At De Vega Brothers, sauce is a specialty. The casual Italian eatery has been serving the Central Valley at its Stockton location for 20 years, and the special sauces served up by brothers Alberto and Rafael Vega haven’t changed. “Our sauce and the way we cook it still tastes the same as when we first started,” says Alberto Vega, owner of De Vega Brothers. It’s a compliment they love to hear from long-time guests of the restaurant.
The secret to all of their recipes is fresh ingredients. Alberto says he and brother Rafael, who both own and cook at the restaurant, get deliveries of fresh herbs and vegetables every other day from a local supplier, and that it is the fresh herbs and ingredients that truly make their dishes shine.
While many of the restaurant’s meals are coated in delectable sauces, their mix and match options are some of the best for sampling creative combinations of pasta and sauce. Every day of the week guests can choose their own pasta and sauce combo for lunch or dinner, selecting from a list of five sauces—meat sauce, marinara, garlic butter, alfredo, or pesto—and six pastas—spaghetti, capellini, lasagna, ravioli, fettucine, and tortellini (pssst, did you know April is also national noodle month?).
Alberto says guests can get creative with their meals by mixing sauces (his personal recommendation is marinara and alfredo) or simply mixing and matching noodles and sauce. “I personally like ravioli with meat sauce and tortellini with alfredo sauce,” he says.
If making your own meal isn’t for you, there are plenty of other dishes on the menu to keep guests full (and coming back) such as the chicken pasta made with a base of penne pasta, tossed with chicken, fresh herbs, mushrooms, garlic, and sun dried tomatoes before it is finished with a thick, hearty cream sauce. Another favorite is the Mediterranean pasta, a flavorful blend of spicy shrimp sautéed with lemon zest, fresh bell papers, garlic, and herbs, completed with a rigatoni pasta coated in homemade red sauce.
Alberto’s personal favorite, however, is the chicken picatta ordered with a side of angel hair pasta. The chicken is tender and juicy, sautéed in white wine, and served with mushrooms, capers, fresh herbs, garlic, and lemon juice.
While just about any beverage will pair well with one of De Vega Brother’s signature dishes, it’s the extensive wine list boasting local favorites guests should turn their attention to. As a rule of thumb, we know reds pair nicely with rich sauces such as the marinara or meat sauce while white wines are the perfect complement to cream sauces such as alfredo or light, buttery toppings. Going a bit more in depth, that spicy shrimp will be best complemented by a sweet bubbly that can cut through the spice while a full-bodied white is the best accompaniment to a rich pesto.
Regions from Napa to Monterey are represented on the wine menu as well as local gems such as the Freakshow Cabernet and 6th Sense Syrah by Michael David Winery, the Klinker Brick Old Vine Zinfandel, and a Macchia sangiovese. For something more exotic, order a glass of Italian white such as the chianti or pinot grigio to pair with your pasta. Then, move on to one of the ports to accompany dessert. The daily dessert menu includes the ever-popular Italian staple tiramisu as well as flan, cheesecake, chocolate cake, and two kinds of ice cream.
Dine In:
5757 Pacific Ave., Ste. A140
(209) 323-4339
DeVegaBrothers.com