La Bombaci

Acclaimed chef Anthony Bombaci will fire up stove at Carso Mediterranean Grill

Chef Anthony Bombaci is back.

Photo courtesy of Hilton

Award-winning chef Anthony Bombaci, executive sous chef at the Hilton Anatole, has been promoted to the role of executive chef at the new Hilton Plano Granite Park, scheduled to open August 28.

With the opening of the Hilton Plano Granite Park, Bombaci will oversee all culinary operations at the new hotel including a full-service restaurant called Carso Mediterranean Grill and an accompanying take-out eatery called Carso Market.

"I am really looking forward to focusing on the Mediterranean cuisine I so love to cook," Bombaci said in a release. "I can’t wait for Carso to open, I think our diners are going to be very impressed by what we have planned."

Bombaci was executive chef at Nana, the predecessor restaurant to SĒR Steak + Spirits. During his time at Nana, the restaurant was named one of the Top-50 American Restaurants by Gourmet Magazine, received a “Five-Star” cuisine rating from the Dallas Morning News, “Four-Diamonds” from AAA, “Three-Stars” from the Mobil Travel Guide and earned the Wine Spectator Best of “Award of Excellence.”

In 2006, Bombaci was named one of Esquire’s “four chefs to watch.” Following his time at Nana, Bombaci was promoted to chef de cuisine and later executive sous chef at the Hilton Anatole.

"We are really proud of Anthony and are excited to see him advance in his career," said Harold Rapoza, general manager of the Hilton Anatole. “This is an exciting opportunity for him to be in charge of his own hotel, and I am looking forward to seeing what he is able to bring to the burgeoning culinary scene in Plano.”

Located at the intersection of the Sam Rayburn Tollway (S.H. 121) and the Dallas North Tollway, the 262,500-square-foot Hilton Plano Granite Park will include 299 luxury rooms and 35,000 square feet of conference space. In addition to Carso Mediterranean Grill and Carso Market, the hotel will feature a large bar area, a retail shop, a fitness center and an outdoor pool and lounge. A pedestrian boardwalk along the complex’s central water feature connects the hotel to its conference center and surrounding office buildings.

“I could not be more pleased to welcome Chef Bombaci to the Hilton Plano Granite Park team,” said Saundra Goldman, general manager of the Hilton Plano Granite Park. “Anthony’s background developing his unique brand of Mediterranean cuisine in Europe is a perfect fit for the world-class restaurant we intend to open at our new hotel.”

Located in the master-planned Granite Park community at the Sam Rayburn and Dallas North Tollways in Plano, Texas, the full-service Hilton Plano Granite Park hotel is scheduled to open late-summer of 2014.

Food and beverage outlets include Carso Mediterranean Grill, a full-service restaurant and Carso Market, offering freshly-prepared grab and go items.

chefs

Hummus News

New Mediterranean restaurant in McKinney spotlights Greek and Lebanese

Ilio's

Chicken shawarma plate at Ilio's Greek & Lebanese

A new Mediterranean restaurant starring two cuisines has debuted in McKinney: Called Ilio’s Greek & Lebanese Restaurant, it's now open at 210 N. Custer Rd. #130, with a collection of Middle Eastern favorites like gyros, shawarma, kebabs, hummus, falafel, and pita wraps.

The restaurant, which opened in mid-May in a center on the newer west side of McKinney, is from a pair of restauraunt veterans, Anas Abu-Ziad, nicknamed "Ziad," and Talal Hammad, who owned a similarly-themed and similarly-named concept in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Managing the front of the house is Ziad's affable wife Jessica Gardener, whose doting customer service has quickly made her a diner favorite.

"The idea with combining Greek and Lebanese was to make the restaurant inviting to everyone," Gardener says.

Baton Rouge has a reputation for good Greek and Lebanese food, even boasting a few restaurants that feature "Greek & Lebanese" as part of their name. Those two cuisines are slightly less common in Dallas, where the Middle-Eastern restaurant scene has been dominated mostly by Turkish and Syrian places.

Ilio's, which was the ancient Greek name for the city of Troy and is a popular moniker for Greek restaurants across the U.S., specializes in sizzling grilled kebobs, which are available in chicken, beef, shrimp, and kafta, the Lebanese favorite consisting of ground meat — often a combination of beef and lamb, with spices, onions, and herbs — molded into a long cylinder.

Greek dishes include dolmas (stuffed grape leaves with rice), spinach pie, and lamb shank — all dishes that can appear on many Middle Eastern menus but are most closely allied with Greek cuisine. That includes moussaka, the homey casserole dish made with eggplant, meat sauce, and bechamel — although Ilio's version is deconstructed, which is easier for restaurants to execute than the traditional layered version favored by home cooks.

Hummus comes in three options: traditional, Mediterranean, and Sultan, topped with chunks of meat. Other Mediterranean classic dishes include chicken shawarma, gyro plates, falafel, and fried halloumi cheese.

Most dishes come in under $15 and the restaurant is also BYOB.

There are extra-healthy dishes including salads, lentil soup, and pita wraps, made with pita that's a little softer and less doughy than many pitas in town. And there's also a fusion twist that's very Texas: a "Greek quesadilla" with your choice of grilled meat stacked between pita bread.

greek cuisine lebanese cuisine mckinney mediterranean restaurant middle eastern favorites openings