Closure News

Italian restaurant at Plano's Shops at Legacy to close after 15 years

They made their own pastas.

Courtesy photo

A longtime Italian restaurant dating back to the '90s is bidding us alla prossima: Nicola's Ristorante Italiano, which has been doing authentic northern Italian food at the Shops at Legacy since 2005, will close at the end of August.

According to spokesman David Wood, the restaurant's lease is about to end, and they decided to call it a day.

Nicola started out in the '90s at the Dallas Galleria, where it served house-made pastas and other Italian classics. It was one of the first places in Dallas to offer gelato and one of the first to import a wood-burning oven for pizza.

In 2005, the restaurant relocated to Plano's Shops at Legacy, where it prevailed with its sweeping staircase, open kitchen, chandeliers, hand-painted ceiling dome, and wall of windows looking out onto the Angelika.

Their closure follows two other high-profile departures at the Shops at Legacy: Jasper's, which closed in late 2018, and Henry's Tavern, which closed in June 2019, as its parent company declared bankruptcy.

Nicola was from Richard Gussoni, who also owns Culinaire, the food and beverage corporation that services entities such as country clubs, botanical gardens, retirement communities, and museums.

The restaurant made its own pasta before such a thing was common in Dallas, doing unusual shapes such as lasagnetta. Non-pasta dishes included baked fish, zucchini fritti, calamari, and focaccia.

During its lifespan, Nicola's employed F&B pros such as manager Max Heidenreich and chef Luigi Iannuario, who helped open Da Mario in Frisco and recently joined the team at Wicked Butcher, the new steakhouse at the Sinclair Hotel in Fort Worth.

It also tried Dallas a second time, opening at 8111 Preston Rd., before closing in 2012.

"Our lease is up on August 31, and we're not renewing it," Wood says. "We had a good run. In the restaurant world, I feel like 15 years is pretty good."

Beyond the lease situation, Culinaire's stake in the museum world has expanded significantly. Wood says they're now doing restaurants at 14 museums, such as the Ford Carnegie in Pittsburg and their latest, the Denver Art Museum, where they'll open a concept in 2020.

"Museums have changed their priorities — they want their restaurant or cafe experience to be an extension of the museum," he says. "We're culinarily-focused and nimble."

Nicola's was their little jewel.

"We made our own sauces and pastas. The only thing we had in the freezer was gelato," he says. "It was as much like a little Italian restaurant as you could hope for at the Shops at Legacy."

closings

Coffee News

New Dallas coffee shop opens with good coffee — and great hair

Common Good

Common Good coffee and good vibes

A new coffee shop with some serious styling has opened near downtown Dallas: Called Common Good, it's located at 1619 N. Hall St., right off Ross Avenue, in what was previously a retail outlet for Rakkasan Tea Company, who left the space in mid-2024.

Common Good is more than just a coffee shop – it's a coffee shop-hair salon from Christopher Bermudez, a stylist who previously owned Ellum Salon in Deep Ellum which he sold in 2022. Their motto: "Good coffee, good hair, good vibes."

Bermudez was born in Mexico City and moved to Dallas when he was one year old but remained close to his culture and often travels to Mexico City, where he found the inspiration behind this new concept.

"I was inspired by the multiuse spaces in my hometown of Mexico City: coffee shops that turn into a nightclub or tequila tasting rooms in the evening. Great vibe is what we are going for," he says.

The coffee shop is in the front, while the hair salon is in the back, divided by a large glass. The salon has eight stylists, including Bermudez.

The shop also features all-vinyl jam tables where guest DJs play music most weekends, creating a cool atmosphere. The décor resembles listening rooms that are popular in South Korea, with custom-made wooden walls and modern furniture.

Good vibes at Common Good Coffee and hair salonCommon Good

Heading the coffee operation is Jesse Nava, who recently worked at Xaman Coffee in Oak Cliff, and they're partnered with Lemma Coffee for beans and barista training. The shop offers a small but solid menu, with espresso and coffee classics, plus some specialty drinks including pistachio matcha, cardamon rose latte, espresso freddo, and a Mexican mocha.

“We want to stay consistent with a small menu — we want to get it right, then eventually add to it," Bermudez says.

They plan to add food, as well, working with a local bakery still to be decided for muffins, croissants, kolaches, cookies, and bagels.

They're open Tuesday-Saturday from 7 am-7 pm, with shorter hours Sunday and Monday, from 7 am-2 pm, since the salon portion is closed those days.

They've witnessed a big demand for coffee, since the center they're in had coffee history: The storefront on the corner at 1623 Hall St. was once Method Coffee, then Fiction Coffee, which closed at the end of 2023. (It's now home to Black Swan Saloon, the resuscitated bar from acclaimed mixologist Gabe Sanchez.)

They see themselves as a neighborhood coffee shop, where residents of the multiple apartment complexes around can become regulars. They are dog-friendly, serving pup cups.

"I always believed that if you have a good product people will come," Bermudez says.

coffee openings