Pasta News

Restaurant in Lewisville will do a highly original omakase take on Italian

Pasta will be front and center on the menu at MoonGlow.

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An innovative new Italian restaurant is coming to Lewisville with unexpected credentials: Called Moonglow, it's an Italian restaurant created by a Japanese chef! Go figure — and will open in the Castle Hills Village Shops & Plaza at 2540 King Arthur Blvd. in May.

Moonglow is from Akira Imamura, a native of Japan who already runs a traditional ramen restaurant called Ramen Izakaya Akira, which he opened in Lewisville in 2018, where he's been serving up his acclaimed ramen and dumplings.

But Imamura has history with Italian food; he once owned an Italian restaurant in Japan and loves the cuisine. When a chiropractor office next door to his ramen spot moved to another location, he seized the space to open this spin-off.

"I run a ramen restaurant, and I love ramen," Imamura says. "But I also love making pasta — making it for customers and making it for staff."

He's also bringing a one-of-a-kind twist to the category: An Italian restaurant with an omakase style menu, says his partner and manager Yoshi Kawakami. At Asian restaurants, omakase is where you leave everything up to the chef.

"It's going to be Italian fine dining, but we'll offer set course menus — an omakase experience," Kawakami says. "Akira owned an Italian restaurant for 20 years in Nagoya, Japan, and it was the same concept: an omakase experience but with Italian food."

"His initial plan was always to do an Italian restaurant, and now he's finally achieving his dream," Kawakami says.

MoonGlow / Ramen Akira MoonGlow and Ramen Akira, two restaurant siblings side by side.Akira Imamura

In preparation for the opening, Imamura is currently creating an "inventory" of 50 to 60 dishes including classics such as Bolognese, carbonara, pasta puttanesca, aglio olio peperoncino (garlic, olive oil, and chile pepper), and foccaccia studded with grape tomatoes and olives.

"The plan is to change the menu bi-weekly," Kawakami says. "It'll be a six-course menu that changes every other week, where customers can choose from three options."

With Imamaura, even a dish that may appear to be a simple preparation, such as spaghetti con la colatura di alici, is layered with ingredients: clams, scallops, anchovies, capers, olives, garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, chiles, parmagiano reggiano, Italian parsley, and vegetable broth.

The chef has been testing the waters at Ramen Izakaya by offering some of these as specials in a cool-and-crazy Japanese-Italian fusion.

"A lot of our regular customers at Ramen Izakaya are already fans of his Italian food, since they've been able to order it as a special," Kawakami says. "They tell me that they'd eat anything he does. They don't order, they sit at bar and wait for whatever Akira brings out."

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RIP Al

Beloved Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat dies at 69 after ALS battle

Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat, RIP

Beloved Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat, founder of the acclaimed local steakhouse Al Biernat's, passed away on November 13, following a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease; he was 69.

Biernat was one of Dallas' all-time great hospitality figures, dating back to his days at The Palm steakhouse, for whom he worked in Los Angeles, Houston, and Dallas.

Biernat founded his namesake restaurant in 1998 on Oak Lawn Avenue, where his standard of excellence and doting charm made it a destination for special occasions, Park Cities swells, and celebrities in town.

His sense of hospitality had little competition in Dallas. He was a charming and personable host who genuinely liked people, and it didn't matter whether you were Conan O'Brien, David Crosby, or one of the other high-profile diners that visited his restaurants — or else just a regular schlub: He had a knack for making everyone feel special and remembered.

Biernat was born on August 20, 1955 and grew up in Michigan, then lived in Colorado, New York, Los Angeles, and Houston, before moving to Dallas to work at The Palm in the West End, where his dynamic presence gave the restaurant an incomparable vitality; it closed in 2017.

He opened Al Biernat's at 4217 Oak Lawn Ave. in 1998, followed by a second location in North Dallas at 5251 Spring Valley Rd. in 2017.

He began to experience ALS symptoms in May 2023, was diagnosed in December, and revealed his condition in February 2024. The revelation was met with an outpouring of sympathy and well wishes from the hospitality industry — a sign of the high regard in which he was held.

The average life expectancy for people with ALS is two to five years after diagnosis. Symptoms can begin in the muscles that control speech and swallowing, or in the hands, arms, legs, or feet. He began to have difficulty communicating in September, and spent his last days in a hospice.

On September 18, he broached the topic of dying, before ending on a note of gratitude to friends and family.

"Having Bulbar ALS I am realistic about my future," he said. "Friends and family have asked me if I’m afraid of dying, and this is what I say to them. Because of the salvation of Jesus, I will be rejoicing in my spirit to see him in all of his glory. Since we are all flesh, soul, and spirit, only my flesh is being left behind. But don’t get me wrong, I have a blessed life in this world, with a loving wife, and a beautiful family and many wonderful and caring friends. I am grateful!"

Both Al Biernat's locations will continue to remain open under the management of Biernat's nephew Brad Fuller, as they have for nearly the past two years.

Biernat is survived by Fuller, as well as his wife Jeannie and three daughters: Angelica Saylor, Kaitlin Biernat Connell, and Jess Biernat, plus five grandsons and two granddaughters. . According to family members, details regarding a celebration of his life will be announced soon.

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