Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Made with lots of love
Springdale Italian restaurant specializing in flavors of southern Italy
After working in the restaurant industry for years, Alban Vrellaku decided to set out on his own and open up his own place. “I have a friend who owns a restaurant,” Alban an Albanian from Kosovo, said. “I started working for him and day by day I started to love what I was doing. Why not open my own business? It was a good idea to stay in the restaurant business. People are loving my food.” Following time living in New York City and several other places around the country, Alban decided Northwest Arkansas was a good place to begin a new chapter in his life. “I came here because of family,” he said. “I wanted to raise my family in a nice, quite area and take care of them. I thought this was a good place to do business and raise my kids.” Now, his Springdale restaurant, Fratelli’s Italian Grill, has become a local favorite. Specializing in dishes from the Calabria region of southern Italy and Sicily, Alban has found his place in the competitive restaurant world of Northwest Arkansas. Around a century ago, Alban explained, a large number of Albanians migrated to Calabria, the tip of Italy’s boot, and to Sicily where they influenced the local cuisine. Alban draws inspiration from those dishes. “The food they make there is food like mama makes,” he said. “Everything from fresh vegetables. Nothing looks like a recipe that you would find being made by a guy in culinary school. If you compare it with something that you make at home, your not going to eat the food that the culinary school guy did, your going to like the homemade better. It’s more like you make at home or in a small restaurant.” Alban said that he’s not afraid to experiment with new ways to create his homemade dishes.
“I came here because of family. I wanted to raise my family in a nice, quite area and take care of them. I thought this was a good place to do business and raise my kids.”
“Each day I make it better,” he said. “I explore. There is one ingredient that Alban stresses can’t be omitted from any of his recipes. “They are all made with a lot of love,” he insisted. “Love is the main the thing.”
A simple goal
Some of Alban’s most popular menu items include traditional Italian dishes, lobster ravioli and a seafood combo, a mixture of several kinds of fresh seafood. “I have a lot of chicken dishes like Chicken Tuscany,” he said of the dish named after a region of Italy. “I have a special Chicken Murphy. It’s more like an American name that people can remember. I have a lot of baked pasta that’s homemade like lasagna and baked ziti, ravioli and calm Parmesan.” Alban prides himself on making all of his bread and pasta in house. His Spaghetti Works is popular with his patrons. The spaghetti dish made with “the works” is a tasty dish covered with his original marinara sauce. “One of my best sellers is Spaghetti Works,” he said. “It’s made with meat sauce, meat balls, mushrooms and Italian sausage. It’s full of ingredients. People in America like more variety. I also have a pasta sampler with meat ravioli, lasagna and manicotti. All homemade. Made right here.” Making all of his dishes in house is key to his rapid success. “The best thing that I do is make things order by order,” Alban said. “Nothing is made before. It’s all made to order. I make it piece by piece.” While people are impressed with Alban’s sauces and signature dishes, it’s the most traditional items that he said customers clamor over. “I always get compliments on the bread,” he said, proudly. “The bread is something that nobody else has. People love the bread.” Alban said his goal at Fratelli’s is simple. “My goal is to make my customers happy,” he said. “That’s the main thing. I love to make them happy. Not just to eat good food at my restaurant, but to make them feel comfortable like they are in their own house. This is my goal. People say they feel comfortable here and they love this place. If you can’t make it with love then go and do something else. It’s one of my main rules.”