Itinerant chef resurfaces at Bene Bene, Italian restaurant in North Dallas

by Teresa Gubbins

DALLAS — A new restaurant called Bene Bene Ristorante opened on Friday December 7, marking the return of one Rino Brigliadori to the intersection of Frankford and the Tollway.

Brigliadori, an Italian chef with a long string of Italian restaurants under his belt, used to have a neighborhood Italian right in the same center called Modo Mio which, though average, was moderately successful. (It eventually closed, and a new place just opened in the spot, called Bistro Nous).

If you were named Rino, would you move to Reno?

After Modo Mio, Rino opened a neighborhood Italian at the Tollway and 121 called Bravo. Followed by a neighborhood Italian at Frankford and Preston called Positano. Same deal: average though moderately successful. (Positano was taken over by Antonio Avona, formerly of Antonio in Addison, with his own club of dogged fans.)

This time, Rino hooked up with Mark Cline, who also owns the Shuck 'N Jive on Belt Line Road in Addison. They opened Bene Bene right next door to the Modo Mio site. Though it's unfair to judge without having entered the place or seen the menu, the odds seem pretty good that Bene Bene will fall under the category of "average yet moderately successful"; inexplicably, there's already some chattering about it going on at Chowhound.

Speaking of Shuck 'n Jive, a branch just opened off the George Bush Turnpike in Richardson. This site is in a remote strip on the frontage road that looked for all the world like any business would be completely DOA. But damned if the place isn't drawing crowds. Are people are just desperate for a bar? There aren't many in the area.

Maybe everyone already knows that there are two schools of Shuck 'n Jive. This new branch is an offshoot of the original on Greenville Avenue, loosely referred to as the "Greenville Shuck 'n Jive." Cline's branch in Addison is a separate entity and is loosely referred to as the "Memphis Shuck 'n Jive".