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| - My mate and I just checked out the new Rio rendition of the Las Vegas San Gennaro Feast on its opening day, and other than having great difficulty finding it and a parking spot in a Rio lot, we both pretty much enjoyed the food and entertainment. I thought the Feast was situated behind the Rio, and it was. But it is not accessible from Valley View Boulevard. The best way to reach it is to enter the Rio and go around the Carnival World Buffet right to the back and out the Rio near Gaylord Indian Restaurant. Signage is horrible until you reach the back doors of the Rio that lead to the Feast. I needed to ask the security guard manning the Rio Security Desk how to get to the Feast, just as did the person in front of me.
Once there, the usual sights and smells of a wide array of Italian and other cooking food products were prevalent, with several vendors touting their products as potential patrons walked by. I wanted to try a new food vendor this time--and did--but to my disadvantage. The hand-tossed pizza looked real tasty with cheese melting nicely on slices that were dotted with pepperoni. But the taste of these slices was bitter, and tomato paste was much too dominant an element in the sauce. At least the outfit selling this mediocre stuff is from Northern California, and only sells at fairs and festivals (I checked), so you won't accidentally run into this pizza in the Las Vegas valley. The two pizza slices I ate set me back $8.00. I am going to Biaggio's for lunch later today to get some first-rate pizza to make up for last night's clinkers!
Much better was the Philly Cheesesteak I bought from an Anthony's booth, as I did last year. I watched it grilled before me. Since I hadn't eaten all day in preparation for the Feast, dressed with self-administered ketchup and packed with small cut up pieces of cooked beef, red and green peppers, white onions, and well-melted Mozzarella Cheese inside a soft 6-inch bun, this $9.00 beauty was worth the high-sounding cost. Diane's Potato Tornado, greasy bent circles of deep-fried potatoes that were a cross between thick potato chips and french fries, also tasted quite good. And, a large-size bag of Cinnamon Roasted Almonds that wasn't that big was steeply priced at $9.00 but offered both of us a nice sweet ending to our dinners. Everything was washed down with very reasonably priced bottles of spring water and Sierra Mist purchased at the Rio's own Cafe Martorano booth.
We didn't play any games of chance/skill but I saw a huge banana, pig, Bart Simpson, and other stuffed creatures in attendees' hands, so some people were clearly winning major prizes. As in the past, our main focus was on the food and entertainment.
And, the entertainment we saw was excellent and largely different than what we observed in previous years. Dick Contino, Tony Sacca, and Lena Prima performed once again, but there were also the Motown Divas, Chris Lista from the East Coast, an actor-singer who plays Frank Sinatra in "The Rat Pack Is Back" at the Rio, the bird trainer from "America's Got Talent" appearing with Danny the Parrot, Deja Vu from South Point, and Kim Styles, who belted out a very nice rendition of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep." The Michael T Orchestra that backs up singers was also once again excellent--especially the saxophonist. The fine live entertainment in the Tony Sacca Show that begins at 8:00 p.m. each night of the festival, and changes daily, is worth the $6.00 price of admission (with coupon) alone.
Uniformed Las Vegas Metro officers were clearly visible, the crowd seemed happy and very mellow, debris on tables was picked up by Feast volunteers very soon after a diner got up to leave, and colorful amusement rides were in full bloom. We were both glad that we attended yet another Feast.
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