Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001 | 8:15 a.m.
Over the next five days the aroma of the old country will waft through a city block of Las Vegas, as the oldest Italian festival in Nevada gets under way.
Food is the focal point of the 21st annual Las Vegas San Gennaro Feast, which runs today through Sunday at its original location on the corner of South Valley View Boulevard and West Flamingo Road.
Local and national chefs plan to show off their heritage with family recipes handed down through generations at this year's San Gennaro Feast, an homage to the fourth century patron saint of Naples, Italy.
The feast will include more than 130 local and national food vendors, craft booths and children's rides.
Entertainers include the Scintas, impersonator Bill Acosta, lounge performers Denise Clemente and Sandy Hackett and "The Rat Pack is Back" cast.
The Italian festival is a tradition that has sometimes waned over the years, but never fully disappeared, said Anthony Palmisano, owner of Royal Festivals Inc., the feast's promoter.
This is the first year that some original vendors from the first Las Vegas feast in 1980 have returned to offer their traditional recipes to the community.
"I wanted to bring it back with everyone from the past (feasts)," Palmisano said.
Palmisano also included chefs new to Las Vegas to spice up the flavor of the feast.
"This is for everybody," Palmisano said. "I included parts of the whole community for this feast."
Fair weather
Palmisano's uncle, Vincent "Jimmy" Palmisano, thought that Las Vegas was ideal for a San Gennaro Feast similar to the one held in New York's Little Italy.
It became an annual event that the community looked forward to, Palmisano said. But when the elder Palmisano's health began to fail in the early '90s, the feast suffered.
The procession of a statue of San Gennaro, led by a prominent citizen and members of the Catholic Church, was eliminated.
The feast dwindled to a handful of local vendors beneath white tarps and green, red and white streamers. The entertainment was recorded Italian-style music with a bit of Frank Sinatra thrown in for old-times sake.
The feast was a flop.
"Nobody was coming," Palmisano said. "Not the vendors, they were tired of no one coming, and not the people. It was sad."
This year Palmisano pleaded with vendors to come back, and they did, although some did so reluctantly.
Palmisano discussed a procession with Father Dave Cassaleggio, who agreed to conduct the time-honored tradition of blessing the food booths in the feast.
"That's the real history of San Gennaro," Palmisano said. "You walk the saint."
The Knights of Columbus also committed to Palmisano's quest for a traditional festival and will provide a Color Corps Honor Guard for the procession, with flowing capes, large hats and swords at their sides.
Judge Joseph Bonaventure will be the grand marshal of the feast and Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt will be grand lady.
"The tradition of San Gennaro is coming back," Palmisano said. "I want to blend the real heart of the feast with the (Italian) tradition and culture."
And more than that, he wanted to do it his way.
Traditions of other cultures that have made Las Vegas a blended community will also be included in the fair. The Lohan School of Shaolin Chinese Lion Dance will perform with a large papier-mache lion Saturday afternoon. Mariana G, a Latin pop singer who is No. 2 on the Latin charts, will sing Sunday night.
"I didn't want to leave anyone out," Palmisano said.
But the true nature of the feast is the food.
Return to roots
Carmine Vento, owner of Villa Pizza, a local pizza chain, was one of the first vendors asked by Palmisano's Uncle Vincent to join the first feast in Las Vegas in 1980.
"There are a lot of Italians in Las Vegas who look for something like this," Vento said. "They remember the feast that started in Little Italy. It's part of our heritage."
Vento worked in a pizzeria in Little Italy and walked the aisles of the San Gennaro Feast each year. The sharp smell of cut onions and peppers mixed with sweet sausage frying in black skillets hung over the fair. Rows and rows of booths offered traditional Italian dishes such as fried calamari, linguine and clams, shrimp scampi, stuffed artichokes, cannolis and zeppoles.
For the Las Vegas Feast, Vento made the traditional sausage and peppers but also brought back his version of an old recipe, zeppoles -- a pancake-battered dough that is fried in the shape of a donut.
The light, fluffy treats were a tradition in his family.
"That's what you come to the feast for," Vento said. "The specialty food that you don't get every day."
The fair isn't always profitable for small vendors, he said, but the atmosphere, the people and sharing his food was a once-a-year treat.
"There's an enjoyment to it," Vento said. "I lost money plenty of times but I had fun doing it. Laughing, dancing, singing. It's like you are at a party. The food is more enjoyable when you are out there with the music and the people and all that is going on."
But in the early '90s the fair had dwindled to only a few old-timers and even fewer customers.
"It wasn't fun anymore," Vento said.
So he packed up his zeppoles for the last time in 1994, tired of losing money and respect for the once-impressive feast.
He came back this year only because Palmisano seemed to want it so badly.
"I was reluctant, but my kids found out they were doing the saint (procession) and full entertainment was back that everyone can enjoy," Vento said. "It's something that everyone looks for (in a community) and can enjoy. It's been a long time."
Vento is joined by another longtime Las Vegas chef, Sam Montesano, who opened his restaurant and deli at 3441 W. Sahara Ave., 10 years ago.
The native New Yorker joined the feast as a way to meet people and get the name of his business -- and his food -- on the tongues of Las Vegans. Word of mouth built his business and two years ago Montesano opened a second deli at 4835 W. Craig Road.
Within the last few years, however, he no longer packed up his desserts or homemade breads to take to the feast.
"There wasn't that much business," Montesano said.
But customers continued to ask Montesano when he was coming back to the feast.
"We were getting so many people asking us we thought we'd give it a chance this year," he said.
With other vendors returning, Montesano was less reluctant. This year he plans to include a feast of rich desserts such as cannolis, Italian espresso soda and coffee drinks, tiramisu and cookies.
"The word feast gives you a happy feeling," he said. "No matter what culture you are from, a feast will have the same meaning."
The feast is a fond tradition for restaurant owner Nick Bimonte.
"Food links us all together," Bimonte said. "It's our bond, our heritage."
Bimonte opened Nickarino's at 4335 Las Vegas Blvd. South last month. This will be his first foray into Las Vegas' San Gennaro Feast.
As a boy he would walk down 187th Street to Arthur Avenue in New York with his parents to the original festival in Little Italy.
"Good food brings back good memories," Bimonte said.
Bimonte will set up a raw bar, which will include oysters, clams and calamari, as well as other traditional food fare at his booth at the entrance to the feast.
"It's bringing Las Vegas together," Bimonte said. "The carnival, the traditional rides for the kids, the feast itself is bringing (out) the family element of Las Vegas."
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