The Busalacchi family is shutting down a stretch of India Street in Little Italy this fall for a new annual tradition called The Feast, transforming the block into a one-night, open-air banquet hall complete with long communal dining tables, string lights, and a four-course dinner. Set for October 11, the event runs from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and will benefit the Positive Movement Foundation, a San Diego nonprofit that supports underserved youth across the city's public schools.
According to KPBS, India Street will close between Fir Street and Grape Street for the celebration, which organizers describe as the first installment of what they hope becomes an annual community gathering. General admission includes a reception hour with grazing stations, entertainment and activations, followed by a four-course family-style dinner prepared by Barbusa with wine service, reserved seating at the communal tables, and a post-dinner celebration with live entertainment. Early reservations for general admission run $295 through September 1, 2026, before rising to a standard price of $350.
Guests looking for more can upgrade to VIP admission, which layers in an exclusive Aperol spritz welcome reception, a VIP wine tasting station with upgraded pours, premium dining seating, priority check-in, complimentary affogato, a keepsake gift and valet parking. VIP tickets are priced at $395 early and $450 at the standard rate. For those wanting the full spectacle, a Founder's Table seats eight guests at a premium reserved table with all VIP benefits included, plus recognition on the table menu, priced at $3,250 early and $3,750 standard. The event is open to all ages.
A Decade at Barbusa, Four Decades in San Diego
Barbusa, the restaurant supplying The Feast's dinner menu, marked its own milestone this summer, celebrating its 10th anniversary on India Street after opening in 2016 in the space once occupied by the Busalacchi family's steakhouse, Po Pazzo, according to the Times of San Diego. Barbusa now anchors a cluster of four Busalacchi-family concepts on the same street, alongside Nonna, Lala and Café Zucchero.
The family's restaurant story in San Diego stretches back to 1984, when it launched Casanova's Pizza in La Mesa. Since then, the enterprise has grown to encompass 14 dining concepts, with patriarch Joe Busalacchi Sr. and his sons now managing operations across the group, per the same outlet. Joe Busalacchi emigrated from Porticello, Sicily, to San Diego in 1966 and worked as head cook on commercial tuna boats before opening his first restaurant, a detail rooted in San Diego's historic tuna fishing industry, according to There San Diego. KPBS notes the family has now served San Diego for 40 years.
Where the Money Goes
Proceeds from The Feast benefit the Positive Movement Foundation, a San Diego-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports underserved and at-risk children and youth, per KPBS. The organization partners with seven local elementary and middle schools, as well as juvenile courts and community schools, providing educational resources, scholarships, workshops, enrichment programs and student recognition initiatives at no cost to participating schools.
The foundation was incorporated in December 2020 by San Diego marketing and events executive Omid Sabet, according to San Diego Magazine, with a mission to remove educational and social barriers for local public school students. The City of San Diego officially proclaimed December 2, 2023, as Positive Movement Foundation Day, recognizing that the nonprofit had raised over $578,000 and supported 4,500 local public school students, a proclamation presented by Council President pro Tem Monica Montgomery Steppe and Councilmember Stephen Whitburn.
The foundation's finances have grown quickly in recent years. Total revenue reached $755,456 in fiscal year 2024, up from $487,941 in 2023, according to Cause IQ. During the 2023–2024 school year, the organization funded 191 hours of one-on-one therapy sessions for high-need students and distributed holiday gifts to 3,427 children across its partner schools, which include Bell Middle School and Knox Middle School.
An Outdoor Dining Tradition With Deep Roots
Closing India Street for a single night of communal dining draws on a model Little Italy has used for years. The neighborhood's open-air dining framework traces back to June 2020's Al Fresco initiative, which closed six blocks of India Street to pedestrian dining and was developed by the Little Italy Association together with the City of San Diego, according to the Presidio Sentinel. That same street also closes routinely for the Little Italy Mercato, one of San Diego County's largest certified farmers' markets, which shuts down West Date Street and adjacent India Street intersections nearly every Saturday morning, per the City of San Diego.
Little Italy's identity as a dining destination has been shaped by a long and turbulent history. The 48-block neighborhood was originally built up by Italian immigrant fishing families after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and at its peak more than 6,000 Italian families lived there, Hoodline previously reported. Interstate 5 construction in the 1960s destroyed roughly 35 percent of the neighborhood before its modern revitalization into the food and culture district it is today.
The Feast is envisioned by its organizers as an annual tradition rather than a one-off event, giving the Busalacchi family a new fixture alongside its existing restaurant lineup on India Street. Exact detour plans for commuters during the October 11 closure and the specific share of ticket proceeds directed to the Positive Movement Foundation have not been detailed in event materials reviewed so far.
