Corrado Biló made a simple—if pleasantly quirky—request of his kitchen. He wanted a pasta dish that was loaded with seafood, yet easily eaten with a spoon. Something that straddled the line between a simple pasta-studded soup and a robust paella-like profusion of seafood, all of it married with white wine and garlic.

What he got was pragmatically named: ditaloni alla marinari al cucchiaio. Seafood ditaloni with a spoon.

Biló owns Trattoria la Moretta, a nearly 130-year-old eatery in Ancona, a seafood-loving city that juts off Italy’s eastern coast into the Adriatic. The restaurant feels a bit like your grandfather’s den, all dark wood paneling and red tartan tabletops. It’s been in his family since Day One.

“I wanted a non-vegetarian minestrone,” he explained, charmingly helping himself to some of the wine we’d ordered for the table. “It’s also a variation on pasta, which you always eat with a fork. I wanted a variation where I can put it in a bowl and give you a spoon to eat it.”

I suppose we all find our muse in our own way. And when it tastes this good, who cares the inspiration? Biló’s recipe starts as so many Italian dishes do—olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes. Then herbs and onion, followed by white wine that with a puff of steam deglazes all the goodness from the bottom of the pan.

Then comes the chopped seafood. He’s particular about the volume, but not the species. Whatever he has, whatever is fresh, whatever appeals. Shrimp, scallops and clams led the way that day. Finally, the pasta: ditaloni, tiny tubes that—true to the billing—fit perfectly in a spoon.

In and out of the pan in minutes. Tender, briny seafood paired with perfectly al dente pasta that—thanks to cooking in the sauce—carries the taste of the sea along with pops of garlic and gentle heat. Do yourself a favor: Grab a spoon.