Italian Festival - Opening Day Part II

How could I forget this! Gee, nothing says Italian Festival like the homemade EGG ROLLS booth. (Look for it on Scott Street.) Can't tell you how they taste. I didn't get any. Getting an egg roll at an Italian Festival just seems.....wrong.

- Patricia Talorico

Italian Festival - Opening Day

Don't know if it was the brutal heat and humidity (most likely) or the new $5 admission fee.

But crowd attendance for opening day at Italian Festival seemed much lighter than usual. The photo above was taken at about 5:30 p.m. The streets weren't very crowded, there was plenty of room at the benches at all the cafes - some seemed even empty - no lines at the carnival rides on the Midway and hardly anyone was lined up to eat funnel cakes during my afternoon visit. I think the heat is seriously going to affect attendance this week. It was so hot that it was hard to enjoy the festivities.


Here's the Fralinger String Band (above) getting ready to perform. The South Philly native with me stopped to chat with the guys in the band and, geez, Louise, we felt so sorry for them. Sweat was pouring down their faces. The blacktop streets were baking.

So the admission fee this year is a bit of a bummer. And I wish the Festival did a much better job telling people where the entrance to the festival is located. We parked at around 11th and DuPont streets and thought we would find an admission gate at the front of the church, which makes sense to me since this is ST. ANTHONY'S Italian Festival.

But nope. A Wilmington cop noticed our confusion and told us to keep walking and turn onto Howland Street. (There's an entrance at Howland and Scott streets.) I'm glad he helped out us because there were no signs anywhere saying where the entrance is located. (You can also walk in at 10th and Scott streets, but again, no, signs. What's up with that? Believe me, no wants to walk any further than they have to when the mercury hits 90 and above.

Oh, and forget sneaking in. There are gates closing in the festival and you get a bracelet to wear after you pay admission.

My favorite area of the festival is always La Piazza, the cafe next to the church. That's where we hung again this year. An Italian one man band was playing. We grabbed a bench and there was a nice breeze that make the heat a little more bearable. Porkette sandwich with broccoli rabe ($6) is the way to go. The sandwich has a good roll, thick slices of meat and the rabe was very garlicky. The special of the night was stuffed eggplant with a roll and salad ($9). I was thinking the stuffing would be cheese-based, but it was more like a meatball and topped with marinara. It actually wasn't bad at all for carnival eats.

Didn't get the spaghetti dinner. It was so hot, we just couldn't face a dish of pasta. We did get a very cold Peroni draft ($5) - it's an Italian festival, get an Italian beer - and a hand-squeezed glass of lemonade ($3). The family - a mom and two kids - who made the lemonade was so cute and they were trying so hard to be professional even though it took almost 10 minutes to make one glass. (Be patient - they squeeze fresh lemons, add sugar and water, ice and shake it for you.)

We stopped by and checked out the replica of Mount Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples. Let me say the words "school science project" come to mind. It's so kitschy and goofy and flat out cheesy (was that paper puffs of smoke at the top?) that it's actually amusing. (I forgot to take a picture, but we'll post one this week.) Really, I'm being kind. I didn't see the volcano "erupt" - wonder if it's baking soda and vinegar?? - but I don't think I was missing much.

We ended the visit with $5 cups of gelato at the Caffe Gelato booth. The gelato was drippy and melty - kind of the way I felt after walking around the festival.

- Patricia Talorico

Italian Festival - We'll be there all week

Ciao, readers.

St. Anthony's Italian Festival opens today at 2 p.m. The News Journal's features staff will offer updates every day from the fairgrounds.

We'll discuss the food, rides, music, that new volcano, the admission fee, parking and other news.

Look for an update tonight.

Tom Douglas: UPDATED

Newark native Tom Douglas, who owns several top rated Seattle restaurants, is featured in today's Wall Street Journal. He has a recipe for Sake-Steamed Sockeye Salmon With Sake Butter

The St. Mark's graduate also is up for one of the biggest culinary honors this year. He was nominated by the James Beard Foundation as one of the country's most outstanding restaurateurs.

Douglas is competing against Mario Batali, Wolfgang Puck, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Richard Melman.

The awards are Sunday night. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

UPDATE: Mario Batali and his business partner Joe Bastianich took home the award. There's always next year, Tom.

Reader mail - UPDATEd

First things first:

Greek Festival ends tonight and the Italian Festival starts Sunday.

No dining review today - we're gearing up to unveil changes to our dining coverage in next week's 55 Hours weekend section.

Keep reading. I'm not spilling the beans just yet.

Read what Victor Greto has to say about Iron Hill's Belgian white beer.

Last week, I wrote about Soybean Asian Grille in Pike Creek. It has lots of promise, but I was hoping for a little more punch, something that other Second Helpings readers have commented on.

Here's what was in the mailbox this week (I JUST ADDED ANOTHER LETTER):

Dear Patricia,

Thank you for taking the effort of writing Soybean Asian Grille review. Your article posted on May 30th has definitely drawn the attention of Pike Creek area diners. We had a big crowd on both May 30th and May 31 and portion of the customers came because of your article.

In addition, I'd like to thank you for your candid feedback and we are working diligently to make any possible improvement as we can. For example, I've informed the chefs to be bold and daring to add in extra spice into our dishes.

Being a brand new business owner, I am very honored, grateful and excited to receive the Restaurant review from you. Thank you again.

Hope to have your visit in the near future.

Regards.

Allison & Peter

Here's a reader's take on my review of King Tex-Mex in Elsmere:

Dear Mrs. Talorico:
Just about the time Tex-Mex opened up I have been going at least twice a week. It is a wonderful restaurant. The service is great. You are greeted at the door with a smiling face. They help you to select what you want to eat. Beginning with breakfast most are regular meals that is served in most American Restaurants.
Dinner and Supper is not Mexican food. The manager and staff are from San Salvadore. The food is great, different from American Restaurants. You have to get use to the food if you never eat any but American food. Ever since you wrote the article about Tex-Mex I noticed an increase in customers. Many come back time and again. I don't know what you mean by, "an overall middle -of- the road blandness.". To mention spice and fiery heat, you have to ask for it.
Sincerely yours,
John Parisi

Top Chef recap

"Boo-hiss, you baddie!"

That used to be the favorite expression of my old high school field hockey coach Pat Prettyman.

You were supposed to think those words when facing the enemy, scrambling for the ball and trying to get it into the goal. (Thank God for shin guards.)

Prettyman's expression comes back to haunt me every time I look at Lisa's grumpy, sullen mug this season on "Top Chef."

How this not very consistent chef and She SchlepRock skirted to the Final Three is one of the great mysteries of this reality series.

But undercooked pigeon peas were Antonia's downfall and she was sent packing. And who really believed Antonia saying that she liked "al dente" beans? Certainly not Colicchio whose lack of a poker face at the judges table is hands-down one of my favorite aspects of "Top Chef."

So now Stephanie, Richard and Lisa will face off next week for the Big Cook-off.

Stephanie's grace under pressure - and her refusal to throw Dale under the bus for leaving out the pork belly over night - has me rooting for her. Intelligence and talent is hard to resist.

But Richard and his Felix the cat bag of culinary tricks is a winning combination and he has been a favorite ever since the first challenge when he served the peach/sweet tea pizza.

Lisa. Well, you know how I feel about Lisa. "Boo-hiss, you baddie."

- Patricia Talorico

Party on, Maria

Almost forgot to post this: I had a terrific interview with Wilmington native and super party hostess Maria McBride. Here's the story.

McBride, who now lives in New York City, is the author of the new book "Party Basics for New Nesters" (Collins, 2008). It's a great book to flip through and is filled with beautiful photos.

Lots of suggestions to steal: I love her idea of creating mini-aquariums to decorate tables at a summer party. It evokes a seashore feeling even in a suburban backyard. Maria also suggests serving all kinds of vintage style sodas in glass soda bottles with straws.

Great Mashed Potato Mystery: SOLVED!

The other day I wrote about the crazy love customers have for the mashed potatoes at Culinaria.

I told Eric Ruth about my experience last Saturday and as we chatted his eyes practically rolled back in his head. He then began preaching the gospel about the creamy dreamy deliciousness of Culinaria's spuds and their buttery richness.

(Damn that Ruth and the way he can describe food! I've been thinking about potatoes for three days straight.)

I just received an email from Culinaria owners Ezio and Pam about the mashers (thanks, chefs!) and I don't think they'll mind me sharing:

"We're not sure if ours are the best mashed potatoes, but they are pretty popular. There's not much of a secret, but what may make a difference is the fact that we mash the potatoes by hand using an old fashioned masher. It could be that people are reminded of the mashed potatoes they grew up with."

Mash by hand. Got it?

Case closed.

- PT

It's all Greek to me

Opa!

The Greek Festival just opened for lunch today.

The carnival at 808 N. Broom St. in Wilmington runs through Friday.

What's your favorite Greek dish?

I need some dolmades. Now.

- Patricia Talorico

Best mashed potatoes ever?

Had dinner last night at a very busy, as usual, Culinaria in Brandywine Hundred.

Here's the funny thing that happened while we were waiting at the bar for a table:

We're sipping a smooth glass of pinot noir, enjoying the bustling Saturday night atmosphere and were happily chatting away, when the hostess comes over to tell us it was going to be a few more minutes for our table and that the kitchen has now run out of mashed potatoes.

Uh, OK.

"Is that a problem?" she says very sweetly.

Uh, no.

"It is for some people," she tells us.

(Nosy journalist that I am, I can't let it go at that.)

Really? Why?

Then she explains that a couple who also had been waiting for a table just left after they found out there were no more mashed potatoes.

Now, I love mashed potatoes, perhaps the world's greatest comfort food, but I'm not leaving a restaurant I enjoy visiting, such as Culinaria, just because they run out of spuds. And the thought of doing that just struck me as really funny.

Then I became intrigued: People come to Culinaria just for the mashed potatoes?

"Yes, people love them," the hostess says. I couldn't pry out much more information about the mashers other than "They're just really good." (And, as if on cue, I heard a couple at the bar begin waxing poetic about the mashed potatoes. No lie.)

I've eaten at the restaurant many times before - the roasted salmon curry with Jasmine rice is one of my favorite menu items - and the food is always terrific. I know I've had the mashed potatoes there before but I was drawing a complete blank about the taste.

I feel like a woman possessed and now I have to know more about these mashed potatoes.

This is a case of Nancy Drew culinary sleuthing and I need to unravel The Great Mashed Potato Mystery.

Are these really the best mashed potatoes ever? What makes them SO good?

Inquiring minds - and palates - need to know.

- Patricia Talorico