Yesterday, I shared a glimpse of what my hometown neighborhood is like. There’s a great deal of stuff cramped into a small space, allowing for little nooks and crannies to be left undiscovered for years. It’s one of the most entrancing things about urban living. One of the other great things about it is the energy and excitement whenever an event takes place, especially a long-standing event. As Birmingham prepares to welcome filmmakers this weekend, I got a taste of the oldest and some would say greatest, street festival in New York this past weekend.
The Feast of San Gennaro began on September 14 and runs through September 24, taking over the streets of Little Italy in Lower Manhattan. The smell of Italian sausage and 100 year old restaurants wafted through the air while visitors and native New Yorkers alike enjoy the sights and sounds of the end of summer. I actually ran into several Yankee fans that were preparing to invade the Stadium for the 8:05 p.m. Yanks v. Red Sox game.
The highlight of the trip into lower Manhattan was eating at Novella, one of the newer restaurants in Little Italy. I ended up eating a very, very large plate of linguini with seafood on top. Oh yeah, it also had a lobster, split down the middle, sitting on top of that. And no, there is not a picture of me wearing the bib that they gave me to eat in (some things just don’t need images to accompany them). It was actually the first time my mother and I had eaten out together in more than two years. Definitely an interesting restaurant, though I wouldn’t say that our service was as bad as what was described in the reviews (though it did become difficult to get our check at the end of the meal).
The visit to the festival came after raiding Veniero’s and Russo’s Mozzarella and Pasta for provisions. No pictures of these either, though I think the website image of Veniero’s should give you a pretty good idea of what it was like to go inside.
Yes, all of this and no visit to the High Line or Central Park. There never is enough time.
So, after all of this running around, it was off to pick up my Yanks tickets at the Stubhub.com office. There’ll be more on accomplishing another item on the 101 in 1001 list in tomorrow afternoon’s blog.
Cheers.
