Depending on whom you ask, frog legs taste like an amphibious version of chicken wings or something else entirely. You’ll likely get a variety of opinions from the 800 men at the Aug. 1 dinner at St. Anthony’s Lodge & Swim Club in Downingtown. As part of a 90-year tradition, they’ll wash down 6,500 sets of deep-fried frog legs with plenty of beer. It’s part of a $50 meal that also includes salad, veal (cooked with Kennett Square mushrooms), chicken, Italian bread, and enough pepper and lemon to sweeten the frog. Earning a mention in Guinness World Records, the more raucous frog leg dinners often lasted as late as 2 a.m. under floodlights, with Frank Sinatra blaring over the loudspeakers.
“There are priests and a prayer, a rendition of ‘God Bless America,’ and a simultaneous toast where all in attendance shout out, ‘Salute,’” says local artist Adrian Martinez, a longtime attendee of this offbeat event orchestrated by the Italian social club. “There’s more power in that ‘salute’ than what’s needed to send a spaceship to Mars.”
For nearly every guest, the invite has been handed down through the generations via a committee known as the Amphibious Order of Frogs. Committee member Jeffrey Valocchi’s father ushered him in. Fellow organizer Lucas Lutz’s great uncle is his link. “For the older guys, it’s often the biggest thing they’ll do all year,” says Valocchi.
For Brian Formica, it was a little different. Now in his 45th year as a committee member—and his 21st year as president—he grew up next to the lodge and helped cut the grass and set tables for the event at age 12. Back then, there were 175 invitees. “This represents our roots” says Formica, a retired facilities manager.
“It’s a rite of passage, an obligation and an honor,” adds Louie Capriotti, another of the committee’s 25 members, which is multiple generations deep. “It’s like a fraternity.”
The frog legs—some 30–35 cases—come from China and remain frozen until the week of the event. All are breaded and fried the day of the dinner—aside from a tasting batch for committee members the night prior.
There’s another frog-leg event of note in the United States, and that takes place each January in Fellsmere, Florida. There, far more frog legs are consumed, but it’s also a four-day festival. As for Downingtown’s one-night feeding frenzy, the tradition began in 1934, when a small group of Italian immigrants began hunting for frogs in Brandywine Creek and cooking them over a fire. Today’s frog legs—some 30–35 cases—come from China. After arriving a month before the event through the port of San Francisco, they’re stored at a distribution site in Philadelphia, frozen until the week of the event. All are breaded and fried the day they’re served—aside from a tasting batch for committee members the night prior.
Aside from the 1,500 pounds of frog legs, the evening’s festivities require 1,300 pounds of chicken, 1,000 pounds of veal, 120 pounds of Kennett Square mushrooms, 35 kegs of beer, and two kegs or birch beer.
Aside from the 1,500 pounds of frog legs, the evening’s festivities require 1,300 pounds of chicken, 1,000 pounds of veal, 120 pounds of Kennett Square mushrooms, 35 kegs of beer, and two kegs of birch beer. Guests sit at 120 folding tables. The record for serving the entire delegation is 47 minutes. Women do all the cooking and serving, and there’s been some bad press over the years for that reason. “The women have defended us,” says Valocchi, who grew up with seven sisters.
When a local women’s Republican committee raised the issue, Valocchi, a retired attorney, ended up in court. He made a convincing case for the club’s private status. St. Anthony’s Lodge plays host, but it has no other affiliation with the frogmen.
Organizational meetings begin in April, and things kick off with a spring buffet the first Thursday in May—sans frog legs—that typically draws 250 to 300 guests. “It’s a well-oiled machine,” Formica says. “If everyone stays in their lane, the jobs get done.”
And so does the eating.
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