On the Fourth of July I went to eat with my wife and her uncle from Peru at a random Italian restaurant on Mulberry Street in Little Italy. We just sort of picked a place that looked good and had an empty sidewalk seat. I was sort of regretting on not having gone to Coney Island to see the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Championship. During our meal men began to set up a table in the street and move things around from near where we were sitting. When we asked what was going on, we were told a pasta eating championship was going to be held in the exact spot where we were sitting. We had an hour to wait and after we finished eating we moved back one table (ours was needed for the contest) and ordered coffee so we could watch as this unfolded before our eyes. The winner was an Albanian man who worked at the restaurant we were eating at, which was called Sal Anthony’s S.P.Q.R. He consumed about 6 pounds of spaghetti.

Nicholas Gill (470 Posts)

Writer and photographer Nicholas Gill is the editor/publisher of New World Review. He lives in Lima, Peru and Brooklyn, New York. His work has appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, CondeNast Traveler, National Geographic Traveler, Afar, and Penthouse. Visit his personal website (nicholas-gill.com) for more information.