San Gennaro Feast

Last Wednesday we went to PT’s Pub for a frothy cold beverage, I ordered a Peroni and Frank had a Widmer. Peroni is the sponsor of San Gennaro so in order to promote the festival PT’s had free admission tickets to be given away with any Peroni drafts.

We didn’t plan on attending the Feast, but with free admission why not check it out. We went Thursday night around 7 o’clock. Parking across from the entrance was five bucks. Instead, we opted to park near Allstate Insurance which was about equal distance, but it was free.

Upon entering we were immediately pestered by hawkers, but once we made our way around the corner we were free to peruse all the tasty eats available for sale.




We made the loop around the food booths; we were a bit overwhelmed between the crowds and the offerings. When in that situation the last thing you want is to choose poorly.

I didn’t care to have any deep-fried fair food, I wasn’t interested in the Greek food, it was an Italian festival after all; but after another whiff of sausage and peppers I was sold. The first booth, off to the left, smelled the best, however, when Frank inquired about the heat of the sausage, he was told it was mild, but a hit of Tabasco would liven it up. Not that answer we were looking for, we wandered over to the other booth to the right of the main entrance. Eight bucks for a sandwich was pretty steep, but when in Rome – right? The sausage was topped with a heaping pile of onions and peppers. The onions smelled wonderful. We looked for a seat so we could dig in, but none were found. We gave up and stood off to the side where no one would bump into us. Frank dug in first, two bites later, he said was awful. Just terrible. He left the rest for me, and he set off to try a chicken parmesan sandwich from a nearby booth. They wanted $12; it made the crummy sausage sandwich seem like a deal. Needless to say he passed on it. He returned to me in an aggravated state, I was starved I came with a huge appetite so I ate a few bites of that awful sandwich just to tide me over. I regretted it, I was left with a greasy salt fest in my mouth. By then we were both over the feast. It was crowded, hot, and we chose poorly. We left.


We drove to John Cutters and had dinner there. I had a nice fresh caprese salad and Frank had their signature Krolly sandwich. We should’ve skipped the ordeal and went there from the start. I think we’ll simply appreciate the San Gennaro fireworks, next year, and leave the Feast for others to enjoy.