We board our apartment community shuttle at 9am for San Diego’s Little Italy community.  We occupy the only two remaining seats in the back.  This is one of the free trips (some require fees) that our community offers.   I immediately notice that the interior temperature reminds me of a senior citizen’s dwelling in the dead of a Chicago winter.  I glance around the bus and notice that ninety percent of the passengers are senior citizens.  As a result, I say nothing.  Although, I wonder if I’ll later be reminded later of the old adage about “ASSuming”.

An hour and fifteen minutes later we arrive in Little Italy for the “16^th Annual Little Italy Festa”.  A few senior citizens discuss how they’re looking forward to exiting the bus given its hot and stuffy nature.  Yep – ASS out of U and ME.  Bella and I make our way to the festa and come upon the booth of Zagarella Italian Restaurant (A: 1655 India Street, San Diego, CA  92101. P: 619-236-8764.  W: Zagarellaitalianrestaurant.com).  Without hesitation I order my first cannoli.  The cheese tastes like ricotta with maraschino cherries inside.  It is a bit too sweet for my tastes but has a crunchy shell and is pretty good overall.  Food Rating = B-.

We walk around checking out vendors selling art, clothing, ceramics, jewelry and figurines.  There is a Frank Sinatra impersonator wailing away in the center of an intersection when another singer joins in.  There are several musical acts ongoing on various stages.

Frank and Tony?

A few minutes after devouring my first cannoli I’m on to my second.  Café Zucchero (A: 1731 India Street, San Diego, CA  92101.  P: 619-531-1731.  W: Cafezucchero.com) makes one of my top two favorite cannoli’s, Caffe Greco in San Francisco’s Little Italy being my favorite.  The Zucchero cannoli has a crunchy shell, candied orange peel and mini chocolate chips inside.  The bakery staff claims that their cannoli is straight ricotta but I taste a smidge of cream cheese or pastry cream.  The cannoli’s they’re serving today are huge.  Yea for me!  Thankfully I’ve been watching what I eat for weeks so I’m allowing myself one really bad day.  Food Rating = A.

Bella and I seek out a pick me up at a coffee house whose line is out the door.  Caffe Italia (A: 1704 India Street, San Diego, CA  92101. P: 619-234-6767.  W: caffeitalialittleitaly.com).  We sit in a piazza out back while the La Pensione Hotel’s wire hair fox terrier roams around looking for stray crumbs.  A local speaks to the dog before a maid scoots the pooch along his merry way.  Bella orders her standard iced vanilla latte and I deviate by choosing the iced pumpkin spice latte.  My beverage is superbly tasty and as expected the coffee smokes Starpuke’s.  Bear with my tangent, but it is next to impossible to offer quality java when you expand to the point that you have stores on every other street corner.  The bigger your company gets the bigger the plantations you must buy from and the less the growers (i.e. Woodbridge or Kendall Jackson wine) tend to focus on quality.  Or, you need to buy from so many different growers that you can’t possibly guarantee much quality control.  Maybe Starpuke’s quality will improve now that they’re closing down stores.

I decide to roll the dice on a third cannoli I see in the display case.  I’m guessing it was prepared the night before given this is a coffee house but it actually looks pretty good.  The shell is soft and while not soggy it is definitely moist.  The filling is nice with a slight cream cheese taste but of course it isn’t close to being fresh.  There are chocolate chips inside with some candied orange peel.  Food & Drink Rating = A-.

Our first real food is a marinated octopus salad with onions, herbs, garlic and celery from Mona Lisa Italian Restaurant (A: 2061 India Street, San Diego, CA  92101. P: 619-234-4893. W: monalisalittleitaly.com).  It is a bit heavy on the vinegar marinade and shy on octopus but tastes good.  Food Rating = B+.

We stop at a no-name vendor (sign read “International Sausage: Italian – Polish – Bratwurst) that serves the most appealing looking Italian sausage at the Festa.  The color of the sausage is a red color versus the traditional light gray color we’re accustomed to.  The roll is extra fresh with soft and springy bread.  The “snap factor” on the sausage reminds me of LA’s Cupid’s Hotdogs.

Gaglione Brother’s (A: 728 Ventura Place, San Diego, CA  92109.  P: 858-488-1690. W: gaglionebros.com) serves the tastiest looking Philly cheese steak.  There are finely chopped grilled onions and a pretty good amount of well-melted provolone cheese.  It isn’t the best I’ve had but this is a strong Philly given we’re in Cali.  Food Rating = B+.

I grab a quick slice of pizza at the booth for Pizza Luigi (A: 1827 India Street, San Diego, CA  92101.  P: 619-238-3502.  W: pizzerialuigi.com).  The cheese isn’t unbelievable but at least they don’t overload the marinara sauce.  It is thin crust (NY style) and a pretty good slice of pie.  Food Rating = B+.

Bella and I venture over to our favorite deli, Mona Lisa Italian Deli (A: 2061 India Street, San Diego, CA  92101. P: 619-234-4893. W: monalisalittleitaly.com).  A pretty Italian girl in her mid-twenties with radiant skin is slowly perusing the shelves obstructing us from getting to the refrigerators – oh darn.  Also, “When in Rome do as the Romans do” (i.e. “slow it down to a cool boil”).  We pick up a bottle of limoncello for our collection, a couple of blanc de blancs (sparkling wine) in fancy cans, a pistachio torrone candy bar and a can of SanPellegrino Aranciata (orange sparkling soda).

It is now noon and the cattle have filled the streets.  Over 100,000 people attend this single day event each year.  “Hoof traffic” is moving about as well as rush hour freeway traffic in West LA.  Before departing the Festa, we pick up a set of three wooden penguin figurines from Honduras.  We arrive back at the shuttle bus and as we board I ask the driver if he can utilize the air conditioning on the drive back.  He asks if it was hot on the drive down.  I reply “monkey hot my friend…monkey hot”.  Minutes later we are on our way back to South Orange County.

Buono tempi!