Casual elegance, consistent quality and lots of history

Years and years (and years) ago, I had the time of my life playing full time in a rock band in Ocean City, Md. We played for two summers and weekends for three winters from 1967 until 1970 at the Hideaway Lounge night club in the old Stowaway Motel at 22nd Street and the boardwalk (It’s now a hi-rise hotel called the Stowaway Grand, but that is now and this is then).

In the mid-lates ’60s, the only other place with full-time music was the Paddock night club (now Cowboy Coast) just a few blocks away at the corner of 18th Street and Philadelphia Avenue. The Paddock was built by Gabby Mancini Sr. in 1953.

This skinny long-haired keyboard player (me) had no way of knowing that one of the Italian restaurants that he would coo over many (many) years later (when he was not-so-skinny) would be owned by none other than Mr. Mancini’s son, Gabby Mancini Jr. Those of you in the know, know I am referring to Mancini’s Italian Restaurant in Fenwick Island. As a kid, Gabby learned the business working alongside his dad at the Paddock.

When I first moved here to the beach, we lived in Bethany, so regular treks to Mancini’s were a weekly event. Many the night we sat at the bar as veteran mixologist Taj (no longer at Mancini’s) selected our wine for the evening. Our ulterior motive, however, was the bar’s proximity to the wood-burning brick oven, with pizzas crunching up under 800 degrees of flickering oak. The toppings were good and still are (get the sausage!), but when you talk about wood-fired ovens, it’s all about the crust. The intense heat creates slightly charred bubbles and crackly edges. The sadly misinformed will occasionally whine, “It’s burned!” No, it’s not. It’s perfect.

The menu may tout it as “new Italian cuisine,” but the dishes Gabby Mancini Jr. serves up are anything but new. His grandmother was crafting that signature marinara waaayy before he was born. Ahhh … a little garlic, a little olive oil, a little this, a little that; not too sweet, not too thick; subtle chunks of tomato infusing the aromatic broth. The next thing you know, people are standing in line for an hour just to get a taste.

It’s a rare visit to Mancini’s when we don’t order the Linguine Posillipo. Clams, mussels, sea scallops and a colossal shrimp are steamed in white wine then cradled in a nest of linguine. The marinara stands politely aside, allowing the fragile saltiness of the seafood to shine through. A basic, uncomplicated dish that’s good looking to boot.

Parms are my go-to dish when I check out any Italian joint, and I’ve been checking out Mancini’s Vitello Alla Parmigiana for a long time. A generous, yet palatably thin slice of veal is treated to a light breading, sautéed, then ladled with a restrained coating of sauce. Creamy parmesan and mozzarella melt together to give this dish its name. Spaghetti with a dollop of marinara complements it all.

The Linguine con Scampi is another unfussy entrée where those beautiful shrimp do the heavy lifting. Dishes like this are a restaurant writer’s nightmare. How can I claim any sort of credibility when everything’s right? The shrimp are sautéed in butter, fresh garlic (not that sour imported stuff, mind you), a splash of white wine and a spritz of lemon juice. The garlicky butter infuses itself into the linguine; the citrusy edge softened by roasted pine nuts.

Followers of my weekly scribbles know that I cannot pass up a good wood-fired pizza. I mentioned the ever-so-slightly spicy Italian sausage above, and I loved to combine that with mushrooms and pepperoni. Gabby knows that we take our pizzas personally, so he also lets his guests create their own from 16 different toppings. 

True to his heritage, Mancini believes in big portions. He’s a hands-on kind of guy who watches over his namesake eatery like it’s his child. He told me, “I don’t serve anything to my guests that I wouldn’t serve to my grandmother.” His nonna Anna would be proud.

Venture southward to 907 Coastal Highway in Fenwick. Double-check their off-season hours at 302-537-4224.