New restaurant from Dallas top chef Tiffany Derry will be authentic Italian

Dallas' brightest celebrity chef Tiffany Derry may be a stellar co-host on Food Network’s The Worst Cooks In America, but make no mistake – she consistently proves to be one of the best chefs in Dallas.

Her Farmer’s Branch eatery Roots Southern Table has brought us some hearty comfort cuisine. Now, she and her business partner Tom Foley are giving their hand at Italian cuisine with their new concept, Radici.

The restaurant will serve wood-fired Italian cuisine, inspired by Foley's Irish and Italian roots, as well as Derry’s early experience working as a sous chef at Grotto Italian Restaurant in Houston.

“When we were thinking as a restaurant group, what would be our next concept, Italian just made sense for us,” Derry says.

Eager to provide a high degree of authenticity, Derry and Foley visited Italy in 2023, studying the cuisine and cocktails across various regions.

They were largely inspired by Modena in northern Italy, and the region's approach to pastas, sauces, and ingredients, known for some of Italy's most iconic foodstuffs including parmigiano reggiano cheese, balsamic vinegar, and prosciutto ham.

One of Radici’s signature dishes, lasagna, will take inspiration from some of the dishes they tried during their Italian excursion.

“I just love the way they do lasagna [in Modena],” says Derry. “It was different. There was no ricotta cheese, it was all bechamel and spinach. And so, one of the dishes we’ll have is a lasagna that will be done with spinach. We will do a white bolognese – which just means the removal of the tomato – and it will have crispy edges, and we’ll go very heavy on the parmesan.”

In addition to the lasagna, Derry teases a fritto misto, and notes that the menu will be “seasonally driven.”

The cocktail menu will also be seasonally driven, but Derry says she looks forward to offering a homemade limoncello, and of course, an Aperol Spritz.

“I don’t even think you can mention Italy without mentioning an Aperol Spritz,” says Derry. “I’m such an Aperol girl. We visited a few bars – which were named some of the best bars in Italy – and one thing we loved was the combination of nuts infused into the cocktails. Not milk, but just the flavor.”

Derry first opened Roots Southern Table in Farmers Branch in 2021, and the restaurant has since been met with much acclaim. Radici will open in the same shopping district, which Derry says has become home to her.

“We couldn’t have chosen a better place to set the table,” says Derry. “We have such an amazing group of people who live in the surrounding city who come into Roots. I feel like there was no better place to open Radici.”