Closure News

Italian restaurant with tragic history departs Dallas' Oak Lawn neighborhood

They had wonderful pastas.

Photo courtesy of Mille Lire

An Italian restaurant in Dallas that endured some tragedy in its lifespan has closed for good: Mille Lire, the restaurant in the Oak Lawn/Cedar Springs neighborhood, called it quits — but with a teaser that its Italian-born chef would return.

"Our journey ends here for now," said chef-owner Giuliano Matarese. "It's been beautiful and exciting but we have also been through so much. These are really tough times and we need to concentrate on gathering our strength, honoring our loved ones and building a prosperous future."

Mille Lire opened in 2017 as part of a renovation of The Centrum building. The restaurant occupied the corner facing Cedar Springs Road and Welborn Street, which had a somewhat troubled history of its own, with prior occupants such as Bengal Coast and Manuel's Creative Cuisine that were unable to prosper in that space.

But Matarese and his partner Brian Ellard gave the space a beautiful makeover, replacing walls with windows that opened the space to the street, reconfiguring the dining room into a more open floorplan, and installing a spiffy bar and new flooring with geometric tiles.

Matarese had other assets including name-brand value and experience that included luxury resorts and Michelin-starred restaurants such as Convivio. He was a TV cooking show veteran with appearances on shows such as Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay.

The menu featured impressive house-made pastas, seafood, and Italian dishes such as polenta and osso bucco, plus signature items including meatballs served with house-made bread.

However, the restaurant suffered a fatal blow when Ellard died in a tragic plane crash in June 2019. The airplane crashed at Addison Airport, killing all 10 people inside, including Ellard, his wife Ornella, and her children Alice and Dylan Maritato.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Matarese tried the shift to takeout, offering menu items along with family-style trays of dishes such as lasagna and appetizer samplers that would feed up to 6 people.

In his goodbye, he thanked the "Mille Lire family" and said that, "Chef G will be back to delight you with his authentic Italian cuisine. So this not a goodbye but arrivederci! Grazie!"

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Escargot News

New all-day French bistro in downtown Rockwall is all from scratch

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Belle View Bistro Rockwall

An all-day French bistro has made its debut in Rockwall: Called Belle Vie Bistro, it’s a new mom-and-pop in the charming historic downtown district, at 112 E. Rusk St., the former home of The Fatted Calf restaurant, where it opened its doors on November 12.

Belle Vie is from Luis and Iliana Marquez, a hard-working couple who also own Los Marquez, a popular taco--themed food-truck-turned-restaurant in Rockwall they first debuted in 2019. In May, the couple took over the former Fat Chicken space to open a brick and mortar location of Los Marquez, where they serve well-made Mexican food like tacos, burritos, and quesadillas, but also burgers & fries. They open for breakfast with breakfast tacos, and run a daily lunch special, often creative, always popular, such as birria ramen with choice of beef or lamb for $11.

But the couple had a bigger vision of creating a place where chef Luis could stretch and showcase his skills.

"Luis has a lot of culinary experience, and it’s something that he’s been putting aside,” Iliana says. “We were just waiting on the perfect time to bring this to life.”

"This is something exciting and new for us, it’s something that we always wanted to make,” Luis says.

Like Los Marquez, Belle Vie is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, serving classics like French onion soup, moules frites, escargot, and duck confit. There are also comforting and American dishes like spinach-artichoke dip, crab cakes, and fish & chips.

Lunch features Cobb salad, a French dip, and chicken & Brie panini, while an extended breakfast -- which runs from 7 am to 4 pm — includes pancakes, waffles, eggs benedict, beignets French toast, and crepes, plus pastries and breads made from scratch.

Mural on the wall at Belle Vie Bistro RockwallFacebook

The bakery counter is a delight, with eclairs, croissants, scones, fruit tarts, and cake slices in flavors like carrot cake and white chocolate raspberry. There's also a serious coffee program with espresso drinks such as lattes.

"We pride ourselves on making everything from scratch," the duo says. "Our bread—whether for sandwiches, paninis, hamburgers or anything listed on our menu is made fresh just for us by our incredibly talented pastry chef and baker. The same care goes into our pastries and desserts ensuring every bite is special and crafted with love."

The dining room is warm and cozy with dark wood chairs and plush booths and a full-wall mural depicting a street in Paris. They also have a full bar, with cocktails and beer on tap. Prices are reasonable, ranging from $9 for a Belgian waffle during breakfast to $45 for prime ribeye at dinner.

For now, they're not taking reservations — it's first come, first serve.

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