Opening Scene: Little Italy 1990
Like Lady and the Tramp, we sit in a cozy, slightly downscale restaurant eating big bowls of thick, cheesy ravioli treading in red marinara. Our two-top is tucked into a corner and draped with a thread-bare red and white checked tablecloth that’s gently illuminated by a scentless white candle perched in a wicker basket Chianti bottle. We sip non-descript Italian red wine in Bàcara glasses and fall in love; with Little Italy, with each other, with Frank Sinatra playing on an old jukebox and with the unmistakable romance of an Italian restaurant. – End Scene
Though Dallas lacks an Italian cultural enclave such as New York’s Little Italy or St. Louis’s The Hill, the city is benefitting from a surge in high-quality Italian restaurants that serve authentic food without the visual sentimentality of old school restaurants such as the ones I frequented in those cities. And, that’s molto bene by me.
Song: Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
Billy Joel
Scene 2: Partenope
Partenope (par-ten-OH-pay) was a Greek siren who was unable to seduce Ulysses with her voice, so she threw herself into the sea, her body washing ashore in Naples which now claims Partenope of a mascot of sorts. Chef/owner Dino Santonicola was born in raised there and brings his family recipes to the restaurant which he and his wife, Megan, opened in September. They know pizza, having worked with Jay Jerrier to established Cane Rosso as the go-to pizza restaurant in Dallas. They also know hospitality, atmosphere, authenticity and, of course, food and beverage.
The Food
For me, the very best thing about this restaurant is that there is no garlic in their tomato sauce. Seriously. I find most tomato sauces are far too reliant on garlic for flavor, maybe covering up the tinny flavor of canned tomatoes? I don’t know. But Dino’s family sauce recipe doesn’t contain garlic so the sweetness and light acidity of the tomatoes, the creaminess of the cheese, the richness of the bread or pasta comes through clearly. The Montanara is a house specialty and award-winning pizza is completely different from other traditional Neapolitan-style pizzas. This crust is first flash-fried in soybean oil for three seconds then the sauce and toppings are added, then baked. The resulting crust is pillowy, slightly chewy, resembling a thick Chicago-style crust, the perfect slab for that tomato sauce. Another specialty is the Timbaletto di Melanzane, an eggplant stuffed with bucatini pasta, “that” tomato sauce, mozzarella, beef sausage and chopped boiled egg. Sounds weird, I know. It’s so good. The creaminess of the eggplant and pasta, the tang of the sausage and tomatoes and the subtle richness of the boiled egg combine to make something very comforting and familial. Appropriate since it’s Dino’s grandmother’s own recipe.
Final Scene
Megan and Dino Santonicola have brought a new scene to Downtown dining and the area is better for it. To ensure continued investment and positive energy there, we need to support these restaurants. Go for a weekday lunch, happy hour, dinner, pre-theater or a long Saturday late lunch. There is nearby metered parking on the street and several parking garages. And then there’s Uber and Lyft to get you in and out of downtown.
Partenope
1903 Main St.
IG 400 Gradi USA
