Ciao Dallas

North Italia restaurant hails Dallas with handmade everything

The first North Italia in Dallas will open in Plano.

Courtesy photo

Italian food fans get another shot with North Italia, the Italian food concept from Fox Restaurant concepts, which is scheduled to open on June 27 in Plano.

Texas currently has two branches of North Italia in Austin and Houston but this is the first branch in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It'll be located at Legacy West, along with its corporate sibling, True Food Kitchen.

Italian food has never been a strong suit for Dallas, but in the past year or two, we're seeing newcomers such as Americano at the Joule Dallas hotel, Dolce Riviera in the Harwood District, fast-casual Italian sandwich chain Piada Italian Street Food, and Sprezza on Maple Avenue.

And there are more Italian restaurants on the horizon including Sassetta, the Tim Headington restaurant set to open in the Design District; and two chef-driven Italian concepts opening at Highland Park Village.

The menu at North Italia includes antipasti, pizza, pasta, and more. Everything is made fresh on the premises daily, including pasta and pizza dough. According to a release, the menu evolves to incorporate seasonal produce.

Signature dishes include The Pig Pizza with tomato sauce, spicy pepperoni, soppressata, and Italian sausage; prosciutto bruschetta with Crescenza cheese, grilled asparagus, and truffle; and burrata tortelloni with cherry tomato, basil, and Pecorino cheese.

The restaurant will occupy a roomy 6,500 square feet with an additional 1,500-square-foot patio. The interior will have an exhibition kitchen overlooking the dining room, bar, and seating for up to 270 guests.

Plano will be only the 11th branch. Other locations are in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Kansas. North Italia Plano marks the fourth Fox restaurant in the DFW area, along with True Food Kitchen and Flower Child, the massively popular healthy restaurant concept that recently opened at Inwood Village.

A second branch of North Italia is opening at the Union Dallas in Uptown in 2018, where it will be joined by yet-another Sam Fox concept, The Henry. If we like Sam Fox, he definitely likes us.

Fox Restaurant Concepts' founder Sam Fox is a James Beard nominee and is on the list of "the 50 most powerful people in food service" by Nation's Restaurant News.

Open seven days a week, North Italia will offer lunch and dinner every day, and brunch on the weekends along with happy hour Monday through Thursday from 3 – 6 p.m. North Italia will also offer half price bottles of wine all day on Sundays.

openings

Ice Cream News

Global gourmet ice cream chain debuts in U.S. with 2 Dallas-area shops

Dumont Ice Cream

An ice cream concept from India has made its U.S. debut, right here in Texas: Called Dumont Creamery & Cafe, it's a ice cream chain founded in Hyderabad that now has two locations in the Dallas area.

Their first location was Frisco, which opened at 1951 FM 423 at the end of 2023; a second location opened in late October in Coppell at 1535 S. Belt Line Rd. #160.

Dumont was founded in 1999 by brothers Vivek and Bhashkaar, and currently has 23 locations in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Vijayawada listed on their website.

Bringing the concept to Texas are local franchisees and friends Sai Sashank and Tarang Tirumala, who moved to the U.S. in 2005 to attend college.

Both have successful consulting careers, but craved a taste of home.

Ice cream is the centerpiece at Dumont with more than two dozen flavors, ranging from gourmet to classics to flavors boasting global influences: from Italian-inspired sorbet to a New Zealand-inspired honey ice cream called "hokey pokey."

There is vanilla, chocolate, and mint chocolate chip — but also unique options such as cake and jam, an ice cream with a vanilla base, bites of cake, and spiced jam; and kheer, a coconut ice cream studded with dried fruits and nuts — a nod to the kheer rice pudding that's one of India's favorite desserts.

A single scoop is $4. They have cups and a cute version of waffle cones: shorter and fatter than usual, to provide a greater ratio of ice cream-to-cone.

In addition to ice cream, they have a beverage program with coffee and espresso drinks such as lattes, plus boba tea. There are also special drinks like falooda — an exotic Indian milkshake with rose syrup and vermicelli — as well as limited-edition drinks like iced kheer, a cool beverage version of that same popular rice pudding dessert.

Both locations are spacious, bright, and clean, with pale green banquettes at Frisco, and pale blue chairs and tables at Coppell. Both feature an astronaut theme with statues and framed photos and cartoons on the wall. The Coppell location also has a mural dedicated to great moments in Coppell history.