Mother's Day - Italian Style

Dan & I are blessed to have all our immediate family members (and much of our extended families) living within an hour of us. It creates a great support system for everyone, and affords lots of opportunities to get together for birthdays and holidays. Today, we had a full day of Mother's Day activities - all of which coincidentally had an Italian influence (though neither of us is Italian).



We started off in the morning brunching at Pizzuto's with my family. My folks, sister & brother-in-law came down to our place, and we all carpooled up the road to the restaurant (a little late thanks to a surprise delivery of our new freezer from Lowe's).

Pizzuto's is not normally a breakfast spot - but made a special exception for Mother's Day. They featured a variety of Frittates, as well as crab cakes, strata, fried egg & spaghetti, and sausage & peppers.

I went for a Pancetta, Onion & Cheese Frittate ($11), which was wonderful. The pancetta was thick and bacony, and it was paired with some roasted potatoes.



Dan & my Dad also went for frittates, while my brother-in-law had the sausage & peppers ($9), my sister had a berry strata ($11) and my Mom had the crab cakes ($13).



In the afternoon, Dan ran out to Borracchini's Bakery to pick up a cake he ordered on their very slick, easy to use web site, for us to take down south for our Mother's Day dinner with his family.

If you caught my recent post about Stellar Pizza, you'll know I have fond childhood memories of Shakey's Pizza in Everett - which no longer exists. Likewise, Dan has fond memories of the Shakey's Pizza in Renton - which not only DOES exist, but was chosen as the dinner venue for Mother's Day! Apparently, his father's family would get together there to celebrate with his grandmother when he was growing up.



I was really excited to indulge in Shakey's pizza again - though apprehensive that the reality wouldn't live up to my memories. But in addition, I'd been told by Brandon - winner of the Cinco De Mayo Guac Off last week - that I absolutely had to try the pressure-fried chicken & mojo potatoes from Shakey's, which either came around after the Everett location closed, or were items we never ordered when I was a kid.



I could see why the latter might be the case, as even the potatoes are breaded and deep fried. Who knew! They also seem to be fried alongside the chicken, because they taste a little like chicken. Seriously greasy and good.



The pizza ended up living up to my memories - though I believe we weren't a thin crust family way back when. And no offense to the Renton Shakey's or my in-laws, but the Everett Shakey's was WAY cooler: huge space, all dark wood, an elevated platform to a window where kids could watch the cooks make pizzas, cartoons and old silent movies projected on the wall. And it was practically next door to the Skate King roller rink.