Bacon Is So Over
Pork-obsessed Italian restaurant in Dallas closes after 6 months
A grandly ambitious restaurant in the Addison-adjacent part of Dallas has closed after less than six months: Porcino's, an Italian eatery that opened in June on the ground floor of the Spectrum Center office building at Belt Line Road and the Dallas North Tollway, in the space once occupied by Chaucer's, was closed in mid-December, with a lock-out notice posted on the door.
A representative from the restaurant confirmed that it had closed "a few weeks ago" and that it was due to a decision by the owners. Well, and also the landlord, who seems to have had some say in things.
Porcino's opened in June as an Italian restaurant from the same elusive team that owns Edith's Bistro and Brined at Mockingbird Station.
The menu had a particular fixation on pork dishes such as porchetta, an Italian comfort food dish. Other specials included the hog burger, made with a half-pound Akaushi beef and pork belly; and poutine, with fries cooked in duck fat and covered with short ribs, cheese curds, brown gravy, and a fried egg.
Meanwhile, the dining room was elegantly outfitted with seemingly no expense spared. The decor included real tree sculptures, white tufted banquettes, butcher block tables, and a well-appointed bar.
However the restaurant was a work in progress. The original goal was to be entirely organic, until the operators found that to be too hard to fulfill.
There was also turnover from the get-go. In February, the chef being quoted was Omar Adame, formerly with Mash'd and TruFire Kitchen. By the June opening, the chef was Edson Damian, formerly of Tokyo Joe's.
Churn seems to be a trademark of the company. Sibling concept Brined was actually a replacement for Mezze Tapas, a previous restaurant that opened in the ground-level space in front of the Angelika theater that was formerly occupied by Herrera's and prior to that, Margarita Ranch, in 2017.
