Welcome To Little Italy!

This neighborhood on New York’s lower east side is a great place for Italian food all year long, but it’s the annual “Feast Of San Gennaro” that allows everyone to celebrate faith and food in one big street party!

The Feast celebrates the life of San Gennaro of Naples who was Bishop of Benevento, Italy and was martyred in 305AD. 

The festival is underway right now, with so much going on!

As you can see from this year’s schedule, there are many events every single day. There’s a grand procession, lots of floats, bands and of course, food!

Like Cannolis!

Cannoli are Sicilian pastries – tube-shaped shells of fried pastry dough that are filled with a sweet, creamy filling containing ricotta—a staple of Sicilian cuisine. 

You know that the word “cannoli” is forever cemented in movie history thanks to this one scene from “The Godfather”:

“Leave The Gun – Take The Cannoli!”

Clemenza had good taste and would feel right at home on New York’s Mulberry Street, where the festival takes place every year!

As you can see from this published photo, they have an annual Cannoli-eating contest, so maybe I’ll be there when it happens!

You see, while the streets of New York’s Little Italy neighborhood are lined for blocks with Italian restaurant after Italian restaurant all year long, you come to the Feast of San Gennaro to sample food sold out of carts on the street!

Lucy’s Zeppoles And Rice Balls!

Lucy’s is a legendary restaurant in Little Italy, and I had to see them in action – here’s a video showing the rice ball I ate as well as Zeppoles being cooked:

A “Zeppole” is an Italian pastry that’s just a deep-fried dough ball topped with powdered sugar.

I chose to eat the meat-stuffed rice ball rather than the zeppole, as you need to have them with powdered sugar and I was still in a savory mood!

So, I went to Lucy’s for one of their iconic rice balls!

The rice ball was stuffed with meat and cheese and had gravy ladled over it – perfection!

Here’s a tease reel of some of the food I sampled:

There are also a number of carts serving fresh pasta with all sorts of options: like this one that is mixed with cheese inside a parmesan wheel!

You can’t sample everything here on a single visit – there are just too many options! Luckily, I’ll have ten days to do as much damage here as I can!

There was one more iconic dish on display as well:

Braciole!

If you don’t know the name, “braciole” is rolled meat stuffed with breadcrumbs and cheese and cooked in tomato sauce – and is a staple at Italian family gatherings.

At the Feast Of San Gennaro, they are cooked like a massive rolled up sausage on a grill and served with grilled onions and peppers stuffed into a roll – check it out!

As you can imagine, bring a big appetite to this festival to be sure! There is so much great food to choose form.

You see, my roots came back when I saw this sign:

Fried Seafood!

Yes, I grew up on seafood so when I saw this sign what was I to do? Of course, I ordered fried shrimp and calamari and it was delicious!

Yes, plump fried shrimp and calamari swimming in a delicious and slightly spicy sauce filled me up….but not before I saw this sign:

Fried Oreos!

Yes, while there’s no way they are Italian in origin, they were everywhere and here’s what they looked like in a bag:

Yes, I bought them and here is my taste test on my ‘all food all the time” blog “Biteeatrepeat.com.” Here’s a sneak peek:

So much more as well…see it allure!

I want to note there is so much more to the festival than food: the feast celebrates the life of San Gennaro of Naples who was Bishop of Benevento, Italy and was martyred in 305AD. 

Figli di San Gennaro actively supports over 30 great charities and organizations, and I pinned some money on the display as an offering – as did many others as well.

I shot a lot of footage of the festival and the food, and if you want a longer version, you can see it here:

This is a great food festival, held for a culturally important reason, and is always upbeat and fun: something we really need right now.

I love Italian food, and eat regularly in New York’s Little Italy neighborhood – if I’m not making dishes like this at home:

New York’s iconic Rao’s restaurant has the best meatballs in the city – and so I tried to make them at home!

Click here to see the recipe for their meatballs and marinara sauce and see how I did!

My first foray into making real homemade Italian food was with the help of The Sopranos – and Stanley Tucci!

I made traditional “Sunday Gravy!”

Click here for a traditional Italian “Sunday Gravy” recipe that came with some strong advice from the actor!

And since I led with a clip from “The Godfather” – my favorite film of all time – remember when Alex and I visited the film’s original locations in Sicily?

Yes, we explored several of the iconic locations and you can see them all by clikcing here:

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Let me know if you’ve ever been to the feast, and if you like this story, please share o social media – thanks!

Categories: Exotic Travel, Food, food blog, Food Review, Memoirs, New York, Pop Culture, Recipes, Restaurants, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir, Wacky Food

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