Hon. Frank Seddio hosts 10th St. Joseph’s Feast in Canarsie

March 27, 2018 By Rob Abruzzese, Legal Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Gregory Cerchione (left) and Arthur Aidala share a plate of pasta con sarde during Hon. Frank Seddio’s annual St. Joseph’s Luncheon last Friday. Eagle photo by Mario Belluomo

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There were hundreds of pounds of pasta, dozens of eggplants, and about 500 of Hon. Frank Seddio and Frank Carone’s closest friends for the 10th anniversary of their annual St. Joseph’s celebration at Seddio’s law office in Canarsie last Friday.

The event is co-sponsored by the Columbian Lawyers Association of Brooklyn and the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Kings County.

“This event is for my friends and it’s kind of grown over the years and now we get about 500 people,” Seddio said. “I invite friends, wherever I know them from — from the political world, from my church, from my fraternal organizations, pretty much everyone who is a friend of mine is invited.”

Seddio said that it costs roughly $5 per person for all of the food and beverages. In order to prepare food for so many people, Seddio and four other cooks, Rebecca Schneier, Hon. Peter P. Sweeney, Joseph Bova and Joseph Rosato, work approximately a week to cook so much food. On top of everything they cook, Seddio also hires Nick’s Lobster House on Flatbush Avenue to cater some of the seafood.

“I spend all day on Sunday just making sauce,” said Seddio. “I cook probably 90 percent of the food, and people come in all week to help out. I joke around and tell everyone that Frank Carone doesn’t do any of the cooking, he just gives me his credit card.”

Seddio is always a gregarious fellow, but on this day he is in a constant ear-to-ear grin as he mingles with his guests, checks on the food, and introduces strangers. For a Sicilian-American, there is not much greater satisfaction than watching people eating your food.

“I’m going to do this as long as I can do it. Hopefully another 28 years,” Seddio said. “I wouldn’t mind doing this when I’m 100. As long as I can, I’m glad to do it. Frankly, you can’t beat the fun of it. It’s really a special day.”

The event started after Seddio stepped down from being a judge in the Surrogate’s Court and formed a law firm with Carone in 2007. The duo wanted to host a Christmas party that year, but there are so many bar associations and law firms in Brooklyn that host parties around the Christmas holiday that they decided to instead hold a St. Joseph’s event in the spring.

“I just love to cook,” Seddio said. “That’s my big thing — I love cooking. The best part of the feast is watching the people enjoy themselves and that’s always because they’re eating.”

His favorite dishes to make, all of which he learned from watching his aunts and grandmothers preparing as a child, are pasta con sarde (pasta with sardines), eggplant parmesan, a dish he calls “macaroni with everything, and sausage and potatoes.

“All of this is dietetic,” Seddio said through a laugh. “I’ve confirmed that by eating my food here you will lose weight because you’ll be so full that you won’t eat for the rest of the week.”