Cafe Italia spin-off coming to Bishop Arts in July

by PegNews wire

DALLAS — Café Italia is opening a branch in Bishop Arts, at the northwest corner of Bishop and Davis, in what used to be a La Familia, a long-time Mexican food market, sometime in July.

There've actually been a few restaurants that have called themselves Cafe Italia over the years. This one's a spin-off of the one on Lovers Lane noted for its um distinctive fusion of Italian and Texan cuisines.

The chef will be Chad Houser, who worked at Parigi and has also been an event planner. The new location will have a pizza oven, served alongside new Tex-Italian selections (uh-oh). Let's go to the press release: "All entrees will feature the finest in ingredients from local farms and artisan cheese makers. A handy flag feature helps decipher the classic from the creative: items denoted with an Italian flag are popular, traditional Italian dishes, while items denoted with an Italian-colored Texas flag signal Tex-Italian creations designed to stimulate even the pickiest palettes." (You suppose they mean "palates"? Or maybe they view food as art.)

Posted by T.G.

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Anonymous

kirk, says:

If this branch is anything like the erstwhile Plano location, a palette might appreciate the food more than a palate. (A pallet, even more!)

Anonymous

2 years, 7 months ago
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Billusa99, says:

Perhaps they mean Pilates? Everyone sits on a reformer??

Bishop Arts District really needs to fix its website. The home page lists their Christmas shindig. The retail list has Le Famiglia and Tillman's CORNER listed. Bad, bad... http://www.bishopartsdistrict.com/

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2 years, 7 months ago
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ms_ery, says:

Can anyone describe some of Cafe Italia's, um, distinctive Tex-Ital dishes?

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2 years, 7 months ago
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kirk, says:

Here's an excerpt describing a visit we made last year, posted on Chowhound.com:

"My wife's entree was "Pasta San Miguel" -- described on the menu as linguini with fish and shrimp in a fresh tomato and basil sauce. After tasting the dish, my wife said, "I wish they had mentioned the poblano chiles and the fact that the last time these tomatoes were fresh was just before they were put in the can." The dish also contained so much black pepper as to be inedible.

"I ordered "Gemelli Otto Formaggi," mistakenly assuming that the name meant the dish would contain eight cheeses. Perhaps Otto Formaggi is the name of the chef who developed Kraft Dinner, because that is exactly what this dish tasted like -- with the added "treat" of grittiness from too much flour in the cheese-ish sauce."

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/93425...

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2 years, 7 months ago
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ms_ery, says:

Doesn't it seem like it would be difficult to successfully combine eight cheeses in a dish? Besides, real Texas cooking only has three: Velveeta, Cheez Whiz (or however it is spelled) and sliced American singles. I was thinking Tex-Ital might mean CFS parmigianna or fried okra with marinara dipping sauce, or perhaps catfish picatto.