Friday, June 27, 2008

Quickie Review #25: I Fratelli Ristorante & Pizza

Ah, the Bachelor's Breakfast! Every man knows it's the best breakfast on the face of the earth. What, pray tell, is the Bachelor's Breakfast, I hear you ladies ask. Very simple: Cold Pizza. A dish so well known among the male portion of the population that ESPN (a guy's favorite channel, along with NFL Network) named a show after it. Just this very morning, I savored that very dish for the umpteenth time, courtesy of my lovely wife the Rock Star and a grand opening promotion by the new location of I Fratelli Ristorante and Pizza, a promotion that, alas, went slightly awry.

Here's the facts: The local media carried a story the other day about the opening of the newest of the eight-store I Fratelli chain, a concept started by the Cole brothers in Irving in 1987 and has gained a large following for their delivery/takeout only stores. (Only the main branch in Irving is a full service dine-in restaurant.) Specifically, the brothers offered a very enticing twist: Free pizza for a year to the first hundred customers lined up when the doors opened at eleven. Or so it was reported in the media. After seeing such a great deal, I did not hesitate to inform my lovely bride, who declared that she would be happy to go down and wait in line if I would only phone in the order. I did so and she duly departed our casa shortly after. Soon after, I received a phone call from a Rock Star in distress: Literally hundreds of people were lined up around the block, just hoping to be one of the lucky few. After a quick discussion, she decided to call and cancel her order, as we would not have any chance of dining before nightfall at this rate. Luckily, I Fratelli's expert customer service sprang to the rescue; management was most apologetic and stated that they would be happy to deliver said pizza and salad as we lived within their limited area. (As it turned out, I Fratelli was merely offering gift cards to the first hundred customers, only ONE of which would reward the bearer with a year's worth of pizza.)

When all the fuss had died we were finally able to dine and quickly discovered a new fave place. The salad was a delightful mix of iceburg and romaine lettuce served with a very tangy Italian vinaigrette. The pizza was truly a standout and very like Campisis with robust Italian sausage, very good pepperoni, and the perfect blend of crust, cheese, and sauce. We had plenty to feast on and more than enough for breakfast the next day. (Disclosure: I cheated and heated my pizza up, the better to enjoy the blend of flavors.) I Fratelli has locations in west Plano, uptown Dallas, Irving, Flower Mound, Southlake, and Coppell, so there should be one near you. Website is http://www.ifratelli.net/ and be sure to enter the pizza side of the site, as they do not carry the entire restaurant menu for delivery. Have your own breakfast treat soon, even if you have to heat and eat, and of course:

LIFE IS TOO SHORT FOR MEDIOCRE FOOD!!!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I thought that free pizza for a 100 people for a year thing sounded a little bit crazy! That was nice of them to deliver, though. I bet some people were way bent out of shape.

Food Czar said...

Margie, my guess is that they figured out pretty quick that people were expecting the free pizza for a year for the first 100 and wanted to do whatever they could to make up for it. My wife said the line stretched all the way to Target, which was at least a couple of football fields away!