Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Darin (left) and Dean Devincenzi have achieved a dream.

Dean, Darin open their Double D's Sports Grille

By Suzanne Cristallo

The chance to watch the 49ers while serving food in a game-playing atmosphere was music to the ears of the Devincenzi brothers. Both are sports enthusiasts and have between them nearly 40 years of restaurant experience.

The brothers--fit and clean-shaven with steel-gray hair--realized their dream three weeks ago with the opening of their Double D's Sports Grille in Los Gatos.

Both men were born in San Francisco, two years apart.

In 1972, they moved to Los Altos, and as teenagers started work at Marie Callender's as dishwashers. This proved to be a foot in the door to a career spanning two decades in the restaurant chain. Each brother held positions as busboy, cook and waiter. Dean, 38, also worked as a manager, and Darin, 36, was an assistant manager.

During the years he was a dishwasher and busboy, Darin also worked as an instructor in racquet ball at local clubs and eventually managed Wallbanger's in Cupertino.

The opportunity to take on the lease of the 5,000-square-foot building that most recently housed the Italian restaurant Fiorillo's came this year. The brothers were attracted by its prime location at the corner of N. Santa Cruz Avenue and Highway 9--the gateway to downtown. But the building begged for a major face lift.

They immersed themselves physically in remodeling the restaurant along with a longtime friend and architect, Joseph Bellomo. "It was an ugly building," Dean says. "That mansard roof had to go. Keeping it was never an option as far as we were concerned."

Their new sports grill heralds its presence with new mahogany paneling on several new gables and exterior siding. The restaurant boasts 14 TV sets working from two satellites for fans to catch all the latest games, 50 staff members to accommodate up to 150 customers at a time, two seven-foot pool tables, a dart board and video games.

Fare includes "upscale" pasta, salads, sandwiches and specials with a full-service bar. Bartenders reserve rights to the TV remotes.

Double D's Sports Grille, 354 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos. Open Mon.-Wed. 11 a.m.-midnight, Thu.-Sat. 11 a.m.-1 a.m., Sun. opening and closing to be determined by athletic season. 395-6882.