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Fiesta Event A Swinging Time

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By VALERIE KALFRIN

vkalfrin@tampatrib.com

Published: March 1, 2009

TAMPA - The percussion of the congas and timbales put a swing in Maria De Souza's arms and hips.

With her purse slung over her shoulder, De Souza stepped back and to the side in perfect time to the lively salsa music of La Orquestra Sol Caribe booming across Seventh Avenue in Ybor City on Saturday. Her fiance, Hector Davila, 50, took her hand and twirled her around in a parking lot by the stage, joining her in the steps.

"That's awesome!" said De Souza, 52, laughing.

Thousands of people flocked to Seventh Avenue between 15th and 19th streets to mangia and merengue at Fiesta Day, a celebration of Ybor City's Italian and Cuban heritage.

The aroma and sizzle of Italian sausage, pulled Cuban pork and empanadas filled the air along with a tinkling piano, blaring trumpet and Spanish singing from the band. Two competitions offered cooks the chance to showcase their best flan and black-bean recipes.

"If it tastes like eggs, then it's not really a custard; it's a quiche," said Roy De Jesus, host of "Chef's Kitchen" on Bay News 9 and judge for the Flan Fest competition. He sampled 20 of the 34 entries and said the perfect flan melts in your mouth. "Not too sweet. Not too bland."

The Black Bean Blowout offered an "Iron Chef"-style cook-off between chef Fred Arnold of Gaspar's Grotto and Army Sgt. 1st Class Rene Marquis, a chef at MacDill Air Force Base. Marquis won the taste buds of three judges, and the $1,000 prize, by assembling a pureed black-bean soup, sauteed pork and chicken with soba and a black-bean cake, and a black-bean rice pudding in an hour.

Marquis was unfazed by cooking under a sidewalk tent. "I'm a soldier, so I cook in the field," he said.

The Italian Club offered a range of traditional treats, including cannoli piped with fresh filling, and something new: fried Oreos.

The club tried the Oreos because they heard they were popular, said Sandra Alfieri, noting most visitors preferred sfingi, a Sicilian dish of fried dough also called zeppole.

For De Souza and Davila, the day offered the chance to soak up their Puerto Rican heritage and enjoy the warm weather.

Their goal? "To have a nice time, and stay young at heart," De Souza said.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.

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