Tradition, good food and a new sauce king at the San Gennaro Feast in Hollywood

The tenth annual Feast of San Gennaro was recently held in Hollywood, California. The feast is hosted by the San Gennaro Foundation and features rides, entertainment and Italian themed vendor booths with plenty of food and drink. All of the local Italian clubs were represented including the Unico, Sons of Italy and The Grandsons of Italy.

This year the feast featured its usual traditional events including the Saturday Mass, the parade through Hollywood and the crowning of Miss San Gennaro. However, this year the feast added a new event; the First Annual Sauce/Gravy Cook Off. This new contest was hosted by Joey Sorice, Vinny Cecire and James Price of "the Meatballs of Comedy". Each contestant was required to bring a quart of their own homemade sauce/gravy. The sauce/gravy was judged by three judges in a blind taste test where two finalists were chosen.

They were Pam Deem and John Murgo. John is the current vice president of the Grandsons of Italy. The finalists were then required to return the following day to prepare their sauce/gravy live on stage in front of an audience at the feast. They were each given one hour to prep and two hours to cook.The contestant's sauce/gravy was then judged live on stage in another blind taste test by Chef Marco of "Precious Cheese" along with Angelina Graziano and Rosa Capiolla from "Bella Cucina". John Murgo was pronounced the winner and was immediately crowned "sauce king". He was presented with a crown, sash and giant wooden spoon. Feast coordinator, Ann Potenza, then paraded John throughout the entire festival and on to the main stage where Frank Competelli congratulated him. John gave a brief acceptance speech.

Former Grandsons of Italy president, Vinnie Corbo, then carried the pot of winning sauce throughout the entire dining area where guests dunked their bread into the pot to get a taste. There were a lot of compliments, cheering and good will. There's nothing like a great pot of sauce to bring a group of Italians together!

Vinnie Corbo