By Francesca Bond

Copyright buffalonews

Josh Allen briefly turned into an impatient Italian chef Sunday.

With pinched fingers and flinging wrists, Allen yelled, “Mangia, mangia, mangia, mangia!” on the field to change a play before a second down early in the team’s win over the New York Jets.

It looked like Allen was telling the players to “eat, eat, eat, eat!”

But Fran and John Ricotta knew better, because Allen isn’t just the Bills quarterback to them; he’s a dedicated customer of their Italian restaurant, Mangia, in Orchard Park, and has been for years.

The Ricottas feed a lot of the Bills players, coaches and their family members, one of whom had tipped them off that a play was named after their restaurant this season.

“When we clearly heard the shoutout, as you can imagine, we were so excited,” said Fran Ricotta. “It was very cool of Josh.”

Moments after the play, Fran Ricotta’s phone lit up with texts from employees: “I can’t believe he did it” and “How cool is that?”

“Thanks to Josh, from all of us,” Ricotta said. “It was amazing.”

Allen told reporters after the game that the call was an “ode” to one of the team’s favorite restaurants, a “nice little restaurant here in Orchard Park.”

“Like everyone else, they work all week, and then they want to do their own happy hour at the end of the week, so they break bread,” Ricotta said. “I think the guys really enjoy being able to get to hang at the end of a long week.”

Allen occasionally hides Easter eggs for fans within his audibles, a quarterback’s call to change the play just before it begins. During a 2022 game against the Los Angeles Rams, Allen yelled, “Blue cheese! Blue cheese!” with a familiar gusto to anyone who has passionately debated the ideal dipping sauce for a chicken wing.

Allen has dined at Mangia since he moved to Buffalo, Ricotta said, and used to eat in the public dining room before he started needing more privacy.

Now, he and the other players have a private table, which they have dubbed “the quarterback’s table.” Allen’s order, however, must remain confidential.

“I don’t want to tell you,” said Ricotta, laughing. “But they’re pretty consistent.”