It’s like the members of the “Where Staten Island Eats and Drinks” Facebook group manifested an event like this. Mutzfest, a festival solely featuring mozzarella cheese in it’s many forms is coming to New Jersey later this month. Organizers say the event will be held at the Hoboken Elks Club, 1005 Washington St., on Sunday, Jan. 26, from 2 p.m. to...

Gambero Rosso, the Italian-based media company founded in 1987 and a noted authority on Italian wine and food, returns to the U.S. in early 2020 for its annual invitation-only Trade & Media Tour featuring wines that received the conveted “Tre Bicchieri” designation in the company’s famed, annual Vini d’Italia (Italian Wines guide). The Vini d’Itali...

Mark LoRusso clearly remembers celebrating the Feast of the Seven Fishes when he was young. “For people who grew up back East, in Italian-American families, Christmas Eve was always like no meat, lots of fish and pastas,” said LoRusso, executive chef of Costa di Mare at Wynn Las Vegas. LoRusso’s is one of a number of Las Vegas restaurants, large an...

Ada is joining a growing list of cities, states and universities that have replaced Columbus Day with a new holiday recognizing Native Americans’ history and culture. The Ada City Council voted 5-0 Monday to rename the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day. The day will continue to be a paid holiday for regular,...

On the night before Christmas, an array of seafood begins appearing on some dinner tables as a symbolic way to ring in the sacred holiday. The tradition of abstaining from meat and eating fish before a holiday began centuries ago as a Roman Catholic practice in many parts of Italy, where the type and number of fish and the preparation vary by regio...

Feast of the Seven Fishes is, in my opinion, the best Italian tradition that isn’t Italian. Like eggplant parm and peas in your carbonara, it’s a delicious Italian-American adaptation based on the Catholic tradition of eating fish (a leaner meal) the night before a holiday or feast. So, yes, a pre-feast feast. It’s become a custom for many northeas...

Branzino Italian Ristorante in Rittenhouse is hosting a Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner on Christmas Eve, beginning at 5 p.m. The Italian-American tradition gathers friends and family together for a seafood feast.  At Branzino, guests will dine on sea bass crudo with blood orange and watermelon radish; shrimp with burrata and tomato broth; char-gr...

The Italian Thanksgiving in New England was and still is a piece de resistance – a masterpiece of Italian and American cooking. It’s also a result of Italian cooks who successfully resisted do-gooders trying to Americanize their food habits. An Italian Thanksgiving in the Italian cities like Waterbury, Conn., or Providence, R.I., or Revere, Mass.,...

The tradition began two centuries ago, when a mid-December procession bearing the Madonna del Triunfu from Palermo to Ciminna arrived later than expected. “They were supposed to arrive at 6 p.m., but they didn’t make it into town until 1 a.m.,” explains Tony Napoli. “They had been eating and drinking along the way, so they were happy and dancing.”...

Senator Andy Dinniman recently joined with members and families of St. Anthony’s Lodge to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Italian-American fraternal organization that has touched the lives of so many Chester County residents. In recognition of the milestone event, Dinniman presented Anthony Mascherino, Secretary of the Board of Trustees and co-ch...