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MERCEDES — “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie that’s amore…”
That Dean Martin classic could very well the official song for Formacio Pizzeria. The moment you enter the restaurant the smells of pizza and pasta and mozzarella cheese and all things good in the world greet you at the door.
“Hello, welcome,” says a young lady as she greets customers with a menu and a smile.
“You can sit anywhere,” she says. It’s an older couple moving slowly with a younger man strong and direct and with a stern face. I think he’s their son. He is at the very least someone they trust. They are advanced in years.
Back in the late ’90s and 2000s when I lived in Weslaco, I was almost a daily visitor to this community which called itself the Queen City of the Rio Grande Valley. Perhaps they still go by that name. It has been many years since I’ve spent much time there.
The main restaurant was El Fenix Café where I spent a great deal of time doing stories with Dalia Carr and her family who have owned the establishment for decades. I still see and speak with Dalia quite often and still enjoy El Fenix which is still going strong.
Back then, though, I would never have imagined Mercedes diversifying is the manner I have seen recently. I knew something was different when I did a review of Café Nashta, a Pakistani and Indian restaurant which has opened on the expressway through town.
And now we have Formacio Pizzeria at 342 W. 3rd St,. tucked away on a side street away from the busier parts of town with the bigger businesses.
And yet it’s thriving, and I know that such a large clientele in such an out of the way location can mean two things: the food is excellent, and it’s been here awhile. I need to visit my old haunts more often.
Upon entering I see a mural of Venice with the boats on the waterways moving past the tall structures bathed in yellow and russet and blue. That image and the quaint brick archways bring to mind again the late Dean Martin crooning “Amore.”
“When the world seems to shine like you’ve had too much wine, that’s amore,” he continues to sing in my head as I take a seat.
The place is crowded. Whole tables are packed with families and older couples and little kids and teenagers, everybody engaging in lively chatter over pizzas and strombolis and garlic knots and hero sandwiches and salads and soups.
And they’re talking about last week and Sunday and the coming week and the new fall season.
“Pre-practice at 5:45 a.m.,” says a restless teenager leaning over his phone.
They’re getting up to leave now and a woman says, “You’re going at 6:45 not 5:45.”
There’s a quick breath of relief and then more talking as they move into the hot Sunday afternoon.
My eyes take a roll over the menu and tire quickly with so many choices.
I see veggie toppings — mushroom, spinach, onions, pineapple, green peppers, roasted red peppers …
Meat toppings: pepperoni, sausage, meatballs, bacon, Canadian bacon and of course the anchovies.
I’m feeling exhausted by so many flavors, but I continue the adventure across the menu.
I can have whole pizzas or pizza slices.
Too much and too routine.
I can have one of the pastas: chicken alfredo sauce over fettuccini, meatballs over spaghetti, or shrimp alla Vodka over spaghetti.
Meh.
OK now here’s something. Calzones.
I haven’t had a calzone in many years. In fact, I believe the last time I had a calzone was 30 years ago while working at a pizza place on the campus of Texas State University in San Marcos.
OK. I’m gonna have a calzone for nostalgia’s sake. But it turns out this is a very different calzone from any others I’ve tasted. I have ordered a calzone supreme that arrives at my table packed with mushrooms and cheeses and sausage and black olives and pepperonis and onions. It’s packed with two cheeses melted and warm and tasty, and I enjoy a slow and pleasant journey through this wonderland of taste and crowded tables and kids talking about school and a sunny afternoon.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday.
