Restaurants

Homemade pasta makes your mouth water

It’s a sad fact of life: My husband will never be as crazy about an escape to Hollywood, Florida, as I am. The second he stepped off the plane, he began sweating — and then he walked outside to meet me pulling up to the curb. He opened the door, threw his bag in the back seat and started right in on the topic nearest and dearest to his heart.

“I forgot about the damn humidity down here.” Hi to you, too, honey.

Pre-vacation he talked about sitting under a beach umbrella with me (as long as he was wearing his t-shirt and slathered in Bullfrog sunscreen, of course), listening to my iPod beach tunes and reading a book. After he arrived, he hung out in the bedroom at the Manta Ray Inn, right underneath the air conditioning unit, with said book. I was shocked when he actually ventured out onto the sand while the sun was still in the sky to bring me a bottle of water from the fridge on the last day.

But at 5 p.m. every night, he did a Jekyll and Hyde turn-around. There’s nothing like dinner to change my man’s attitude for the better — and I’m well-endowed with a list of restaurants to tempt him even further into a good mood.

My most successful recommendation: Mama Mia Italian Ristorante.

He wasn’t impressed when we first walked into the linen tablecloth atmosphere — perhaps he felt underdressed in his shorts and hiking sandals, but I’m more willing to bet he was calculating how to get out of there in time to shoot over to the AT&T store to buy an iPhone, since I’d caved a few hours before on our onging discussion. He certainly didn’t take my hint when I told him he’d be all kinds of sorry for ordering the salad appetizer instead of the pasta fagioli. He was only mildly impressed with the soft garlic rolls that appeared in the middle of our table, which was fine with me.

Garlic and my husband is a stinky combination.

Picture perfect lasagna

But he sure focused the second the waiter set that steaming bowl of soup in front of me and I began whimpering in delight. Any whimpering at the table (unless it involves black beans, which he has learned to tune out) is like a four-alarm bell for this man to gravitate his spoon my way. He declared it the best pasta fagioli he’d ever tasted (all two bowls he’s had in his lifetime) and then tried to talk me into sharing.

Ha. Ha. Eat your salad.

So he was primed and waiting for the homemade lasagna to arrive, when he began to do some whimpering of his own. Halfway through the meal, he even grabbed a forkful of my dish — cheese ravioli tossed in a truffle butter sauce, a rich combination he previously always wrinkled his nose at — and declared Mama Mia one of the best Italian restaurants he’d ever visited.

So imagine his curiosity when I casually mentioned another upscale Italian restaurant on the beach I’d discovered earlier this year. “I just can’t decide which is better,” I sighed. Unfortunately, we were on our last evening in Hollywood, so he’ll have to return for a comparison. The sun, sand and ocean may not be his big draw, but for homemade pasta, he’ll gladly endure that damn humidity.

Beautiful -- but it's not Mama Mia's pasta

Mama Mia Italian Ristorante
www.miagrill.com
1818 S. Young Circle
Hollywood, Florida 33020
(954) 923-0555

Photography: Julie Sturgeon