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| - Note: This used to be down the street a little ways, but they've since moved up, so keep your eyes peeled.
Me and my FBI date were on the hunt for some Italian fare. I had heard of this place and just had to take her there. I planned on getting pizza, but I had some the night before, so...
I ended up with the Stuffed Banana Peppers with a side of penne pasta.
The gal we talked to sez everyone plans on getting pizza until they see the menu. The old man sez to us in his wonderful thick accent, "You can get pizza anywhere, man."
These peppers were "atomico" and were gotten from the Mexican grocer up the street.
Hey, spicy foods are good for ya. They clean ya out. You could even see the seeds. The filling was melt-on-the-tongue heaven. The mozzarella cheese that coated it was fresh and helped cut the heat a little. Gooey, creamy, authentic, frozen and vacuum sealed this was not.
The penne pasta was perfectly al dente (the terms I have learned from watching cooking shows since I was a lad), and the sauce that coated it and the banana peppers was transcendent. I also enjoyed my house salad also with its tangy vinaigrette.
I forget what my date got, but again she's FBI and left happy.
They even gave each of us a cookie to finish our meal. It was one of those floured, jelly-filled, not-overly-sweet, flower-shaped thingamabobs that tasted fresh baked, therefore pushing it into the realm of divinity.
Full of character and characters alike, at Mateo's this evening, we met a gent who claimed to be the publisher of the country's oldest and largest Italian-American newspaper.
They even thought I was Italian at first! Me, the Polish, Irish, German, Hungarian mutt.
But as our waitress said with a wave of her hand, "If ya know a lot of Italians, yer Italian."
Works for me.
Mateo's reminds me of another Italian eatery from Brookline's storied past called PV's. It was family-run, and within 5 minutes, the waitress, cook or whoever would butt into your conversation.
And you don't mind at all. In fact, if you're of the 'Burgh, you come to expect and welcome it. The people at PV's (great food, greatly missed) would sit down with ya. And you loved it! If they didn't they were either really busy or something was up!
Hey, go to a Shadyside restaurant if you want aloof service.
Me? I want to feel like family, and I did at Mateo's. From debating the best pizza places (finally I meet someone, Italian herself of course, who also thinks Fiori's is overrated) to the merits of fresh mozzarella and delivery vs. eat-in, it seemed as if I was at home or in someone's kitchen.
We almost went in the wrong car afterwards. The one gal from Mateo's yelled over, "Did ya have too much ta drink? Eeenie, meeenie, minie, mo?"
That's Pittsburgh. We were doubled o'er. Man, what fun you can have in your own neighborhood.
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