HEWITT — Everyone knows some of the best cooking is done in firehouses. It just is. This Saturday, see just how good one of West Milford's local fire company's is on the television show "Firehouse Kitchen."
Upper Greenwood Lake Fire Company 5 firefighters and chefs Martin Olsen, Bob Bartilucci and Joe Ponzo, Sr. will be featured on this Saturday's episode of the show, which highlights the cooking done in firehouses across the country.
Bartilucci told The Messenger both he and Ponzo are featured in this first episode of the new season, each doing a 12-minute segment. Bartilucci prepared veal chop pizzaiola with potatoes while Ponzo made tacos with chicken marinated in Moe Mountain Hot Sauce, Spanish rice with beans and homemade pico de gallo. Moe Mountain Hot Sauce is made by Olsen. He named it Moe Mountain, which is what the Upper Greenwood Lake area was formerly known as.
The show is taped in Brooklyn, in what is the oldest firehouse in the borough. Host Ray Cooney is a retired New York City firefighter and screenwriter with 15 screenplays and nine television shows to his credit.
"It was very interesting," said Bartilucci. "It was a wonderful experience."
He said the filming started around 8 a.m. and they were done around noon. They filmed in sections using three cameras on them at all times: a hand-held camera, one at eye level and one shooting from above the kitchen. In all, they get about 60 minutes of footage for the 28-minute show.
"It's not always just hamburgers and hot dogs," he added. They cook full meals like eggplant Parmesan, pulled pork and chili for the guys after their drills.
"We like to give them something good after the Monday night drills," he added.
The Firehouse Kitchen episode is the first one of the new season. It was filmed back in November and the firefighters are pretty excited about its showing. And there may be more TV exposure in their future.
"Ray (Cooney) said he would like to come up to our firehouse and film up there," said Bartilucci. "We'd like to do that."
For more information about Firehouse Kitchen, go to www.firehousekitchenshow.com; to learn more about Moe Mountain Hot Sauce, find it on Facebook.