We take a food tour through the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy of Manhattan, the annual event which runs for 11 days along Mulberry Street Between Canal and Houston Streets. The Feast of San Gennaro is the longest and most popular street fair in New York City anticipated to bring in one million tourists and New Yorkers this year. The Feast dates back to 1926 when Neapolitan immigrants wanted to continue the September 19th Feast observed back home in Italy.
Zeppoles are one of the most popular Italian street desserts served at the Feast. We visit many Zeppole or Italian doughnut holes stands, including Danny on the Corner zeppole stand on Mulberry at Grand Street. We see the owner, Danny Fratta who has deep family roots in the Feast spanning back four generations, preparing and frying vats of fresh zepploes. Danny on the Corner is the sponsor of the First Annual Zeppole Eating Competition at the Feast, which will be held on Wednesday, September 18th 2019 at 1pm at the the Main Stage at Grand and Mott Streets. To sign up call 212-764-6330.
We also visit torrone, Italian nougat candy stands including Vinny’s Nut House Stand, where we watch the torrone being chopped using a hammer and knife. Torrone is a non-perishable Italian nougat candy made using large amounts of whole almonds and filberts.
We also visit many Italian sausage booths which do a brisk business during the Feast including Gigi’s Grilled Italian Specialty Stand, NYC Famous Italian Sausages Stand and Lucy’s Sausage Stand and watch as both sweet and hot varieties of Italian sausage are grilled and prepared with peppers and onions.
The same owner who operates Gigi’s Grilled Italian Specialty Stand also sells fried calzones, zeppoles and other fried treats directly across the street at Sophia’s. Sophia’s is the originator of the Fried Rainbow Cookie, a popular Feast item which when broken open reveals its colorful rainbow interior.
We also watch as fried Oreos, another street fair favorite are being prepared. We even try this “Candy of the Feast” from Sophia’s.
We stop by Ferrara’s Original Cafe where live music and dancing was happening and the food stands run by Ferrara’s along the Feast route, where we try their world famous cannolis.
Ferrara’s is a sponsor of the annual Cannoli-eating Contest, which was held on Friday, September 13, 2019. This year’s winner, Wayne, downed 38 Ferrara cannolis in six minutes.Ferrara Bakery & Cafe was established in 1892 by Italian immigrants, Antonio Ferrara and Enrico Scoppa. Ferrara’s is considered America’s first espresso bar. The café later added Italian specialties including cannoli, sfogliatella and gelati to its menu.
We also visit Umberto’s Clam House on Mulberry Street, which has been in business since 1972 and became famous for its celebrity clients and its signature clam dish with its hot red clam sauce.
Although this is an annual celebration of faith, the Feast of San Gennaro is known for its festive atmosphere, featuring Italian cuisine, carnival food favorites, religious processions, colorful parades, free live music and entertainment, rides for kids and adults, games and vendors.
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About JamesandKarla:
Hey everyone! We are husband-and-wife architectural/interior photographers based in NYC. We started our video channel to act an artistic intervention to help raise awareness of the importance of small independently-owned businesses and the unique character these shops add to the streets and neighborhoods of New York City.
In our videos we will showcase portraits of storefronts and shop owners in New York City & capture moments of city life that capture the spirit, energy and cultural diversity of individual neighborhoods. We also bring our dog, Hudson along whenever we can.
We made it our mission to thoroughly document unique ‘mom-and-pop’ stores when we began to notice the alarming rate at which they were disappearing. Our critically acclaimed books include “STORE FRONT: The Disappearing Face of New York”, “New York Nights”, “STORE FRONT II- A History Preserved” and “Broken Windows-Graffiti NYC”.
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James & Karla Murray
www.jamesandkarlamurray.com