Italian food news

Italian restaurant coming to McKinney makes clever use of social media

Pasta from Tutto Italian Kitchen

Tutto

A young catering company specializing in Italian food, with a side of charm, is graduating to a brick-and-mortar restaurant: Called Tutto Italian Kitchen, it’s opening in August in McKinney, in a former Pizza Hut at 4150 W. Eldorado Pkwy. #600.

Tutto, which serves the three P's — panini, pasta, and pizza — is from husband-and-wife Alessio and Sadia Arzola, who've won over the locals via their catering business, launched in December out of Cibo Kitchens, a shared commercial kitchen in Frisco. This will be their first restaurant.

The catering business grew in no small part thanks to their savvy use of social media, with humorous, engaging videos on Instagram highlighting ingredients, recipes, and Alessio's hammy charm.

In one typical video, he explains that salting the eggplant before baking helps draw out the water, making it "sweat" to give it a better texture when it's cooked.

"You can see it's sweating — like a college kid that didn't study for his math test," he says. In other videos, he speaks in Italian and there are amusing subtitles.

“It was just kind of an experiment to shoot some fun videos regarding our food, and people got very interested,” Alessio says. “Then we began getting catering out of it."

From there, they hosted a series of pop-ups to pique interest in their food: Italian-American specialities like chicken parmigiana, lasagna, and eggplant parmigiana, plus salads, focaccia, garlic knots, pizza, cannoli in a variety of flavors, and tiramisu.

They use good ingredients — extra virgin olive oil, dough made with 00 flour from Italy, and sauces that adhere to Italian standards, passed down from family recipes, including pizza baked in a New York-style oven for a crisp crust.

Sadia had pizza expertise — her father was from Naples, and father and daughter owned and managed four pizzerias across Long Island in New York. Alessio also worked for American Airlines.

Tutto won't serve alcohol but their meat is 100 percent halal, uncommon in the Italian restaurant realm.

They've given the location a sunny seaside vibe, using blue-and-white tiles, tiles being a favorite decorative element in Italian culture. Alessio also lent a personal touch, painting a colorful mural of an Italian villa on the water.

“We want to make good, authentic Italian food accessible for 'tutti,' — to everyone,” he says. “That's what tutto means: everything."

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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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