Hanover Square.

“Every year I think we build a little bit bigger, and people seem to enjoy us,” Reap said.

One man, Ron Panetta of Liverpool, makes a point of being the first customer in line every year to place his signature request of 11 pounds of crawfish, and numerous Syracuse transplants from Louisiana have attested to the authenticity and quality of both the overall festival and its food, Flanagan said.

She said that stamp of approval, at least this time around, could partly be attributed to the three cooks in charge of boiling crawfish who hail from the fishing community of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, and a chef at the Cajun Café stand from Baton Rouge who trained at the Louisiana Culinary Institute.

The menu for the day listed not only crawfish, shrimp and clam dinners but also sausage sandwiches, pulled pork, salt potatoes, jambalaya, walking tacos and gumbo at the stands,

“We are very excited to bring the Tropical Smoothie Cafe brand to Cicero,” said Wagner. “This brand brings better-for-you eating options to Cicero in a fast-casual, grab-and-go environment which is an element that the community has little exposure to. The Tropical Smoothie Cafe brand compliments our portfolio and offers products that keep guests coming back. Being a native to the area, I felt it was important to give back to our loyal fans and celebrate this momentous location.”

Before joining Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Wagner worked with fast-casual and quick service brands all over the country before settling with his family in central New York State. W2B Management began their Tropical Smoothie Cafe journey two years ago, and this new location marks their fifth cafe in the state of New York. The group has plans to open five additional locations in the following years. Most recently, Wagner was honored at the Tropical Smoothie Cafe convention with the Emerging Leader award for his hands-on operational style and commitment to the brand.

“We are pleased to announce the opening of our latest location,” said Charles Watson, CEO of Tropical Smoothie Café, LLC. “Roger is an exceptional franchisee, and we are confident that he will continue to build a loyal fanbase and amazing guest experience here in his community. His determination and seasoned experience with business