The Feast of San Gennaro now through Sunday September 25

For the past 9 years I have publicly dreaded the arrival of the Feast of San Gennaro but privately I also look forward to it. How can I not? The festival brings zeppoles, gelato, cannolies, and sausage and peppers to the streets of Little Italy for 11 days! What I don't like is that thousands of people feel the same way and crowd the streets.

This year there was a dispute between the feasters and the fashionistas. The feasters wanted to have their feast just like they have been for the past 85 years and the fashionistas wanted to reduce the feast dramatically because the food smells were stinking up their fancy shops. To the fashionistas dismay and to the feasters delight Bloomberg permitted the feast to go on as usual.

If you can't beat them join them was the idea of Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi of Torrisi Italian Specialties. They got some of their chef and restaurant buddies to bring gourmet foods to the feast! This was very exciting to me. The sausage and peppers are good but you can get that anywhere. This year we have been given some interesting new food options from: Parm (offspring of Torrisi Italian Specialties opening soon, next door), April Bloomfield (of The Breslin, Spotted Pig, and John Dory Oyster Bar), L'Artusi, Rubirosa, Frankies Spuntino, Byggyz (Dewey Dufrense father of WD-50's Wylie Dufrense) and Stellina. All of these booths are in front of Torrisi Italian Specialties 250 Mulberry.

A block away is the not to be missed The San Gennaro North Gate "Xtra Moenia" floating above Mulberry between Houston and Prince. It is a large colorful installation that looks like a giant spider web or wormhole. The best part is there are tables and chairs in the area where you can eat your festival food. Also, there are men and women's facilities in the school gym at 268 Mulberry.