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Photograph by Paul Myers
Double D's owners Dean Devincenzi (center) and Darin Devincenzi (right) have had the restaurant for five years.
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Double D's aims to please at the bar and in the kitchen
By Suzanne Cristallo
Dean and Darin Devincenzi are seeing double these days. The always-present, welcoming owners of Double D's Sports Grille in Los Gatos have taken an initially popular restaurant and doubled its patronage in the five years since it opened.
"We're packed, versus just crowded, during football season," Dean says of the boisterous groups whose energy can be felt the moment they enter. But it's not just a seasonal flirtation. Family groups and adolescent sport teams gather all year around, from breakfast on weekends through late evening snacks. The full-service bar patrons linger even longer.
Billing themselves "the South Bay's only full-size family sports bar," the Devincenzis cater to "a ton" of basketball, soccer and baseball groups, generally in the 8- to 14-year-old age groups, along with families celebrating special events or just a casual evening out. Kids' menus, crayons and video games blend with two pool tables, 22 televisions (always tuned to sporting events) and the clinking of cocktail glasses.
The owners say it hasn't been a problem mixing the family atmosphere with the drinking crowd. The brothers respond to any indication of out-of-line behavior with an invitation to the offenders to never enter the premises again. But that kind of action is rare, because the real emphasis of Double D's is the restaurant.
Instead of TV events or decorative gimmicks, the brothers concentrate on the kind of food that keeps customers coming back. "Anyone can pour a beer. It's the restaurant that's the challenge," says Dean.
Chef Roberto Moreno, who has been with the Devincenzis since he left Martha's Vineyard in the Pruneyard to be with them for their opening, keeps interest in the menu piqued by experimenting with unusual combinations, like a recent banana-raspberry sauce on fresh halibut.
"People are surprised when they first come in here. We have a consistent offering--not just tokens," he explains. "Like a variety of salads, pizzas and steak. There are full dinners or appetizers, and it's all good."
Saying he's his own worst critic, Dean points to the pastas they offer. "Some people come here because we're Italian, so we damn well better have good pasta."
Dean and Darin have been known as "the Double Ds" since they were kids growing up in Los Altos. Owning a restaurant was the realization of a dream the two had nurtured through the combined 37 years they spent working their way from bus boys to managers in the Sunnyvale Marie Callendar's restaurant.
"Double D's" seemed the natural name for their new place, especially since Darin's twin sister is Diona, another sister is Dawn, and their father is Dave. Yet their opening was marred by a letter to the Los Gatos Weekly-Times complaining that the name was a macho reference to bra size.
"My mother was most offended by that thinking," Dean says. "She wanted to answer the letter, but we convinced her that it should be allowed to just blow away." That it did, but only after the attendant ballyhoo actually helped bring attention to the restaurant's opening. Dean says one lady still won't come in, even though her husband and son are regulars. "I suppose that kind of shallow thinking would also prevent a person from shopping at Dick's Supermarket," he muses.
Double D's Sports Grille, 354 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos. Restaurant opens at 11 a.m. Mon.-Fri. and 9:30 a.m. Sat. and Sun. Closes at 10 p.m. Sun., Mon. and Tues.; 11 p.m. Wed. and Thurs. and midnight Fri. and Sat. Call 408.395.6882 for more information. No reservations accepted.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
