An Italian fave's new U-District digs

There are lots of reasons to move into a nicer place, whether you're movin' on up like George and Weezie, or doing something else that can't be tightly captured by Will Smith lyrics. Giving you a nicer place to eat pasta: Mamma Melina.

Opened back in the day by the fresh-from-Italy Mamma who inspired its name, this family-run mainstay's leaving its cozy original locale for a 134-seater (plus 60 on the patio) pimped with floor-to-ceiling windows, a wall of plush booths, and a full marble-topped bar that overlooks a copper-encased wood fire oven in the open kitchen, which like open marriages, strongly discourages home cooking. Dinner options include antipasti (Washington-grown beef carpaccio w/ parmigiano & grated horseradish), pastas (black truffle/butter/sage Tagliatelle al Profumo), and mains like wild grilled prawns wrapped in pancetta, and a Braised American lamb shank, which was how they killed lamb Adebisi on lamb Oz. MM's also got Za choices like the mussels/baby Oregon shrimp/Dungeness crab Melina, and a sausage/ricotta/mushrooms Pizza Lasagna, while mid-day adds sandwiches like the grilled roasted onions/horseradish mayo Bistecca, and full plates including a Chanterelle mushroom scaloppine made with veal that's been "humanely raised", like Alec Baldwin's daughter, minus the humane part.

On weekends MM's doing brunch (sausage & mozz frittatas, caramel & cinnamon French toast); behind the bar there's west coast and Italian wines, and a solid selection of brews like Fat Tire and Manny's, which parents, kids, and Theo Epstein just don't understand.