Four months after the Uptown Sfuzzi closed, its swanky big brother in Las Colinas will disappear. In its place a new concept shall be borne, called Table & Tavern. The switchover takes place in May.
CapRock Services, the financier company of Joe Womack and Brad Woy (a former partner in John Tesar's seafood restaurant Spoon), helped bankroll the Las Colinas Sfuzzi in the first place. They're spearheading the makeover, along with Sfuzzi staffers Tyler Brown and Brad Hawkins, who also worked with the N9NE Group and Ghostbar.
Woy describes Table & Tavern as a restaurant-bar combination with a broader American menu that extends beyond Sfuzzi's Italian/pizza theme.
Table & Tavern is a restaurant-bar combination with a broader American menu that extends beyond Sfuzzi's Italian/pizza theme.
"With all the Fortune 500 companies that are headquartered in Las Colinas, we have a unique situation here," Woy says. "We listened not only to what our corporate clients wanted, but also the residents of Las Colinas who I believe are looking for a menu and an experience they can enjoy three or four times a week and not have to feel like they're eating pizza or pasta."
They've taken what is a large space and split it into two distinct entities: the "Table" restaurant part on one side and the "Tavern" bar on the other. Still under development, the menu at "Table" will serve what Woy calls "elevated American classics," including entree salads, steak, fish, flatbreads and the occasional pasta special.
Overseen by chef Hector Hernandez, the menu at "Tavern" is already rolled out and features wowee twists on bar food. There are deviled eggs, crab dip with Ritz crackers, Asian chicken lettuce wraps, beet salad with avocado and quinoa, street tacos, shrimp and lobster corndog, barbecue pork "wings," and fried chicken skin — which is a real talker, says general manager Tyler Brown.
"Fried chicken is a huge item in comfort food and homestyle Southern cuisine, but the best part is when you bite into it and get that crackling skin," he says. "We literally took the skin off the chicken, put it in some buttermilk and batter and fried it. It's served with Louisiana-style hot sauce and Burleson honey for a Texas twist. It's so unique, it's turning heads. It won't fill you up, but it's a fun focal point and great bar food."
Having the identity of Sfuzzi was a good thing to start with, says Woy, who frequented the Uptown branch in his college days and remembers it with nostalgic pleasure.
"We saw a lot of customers who'd had a great time at Sfuzzi and wanted to come in and have dinner and a drink," he says. "But Las Colinas is a different marketplace from Uptown, with a completely different clientele."
Brown says the Tavern part can ideally serve the Sfuzzi crowd, and the Table part can go beyond. "Table provides the restaurant experience for the family, date or corporate diner," he says. "Tavern is exactly that: a laid-back more casual environment bar setting. Your options are open."
Table & Tavern's menu will include attention-grabbers such as this fried chicken skin.
