Wow! That is what I have to say regarding Broadway Sacramento's opening night performance of the current national tour of "West Side Story."  The sold out house at the Community Center Theater suggests others agree. While it is beautifully staged, with wonderful singing anddance, and good acting, it is the material that is the star here. The powerful music of Leonard Bernstein coupled with the equally powerfully words of Stephen Sondheim are enough to make "West Side Story" a show worth seeing. Add in the choreography of original "West Side Story" director and choreographer Jerome Robbins, which can move from strongly ballet to strongly modern dance in a moment, and it's hard to beat. A

Trying a new dish or exotic cuisine for dinner doesn’t have to mean a trip out to a restaurant. In the greater Sacramento area, many grocery stores and small, often family-owned shops offer all the authentic, hard-to-find ingredients needed to make anything from Italian to Japanese to Mediterranean foods for dinner. The Sacramento Press hit the streets to round up some of these ethnic grocery stores here in the city. Sampino’s Towne Foods 1607 F St. 441-2372 Hours: Monday through Friday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Saturday 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sampino’s Towne Foods carries the essential items needed to make an authentic Italian dinner at home as well as foods made from family recipes accumulated t

Several days ago I gave in to my curiosity about the restaurant I always drive by, Espanol Italian Dinners. I have always wondered why a restaurant with a name like Espanol would serve Italian food but, tis not mine to judge. When you walk into Espanol which has been at its current location for over 40 years you can quite literally feel the transformation from modern day to yesteryear. The furniture, artwork and cash register which oddly resembles a slot machine appear as they would in an old gangster film. As we looked around the crowd was mature and tame. It seemed clear that this concept was brought to life in an era when dining out meant something very different. While we at no point

On Sunday, author of “Sacramento’s Southside Park” and board member of the Sacramento Old City Association (SOCA) William Burg led a walking tour of Southside Park and the surrounding area. “The tours stemmed from Jane’s Walk USA, a national organization that began in 2007 using neighborhood walking tours as a way to help people get in touch with their environment,” said Kay Knepprath, event coordinator and fellow board member of SOCA. This is the event’s second year in Sacramento. The tour of Southside Park was one in a series of five tours that occurred throughout Sacramento on Saturday and Sunday. While the morning was a bit gray and chilly, a group of about 20 gathered together just

Paesanos Italian restaurant in Midtown is gearing up to celebrate 15 years in business with two weeks of specials starting Saturday and a hint to possible expansion to a third location. Director of Operations Dana Scarpulla said a new location is in the works – probably getting under way within a year – but she couldn’t comment further on the location. She added that business has continued to grow in the past five years. “We opened on April 18, 1996, and it’s been great,” Scarpulla said. “There wasn’t much on this corner back then, and we’ve seen Midtown really transition since.” The spot at 1806 Capitol Ave. had seen a string of restaurants come and go before Paesanos moved in. In the

The California Automobile Museum is proud to announce that Ferrari of San Francisco will be the title sponsor of its newest exhibit, Automobilia! Celebrating Italian Automotive Design. "I thought this Automobilia! exhibit was the perfect fit for the area and an exciting opportunity to support the Ferrari brand by our presence in the community that has shown its love for Italian motor cars," said Greg Minor, general manager of Ferrari of San Francisco, who noted the growing number of Ferrari owners in the Sacramento area. The project is the most ambitious ever undertaken by the California Automobile Museum and the sponsorship by Ferrari of San Francisco marks the Museum's first support for

Sacramento, CA | Automobillia opens at California Automobile Museum (CAM), November 13th. The ears are greeted with that uniquely distinctive note of the finely tuned exhaust system, you can tell even from a distance with your eyes closed “That’s a Ferrari coming”. The clean fluid body lines inspired by the racing legends, it just screams high performance. That’s a Ferrari. It was a rare opportunity to view some 15 of the finest examples of the famed Italian sports car which were on hand for the special preview event at the California Auto Museum in Sacramento. The event, which ran from 11am to 2pm was a kickoff celebration for the upcoming Automobilia “Celebrating Italian Automotive Des

This weekend marked the 25th annual Festa Italiana celebration of Italian heritage in Sacramento. Sponsored by the Sacramento Italian Cultural Society, Italians, Italian Americans and beyond gathered at the Croatian American Cultural Center Saturday and Sunday for a festival resembling a two-day-long Italian wedding. Under the hot Sacramento sun, shaded by large canopies, festival-goers enjoyed musical entertainment by the likes of Italica and Moreno Fruzzetti and dancing from the society’s Balliamo dance troupe. Husband and wife Victor and Eva Musammam have been attending the festival for 20 years and are big fans of Fruzzetti. “I have all of his CDs,” Eva said. Eva was born in Bari,

August is a special month for fans of glass in general and Venetian glass in particular. Piece of Mind, a local bead and jewelry studio on Truxel Road, is presenting a Venetian Glass Bead Trunk Show and Sale from August 13th through August 20th at 4321 Truxel Road.  The phone number is 916 921-2323. Kicking off the Trunk Show and Sale is a special display of Venetian glass from the collection of Kim Osibin. "My collection represents Venetian works of art from the early 1800s to the present day," says the internationally-known glass artist. Kim Osibin has traveled extensively throughout Italy working for glass factories, teaching and demonstrating bead making in Venice and Murano. "The

Everyone can be Italian this weekend at the Italian Cultural Society of Sacramento’s Festa Italiana. The 25th annual Italian festival has much more to offer than the stereotypical spaghetti and meatballs. Once held at the Cal Expo, the fair is now at the Croatian-American Cultural Center at 3730 Auburn Blvd. This year’s Festa Italiana is set up to represent authentic festivals in towns across Italy. It started as a small picnic in the park by the society’s Gioventú young people group, the festival has grown to an average 6,000 visitors per year. Bill Cerruti, executive director of the Italian Cultural Society, said the Italian-American community of Sacramento wanted something to celebra

Fabrizio Cercatore is not a chef. He is not a baker. He was trained to specialize in one thing only: pizza. Born in Verbania, Italy, Fabrizio has been a pizzaiolo — a pizza-maker, for 14 years. His knowledge of pizza stretches beyond a typical chain pizza shop around town. The Man Cercatore, co-owner of Hot Italian in Sacramento, has lived in the city to pursue what he calls this “project” of opening an authentic pizzeria restaurant abroad. He studied at a culinary school in Lerici, Italy. His familiarity with pizza hailed from working at his restaurant in La Spezia called La Tavernetta (The Little Tavern), which he owns with his sister. It was always his dream to open up a restaurant a

It's been a while since I've had time to dine out much less write about it however this article is long overdue. I visited Serritella's Italian Restaurant on Fair Oaks Boulevard tonight and rediscovered why I enjoy dining out. This restaurant has been around for the better part of 40 years which is an achievement in itself in this market. Our young but knowledgeable server Bianca had all the steps of service down to a science. The decor was contemporary Italian with artwork reflecting the world of French and Italian wines. I was a bit concerned when noticing how sleepy the dining room was but decided to give everything a fair chance. I love this place. While some of the menu items may se

Sacramento's Italian community is known to produce gourmet food, but there's much more to the community than Biba, Sofia's and Hot Italian. With this weekend's Festa Italian opening Saturday and running through Sunday at The Croatian Culture Center, we take a look back at the role Italian immigrants and their descendants played in Sacramento's history. Italian Americans have a long history in the Sacramento area. Agriculture and food processing are just some of the many successes of Italian Americans who settled in the area in the early 1850s, but their successes are hardly limited to that. Early Italian Americans Many of the earliest Gold Rush settlers who migrated in the "Mother Lode

A year in the making, the new home of pizza-with-style - Hot Italian at the corner of 16th and Q in the downtown Sacramento Grid - will be opening inside of three weeks. The owner's self-declared deadline: the Amgen Tour of California on Feb. 14. "That's Valentine's Day as well," says Andrea Leport, the woman who has managed this eatery from concept to near-fruition. "And the next day is St. Faustino's Day, the holiday for the single." Sounds like they're expecting business those days. And tying it to the big international bike race fits perfectly the theme of Hot Italian. “We’re all about the two wheels,” says Andrea Lepore. Hot Italian is a concept place that aims to serve lifestyle