Italian News

Acclaimed Dallas Italian restaurant to open in former Lawry's space

La Stella Cucina Verace

La Stella

A hallowed dining address in North Dallas that was home to Lawry’s The Prime Rib for 40 years has a new restaurant tenant: La Stella Cucina Verace, the highly regarded Italian restaurant in Dallas' Arts District, will open a spinoff in the former Lawry's space at 14655 Dallas Pkwy.

According to co-founder Giuseppe "JP" Piccinini, the restaurant will open this summer, with the same authentic Italian menu, but expanded: combining Italian seafood and a chophouse, plus an accompanying space for live entertainment, called La Luna Music Champagne Lounge.

"We'd been looking to open another location north of downtown, and the Lawry's space is ideal for what we need," he says.

Piccinini was part of the team that opened the original La Stella in March 2022 with a goal to bring a classic, simple approach to Italian cuisine, with an emphasis on fresh high-quality ingredients in regional Italian dishes, and pastas made in-house.

Dishes include pappardelle with Wagyu beef bolognese; agnolotti filled with ossobuco with butter and sage; and rigatoni with Jimmy's Italian sausage and spicy Calabrian 'nduja. Their wine list is heavy on Italian labels from Tuscany, Franciacorta, Piedmont, Abruzzo and more; and their cocktails boast an Italian flair with Negronis, Stellinis, and Spritzes.

Beefing up the steakhouse side won't be a stretch: La Stella already offers a dry-aged meat program, with cuts such as a 36-ounce Fiorentina aged for 28 days, a 14-ounce rib eye, and Westholme Australian Wagyu.

When La Stella opened in the Arts District, the team included managing partner Riccardo Ravaglia, who'd worked at the Rainbow Room and Harry Cipriani on 5th Avenue in New York. Ravaglia is still a partner and consultant, but no longer involved in the day-to-day.

Piccinini has taken a more central role in maintaining the restaurant's glitz but also incorporating a family-run vibe that's been essential to La Stella's success, including prevailing in the Arts District, a neighborhood that has seen many restaurants come and go.

"It's a family operation — my wife oversees our corporate and private events, and my parents are both intimately involved," Piccinini says. "We had our best year yet in 2024. I'm thrilled to say that you can't get into our restaurant on the weekend. We're here for people attending concerts and events, or to celebrate their anniversary — but also just as much a place for corporate events and parties."

"Our only 'downfall' has been having just the one dining room — this is why the Lawry's space is ideal," he says. "We'll have at least three private dining spaces. Addison is also convenient to many businesses and the entire north-of-Dallas area."

When they first started looking, the Lawry's space was not available.

"We'd expressed interest but they had another concept that was supposed to go into the space," he says. "We looked at Plano and Frisco but we were hoping to find a location that was ready to go. When the initial tenant at Lawry's fell through, the landlord called and we grabbed it."

They're updating the interior and also adding landscaping to turn the yard into a little venue for weddings. "We're taking advantage of the 11,000 square feet that the building has," he says.

downtown openings

Global tastes

New food truck in Carrollton puts a Venezuelan spin on empanadas

The central Venezuelan variation of empanadas is fried whole before being sliced open to hold additional fillings and toppings.

Photo courtesy of Empanada Factory.

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A unique new food truck serving authentic Venezuelan empanadas has parked in Carrollton. Called Empanada Factory, the trailer joins a pod of quick-service food trucks at 3490 Rosemeade Pkwy., at Marsh Ln.

The new initiative comes from Gloria Romero and her husband, Samuel Gómez. Originally from central Venezuela, the couple brings a regional variation to the local food scene known as empanadas operadas ("operated empanadas"). Unlike traditional empanadas, these are fried whole first and then sliced open to add additional fillings and toppings — the "surgery" that gives the dish its name.

Made with cornmeal dough rather than wheat flour, they are significantly larger than standard empanadas, holding up to 4 ounces of filling compared to the typical 1.5 ounces in traditional empanadas.

At Empanada Factory, customers can choose from six fillings: queso blanco, jamonada (cooked ham in cubes), chicken, shredded beef, cazón (dogfish), or a seafood mix. Base empanadas range from $4 to $6, with $1 add-on toppings including black beans, cheese, plantains, chorizo, sausage, melted Gouda, and avocado.

Beyond empanadas, the menu features $12 arepa bowls — crafted from arepa dough and served with a choice of one protein and three toppings — as well as quesillo venezolano ($4), a traditional Venezuelan dessert similar to flan but with a firmer texture.

The Arepa Bowl, featuring a crispy arepa dough base filled with shredded beef, black beans, avocado, and house sauces.Photo courtesy of Empanada Factory

Drink options include lattes, drip coffee, Venezuelan sodas, and fresh fruit shakes (served frappé or on the rocks) in flavors like mango, passion fruit, blackberry, and Caribbean native fruit guanábana (soursop).

After selling out during their first two weeks, Romero and Gómez feel confident in their new home.

“Carrollton is very established in Latin culture, and the location is accessible to everybody,” Romero says. “People know the area, so they know where to find us.”

Romero and Gómez describe themselves as "eternal entrepreneurs" who have owned several businesses, including Redy POS — an all-in-one ordering platform designed for food trucks and quick-service restaurants. In addition to sharing their cultural heritage, Empanada Factory serves as a real-world test kitchen and showcase for their software, which streamlines ordering and fulfillment to keep wait times minimal. Several neighboring food trucks in the area are already Redy POS clients, they say.

Alongside a streamlined ordering system, the owners emphasize that product quality remains their primary focus.

"What you see on social media is what you actually get; we focus heavily on maintaining the quality of our food, making sure it looks and tastes just as it is displayed in our photos," Romero says.

To deliver on that standard while maintaining fast service, the couple chose to start small with a food truck model and limited weekend-only hours (8 am-2 pm). Pre-ordering is available via their website, and they offer direct, home delivery within a 10-mile radius with no third-party app markup.

carrollton food truck