Due Fratelli

"Everything you see I owe to spaghetti."

Sophia Loren


FETTUCCINE WITH PRAWNS VENEZIANA $14.50

Sauteed jumbo prawns prepared with aromatic saffron, zucchini, sundried tomatoes, scallions, and cream; flamed with white wine and served over a bed of fresh spinach fettuccine (Veneto).

It's another one of those days, when I crave something I can't get in Denver. Maybe I CAN get it in Denver, but haven't found it yet. The last time this happened to me, we were in the middle of a big snowstorm. All I wanted was a few things from Tommaso's in San Francisco. It didn't happen then. And, it's not going to happen today either.

All I want to do is cruise down Contra Costa Boulevard in Pleasant Hill, California to Melo's for a plate of Fettuccine with Prawns.

Thanks to two guys from Italy (who, thankfully, restrained themselves from naming their California restaurants "Two Guys from Italy"), I am obsessed with this dish today. Carmelo and Gaetano don't miss me as much as I miss them. Actually, they don't miss me at all. Their large restaurant was always so crowded, there was no room to be recognized. They always greeted us like family. But, that's the way they greeted all their customers.

That picture at the top, that looks like Fettuccine with Prawns, probably isn't. I don't see the sticks of zucchini or the sun-dried tomatoes on that plate. It looks more like Tagliatini Fellini, "....Fresh lemon tagliatini pasta with aromatic sauteed jumbo prawns in a delicate shrimp rosa sauce with vodka (Rimini)." That's a good dish, too; just not as good as Fettuccine with Prawns.

The order was always so large, I could eat my fill for dinner and have enough left over for lunch the next day. I always thought about that to justify the price; which, by the way, isn't much higher than it was when we lived nearby, only as recently as 2002.

We had a lot of good times at Melo's and we contributed our share to their very active take-out business. We started eating there when the girls were really little. In those days, the restaurant was completely inadequate to the demand. The wait for a table was often too much to bear with small children. We ultimately got into the habit of take-out.

We weren't the only people who knew about Melo's. So, the inevitable expansion project began to double the size of the restaurant. They doubled the number of pizza ovens. It was like doubling the number of lanes on a freeway. The extra space didn't do much to shorten the wait times. It just encouraged more people to come to the restaurant to wait.

After the expansion, one of our fondest memories of the place involved the new bar by the newly-expanded kitchen where the pizza dough was prepped. Children were encouraged to sit there at the counter, where they would be awarded a small ball of pizza dough while their family waited for their meal. Or, the dough could be brought to the table for the really little children who needed to stay near their parents. Our girls never tired of playing with the dough, even as they grew. But, the advantage of sitting at the bar was that every child could ooh and aah as the large circles of dough were spun high into the air. And, never dropped on the floor. Fascinating.

I wonder if the food would taste the same now, without the presence of those little, but very long fingers to play with pizza dough while the tantalizing aroma and warmth from the big ovens made the wait unbearable.

I'm willing to find out. I just don't think it will be any time soon.

http://www.melospizzapasta.com/