Dallas restaurant to reopen after practically 800 times shut

Dallas Italian cafe Dolce Riviera reopens May perhaps 12, 2022 after being closed for a lot more than two yrs, ever considering the fact that the mandated eating-place shutdown in March 2020 at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

Dolce Riviera is 1 of the only remaining eating places in Dallas that promised a reopening — and will really do it. Thousands of other Dallas-Fort Worthy of eating places, hoping for a rebirth, shut mid-pandemic soon after rent, labor and safety challenges created an unsustainable surroundings for so many modest companies.

Dolce Riviera is amongst a portfolio of 10 dining establishments from Harwood Hospitality, which operates in an urban space of Dallas concerning Uptown and Victory Park. You know the Harwood District as the sector in close proximity to the American Airways Middle the place a series of substantial-increase properties sprung up from empty fields within just the earlier 10 years.

Dolce Riviera, with its roomy patio and Southern Italian menu of pasta and fish, is 1 of the neighborhood’s most upscale restaurants.

Regardless of its extended closure, chief operating officer Matthew Minichino claims it was hardly ever in jeopardy of shuttering entirely.

“Dolce was always coming back again,” Minichino says.

Inside the luxury wine bar

In the previous 800 or so days, government chef Taylor Kearney has redone the menu, designers have refreshed sections of the restaurant and patio, and Minichino and his group have included a luxury wine and Champagne bar called The Parlor.

The Parlor fits 15 to 20 men and women and will serve difficult-to-obtain wines — some, with a hefty rate of $100 to $200 a glass.

The Parlor will use the Coravin wine preservation method so it can open up dear bottles and re-cork them. Beyond exceptional vintages, The Parlor will market eyeglasses of wine for $35 to $40 each individual and a variety of cocktails like Previous Fashioneds and martinis.

Minichino describes it as an “intimate cellar” that will be readily available to reserve for non-public get-togethers.

For the duration of the 7 days, The Parlor will provide breakfast and lunch, seize and go model. Italian bites consist of biscotti and cannoli in the early morning and ciabatta and focaccia sandwiches midday. It transitions to a cocktail lounge Wednesdays by means of Sundays at 5 p.m.

Minichino thinks the greatest spot in the restaurant to dine is on the bar/lounge patio, which now has a faux lemon tree reaching earlier mentioned diners’ heads. “I know that’s the place I’ll try to eat,” Minichino states.

Everyone’s chatting about Italian foods ideal now in Dallas

When New York City celebrity magnet Carbone opened in Dallas’ Structure District in late March 2022, Italian meals again became 1 of Dallas’ most talked-about cuisines. (We also observed a surge of fantastic Italian foodstuff a ten years in the past, much too, when Nonna and Lucia opened.)

Dolce Riviera will have some nutritious opposition as an upscale Italian cafe in Dallas amid a handful of new, good eateries. A single of chef Kearney’s changes was to “activate” some of the eating space — “to make it far more of a display,” he suggests.

He clarifies: “We do not want it to be above-the-prime mainly because we think the venue speaks plenty of for the foodstuff. But we want visitors to come back, definitely for the atmosphere but also for the food and company and wine plan,” he says.

The pastas, made in property, will element more seafood. Kearney also included some vegan and gluten-free of charge dishes.

Some core merchandise continue to be on the menu, like the frutti di mare (a seafood appetizer), gnocchi al tartufo (gnocchi with truffle), entire branzino, and the beloved spaghetti pomodoro. Given the restaurant’s site in a hugely-trafficked small business district in Dallas, Dolce hosted a good volume of regulars pre-pandemic, Minichino claims. Harwood’s staff took that into account when supplying the cafe a deal with raise.

“I would say that if a visitor was coming for a pretty precise dish, pre-COVID, a lot more than probably it’ll be on the menu — perhaps in a new variety or style,” the chef suggests.

Dolce Riviera is at 2950 N. Harwood St., Dallas. Valet is advised but street and garage parking are also available. Reservations suggested but not essential for Dolce Riviera and for The Parlor.

Dolce Riviera is open up Wednesday by means of Friday for dinner and drinks, and on Saturdays and Sundays for brunch and meal. The Parlor is open seven times a week.

For extra food information, adhere to Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.