Festa spotlights Italian- speaking Swiss region
Visitors to this year’s Italian Family Festa in downtown San Jose may come away having learned more than just how many ravioli they can eat.
The festival — which takes place Aug. 29 and 30 in the section of the Guadalupe River Park off Julian Street — will have an expanded “cultural village” and it will spotlight the Italian- speaking territory of Ticino, Switzerland. To celebrate this “other Italy” on Switzerland’s southern- most border, members of the Pro Ticino Swiss Club of Northern California will sing typical folk songs from the region and perform Swiss dances. And one docent will open the festival at 11 a. m. Aug. 29 with a traditional Swiss alphorn, which echoes through the mountains of Switzerland but should still make a mighty sound in the park.
The cultural village will also have a special program on Trabia, Sicily, with family histories, demonstrations of Italian lace making and a tribute to the late Irene Dalis, founder of Opera San Jose.
The Italian American Heritage Foundation continues to do a great job growing the festa, now in its 35 year. Popular activities like the grape stomp ( 2 p. m. each day), Italian karaoke and bocce will be returning. And Little Italy San Jose is sponsoring a Catholic Mass, which will be celebrated at 10 a. m. in the outdoor plaza behind Paesano’s restaurant.
The festa is free to attend, and the entertainment lineup and other details can be found at www. italianfamilyfestasj. org. Interim San Jose State President Susan Martin is already making friends around campus thanks to her golden retriever puppy, Teddy. Martin and her economics professor husband, Larry, brought the dog along when they moved into the student residence halls last week.
“Teddy is a great icebreaker,” Martin said at a welcome reception Thursday, the first day of classes. She says students are a little surprised to discover the pup’s owner also happens to be the university president. “The first question I ask them is why they came to San Jose State,” she said. “The second question is, ‘ If you were president for a day, what is the one thing you would fix?’ ”
No doubt she’ll have a heck of a list by Labor Day.
I recently sauntered down to the Craftsman, Joe Gradillas’ restaurant on South First and San Salvador streets in downtown San Jose, to check out the eatery’s namesake burger. I wasn’t prepared for the price — $ 14 — but at least it came with a side of fries, and I felt better about it when I heard the effort that goes into it.
Gradillas grinds his own meat for the burger, using a combination of New York strip steak, short rib and applewood- smoked bacon to create a hefty patty. It took a lot of experimentation to get the combination right. It’s served on a brioche bun with all the usual accompaniments like lettuce and tomatoes, but Gradillas had to be persuaded to include cheese and a fried egg as extras.
“This is a hamburger, so I wanted it to be all about the meat,” he told me. “But if that’s what people want, we’ll give it to them.”
I had mine with a slice of smoked gouda for an extra two bucks and can happily report it didn’t ruin the experience.