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Spaghetti Western

The Best Italian Restaurants in Dallas
By Frank Bailey |

I was sixteen when I discovered Italians eat something other than spaghetti, meatballs and vinegar-oil salad. I found out they eat pizza too. For years I was convinced that Tums or Rolaids was the proper eighth course in a seven course Italian meal. Thus, Bailey’s first principle of gas-trosociology. The famous fiery Italian temper has nothing to do with Italian culture, class structure or politics; it is a direct result of Italian cuisine.

Later in life, I learned that veal isn’t always a gristly cutlet with brown gravy, and that chicken doesn’t have to be straight out of the frying pan. The Italians, I learned, have a myriad of age-old, delicious concoctions employing these old standbys. Plain old pasta, which I had thought a fellow named Bor-ar-dee invented, took on a whole new dimension, thanks to the late Casaraghi’s Restaurant in Austin.

Signor Casaraghi taught me the difference between Southern Italian cooking, with its tubular pasta, garlic, peppers and olive oil, and Northern food, with its flat pasta or rice, less garlic and less butter.

I fell for all of it. Scalloppine, caccia-tora, fettucine. I was hooked. Italian food wasn’t simply heartburn and heartbreak. It was a rich, diverse, satisfying cuisine, full of subtleties and pleasant surprises.

All of which led me to this particular exercise. If you had told me five years ago that I’d be stuffing myself with pasta and veal for a solid month in vain search of some decent Italian food in the land of chicken-fried steaks and cheeseburgers, I’d have told you you had lost your mushrooms. But that’s what I did. And now, ten extra pounds later, I’m happy to announce it was not all for naught.

Oh, there’s still way too much canned tomato sauce and limpid, overcooked pasta out there. And I wish the Italian chefs in town would expand their basically Southern-Ital-ian-oriented menus to include more Northern delicacies and Italian seafood dishes.

But I did find four restaurants in town which serve consistently good, sometimes great, Italian cuisine – Mario’s, II Sorrento, Pietro’s and Ianni’s. Be careful what you order and don’t overdo on any one course (Italian appetizers are enough to fill you), and I think you’ll be rewarded with an exceptional dining experience.

II Sorrento



At II Sorrento you are constantly reminded that someone cares, a little-found quality in Dallas restaurants. The service is terrific. Cocktails are brought swiftly, allowing plenty of time to enjoy a drink while perusing the most ambitious Italian menu in town. An Italian version of the hot cross bun vendor keeps you supplied with delicious bread at all time. It’s those little touches that make all the difference.

Either melon and prosciutto ($2.25) or crab fingers ($2.25) provide a good, light beginning. For a more substantial first course, try mushrooms stuffed with crabmeat ($2.50) or the Scampi alia Romeo ($2.75). If you can’t make up your mind, a good compromise option is the hot antipasto, a combination plate of shrimp, stuffed mushrooms and other Italian appetizers ($3).

On to the pasta. Sorrento has a large selection of both tubular and flat varieties. The flat pasta is homemade and delicious. The Fettuccine alla Alfredo ($4.50) is prepared at your table with butter, cream and lots of cheese. The Tagliatelle Verde alla Bolognese ($4.50), also prepared at the table, is tasty green noodles (made with spinach) with a tomato-flavored meat sauce. The manicotti and cannelloni ($4.50) are also made with homemade noodles and are excellent.

Now comes the hard part. There are over forty entree selections on the menu, including fish, veal, beef, pork and poultry. Two combination dinners, each $8.50, are worthy of serious consideration.

One is a veal roll, stuffea with pro-sciutto and cheese, then topped with a mushroom sauce (marvelous); a small filet of beef (too much pizzaiola sauce), and a boned breast of chicken parmigiana (tasty, but a bit dry).

The other combination is a masterpiece. It includes a veal scallop, sauteed and covered with a lemon butter sauce; a small beef filet with mushroom sauce, and chicken Ma-rengo (chicken sauteed with tomatoes and mushrooms in a light wine sauce).

Both entrees are served with a salad, vegetable and spaghetti with tomato or butter sauce.

Of the veal dishes, I recommend the Scaloppine Marsala with mushrooms ($5.75) and the Scaloppine Zingara ($6). My favorite among the chicken dishes is the Capon Jerusalem ($5.75), chicken baked with white wine, artichokes and mushrooms.

All the servings are more than ample; dessert will be tough to negotiate. But if you have room, the za-baglione is tasty and light.

There is a small, but adequate and reasonably priced wine list, presided over by an attractive wine stewardess who seems in too big a hurry most of the time.

All of this exceptional food is served by one of the finest staffs in the city. The only time the service broke down in my experience was on a crowded Saturday night when I had a new waiter. Even then, others on the staff went out of their ways to make sure we had a pleasant evening.

Food ****

Service *****

Ambience ****

(8616 Turtle Creek/352-8759/Reservations/All credit carda/Open every day, 5:30-11; Sat., 5:30 til midnight )



Pietro’s



When Pietro first opened his tiny Italian restaurant in Dallas, he and the rest of the family moved in upstairs-very Italian. His restaurant was also very Italian and very successful; so successful he soon decided to build more spacious, posh quarters down the street. The surroundings are decidedly different, but he and the family still live upstairs and the food is still just as Italian.

There are few surprises on the menu here. Plenty of lasagna, spaghetti, manicotti and veal, all served with the standard sauces and all reasonably priced.

The kitchen is strictly a family operation, with Pietro himself presiding over a battery of relations, mostly from Sicily. There is a cousin who managed to sneak in from Milano, however, and he’s the one responsible for the occasional Northern specialties served. Otherwise, the cooking is pretty much straight Southern Italian home-style.

The spaghetti is cooked and priced properly, $2.65 for meat sauce to $3.50 for mushroom and meat sauce. (The mushrooms are canned.) The marinara is as good as any in town. The specialty pasta really shines. The manicotti and cannelloni are the tour de force here ($3 and $3.25, respectively). The Fettuccine alla Romana ($3.50) and the lasagna ($4,251 with meat sauce are both excellent.

The veal selections are limited, but good, with the exception of the piz-zaiola. The sauce is much too heavy and masks the taste of the delicate veal. My favorites are the Scaloppine Marsala ($5.75) and the veal with lemon sauce.

All entrees are served with a salad and the veal dishes with spaghetti. Garlic bread (45¢) is a must. Mama Eustacio bakes it herself and it is superb.

The wine list here is very reasonable-you won’t find a bottle on the list for more than $6. Beer is available in giant frosty schooners for a pittance.

One final word of warning: Pietro’s is often crowded, especially on the weekends, so I’d suggest trying it during the week.

Food *** 1/2

Service ***

Ambience ***

(5722 Richmond/824-9403/Tue.-Thurs. 5-10:30, Fri. & Sat. til ll:30/No reservations/No credit cards.)

Ianni’s



If you can dig back into your high school days and remember what Friday night after the game at the local restaurant was like, you’ll get a pretty good idea of Ianni’s. Food here is fine, but the ambience is downright obnoxious. In the bar, the television is constantly blaring (Wild Wild West was on the last two times I was there), and the cocktail waitresses and the bartender were engaged in a non-stop shouting match.

Just be patient, gulp down your drink (it will make you mellower and better equipped for the din) and hot foot it to the dining area. The noise here is also beyond the threshold, but the menu makes it bearable.

Actually there are two menus, one purely of appetizers, the other of entrees, etc. The appetizers steal the whole show: The Italian sausage is without peer in town, and the Spie-dini, small veal rolls stuffed with crab meat and cheese, are super. Everything else on the appetizer menu is so good you’ll be tempted to fill up before you get to the dinner menu. Don’t fall to the temptation, the big menu is worth saving room for.

The pasta dishes are the typical array of spaghetti with various sauces, and while they are tasty, I suggest you skip them and go immediately to the specialties. They are mostly veal and chicken dishes, the best among themtheVealScalloppine Ianni ($6) with prosciutto and mushrooms in an Italian brown sauce, and the chicken cacciatora with mushrooms and wine sauces.

If you’re not up for veal or chicken, the scampi is worth a try. All the specialties come with salad and spaghetti. With the spaghetti, forget the tomato sauce, and order butter sauce. It’s excellent and I think will provide a better compliment to most of the dishes.

The dessert fare is the standard ice creams and cappuccino, with the exception of one standout: The Profit-erole de Gelati Cioccolato, an eclair stuffed with ice cream and topped with fudge sauce.

It all sounds delectable, 1 know. But consider yourself warned. The boisterous ambience can ruin the whole thing. On at least two different occasions here I have been forced to listen to high-decibel arguments between waiters, which is not exactly conducive to pleasant dining or digestion.



Food*** 1/2

Service**

Ambience*



(2230 Greenville Ave./826-6161/Daily 5:30-11:30/ Reservalions/All credit cards,)

Mario’s

It was an Italian, Catherine de Medici, who introduced refined and elegant cuisine to the French. So, if Mario’s reclaims a few French dishes and calls them “continental,” it seems only fair. At any rate, Mario’s does serve the most expensive Italian food in the most elegant surroundings in the city. Therefore, it must be the best Italian food in the city. Right? Well, maybe.

The first course offering can be ordered a la carte, or with the dinner. The escargot ($3) and the Shrimp Mario are excellent. The manicotti the best I’ve eaten anywhere. It is light and delicate. The vichyssoise tastes fine, but it’s a bit too thin. Try the grapefruit with sherry if you prefer a lighter beginning, or the Frittura Delizie Romano, if you feel very Italian.

The pasta dishes are not inspired and are awfully expensive ($6.50 for fettuccine). Go directly to the veal. Mario’s has quality veal and it is always cooked to a turn. I like Scallo-pini (sic) Piccata with lemon and butter ($7.25) better than the somewhat heavy version of ScalloppiniMar-sala. Saltimbocca alla Romana with prosciutto and a touch of sage is faultless, and the veal with artichoke hearts and mushrooms is deservedly famous. The dinner entrees come with choice of appetizer, fried zucchini (with sweet and sour sauce) and a salad which is simple, well-dressed and tasty.

The Italian wines ($6 to $7) are reasonably priced, considering the prices of their French counterparts. They are served deftly by a sommelier who can suggest other options if you are in a mood to splurge.

The service here is very good overall. It is better, however, when Phil Vaccaro, the owner, is present (he divides his time between Mario’s and Arthur’s, where the service also improves with his presence). Toucan leave Mario’s just a little disappointed on an off-night, which is not the way you want to leave a first line restaurant after arriving with high expectations. On a good night, however, Mario’s is without peer.

Food ****

Service ****

Ambience *****

(135 Turtle Creek Village/521-1135/Daily 6-10:45, Sal. til 11:45/Reservation8/All credit cards.)

GLOSSARY

Cacciatora

– Hunter’s style. Generally with tomatoes, wine and mushrooms.

Cannelloni

– Pasta tube filled with meat and baked in tomato and cream sauce.

Fettuccine

-Narrow egg noodles, either green (made with spinach) or white.

Manicotti

-Pasta tube stuffed with a meat and cheese mixture, covered with sauce (generally tomato) and baked.

Marinara

-A rich tomato sauce.

Marsala

-Fortified Italian wine used mostly in cooking.

Pasta

– Noodlelike paste or dough.Prosciutto

– A dry-cured ham, thinly sliced.

Seal lop pine

– Thin slices of meat sauteed and served with a seasoned sauce.

Scampi

– Actually a Mediterraneanprawn which are unavailable here. Large shrimp is used locally.

Veal Scallop

– Thin slices of veal, usually from the leg.

Zabaglione

– Custard with marsala.

Beyond Your Mother’s Lasagna

Everyone seems to have at least one standby Italian recipe, usually the legacy of mother, a grandmother or some distant aunt. Nine times out of ten, it is some form of spaghetti or lasagna. Not too exciting.

Below, I’ve described some easy-to-prepare Italian dinner ideas – sans spaghetti or lasagna.



Antipasto

Antipasto is the appetizer course (literally before the pasta). It can be, and often is, simply slices of Italian sausage and cheese, with perhaps some melon, ham or Italian peppers. Fifteen minutes of shopping at a good grocery store should do it. Be sure to gear the heaviness and spiciness of the antipasto to the remainder of the meal.



Shrimp broiled in garlic butter (scampi)

This recipe can provide an appetizer for eight, or a main course for four: Peel and devein 40 medium shrimp, and dry them thoroughly. Place them in a shanow baking dish with a stick of meited butter, one-fourth cup bread” crumbs, one-fourth cup olive oil, one-half lemon, two chopped shallots, two minced cloves of garlic and one-fourth cup chopped parsley. Baste the shrimp with the sauce and place under a hot broiler for five minutes. Turn the shrimp, and cook for another five to seven minutes, basting three or four times.



Pasta

Use pasta as a separate dish, as they do in the old country. All pasta should be cooked in large quantity in boiling, salted water. Check the pasta often for consistency. It should be firm and slightly resistant to the teeth (al dente). Remember, the smaller the pasta, the more quickly it will cook.



Tomato Sauce

Simmer two pounds of canned Italian plum tomatoes or three pounds of fresh, peeled and seeded tomatoes, four carrots, one onion and one rib of celery, all chopped. Simmer for an hour. Place in a blender and puree, or put through the fine blade of a food mill. Then cook again until a smooth consistency is reached. Add two sticks of butter, salt and pepper and pinches of basil and oregano to taste and cook for five minutes more.



Fettuccine with Prosciutto

Cook and drain one pound of fettuccine (either green or white). Toss it immediately with one-half pound diced prosciutto, and two cups of grated Italian cheese, preferrably Parmesan or Romano. Add one-half cup scalded whipping cream and one-fourth cup cooked green peas, and serve immediately. Accompany with a tossed green salad, asparagus or broccoli.



Saltimbocca

Since veal scallops may be hard to find, or prohibitively expensive, boned chicken breasts may be substituted and treated likewise. But if you go with the veal, pound 12 of the scallops (four chicken breasts) between sheets of waxed paper until they are very thin. Dredge them in flour and shake off the excess, then saute in butter over a moderate flame for five minutes, turning once. Remove and top them with a slice of prosciutto and keep warm. Melt an additional half-stick of butter to that remaining in the skillet, and add a large pinch of sage, one-half cup white wine, four diced artichoke bottoms and one-fourth cup diced black olives. Boil slowly for three to five minutes and pour the sauce over scallops. Serve immediately with pasta and tomato sauce and a dry white wine -Soave or Lacryma Christi.



Chicken

Dredge four chicken breasts in flour (shake off the excess and saute) until firm to the touch. Set aside, but keep warm. Add one-half pound of sliced fresh mushrooms and cook for three minutes. Add one-half cup marsala and bring to a boil. Add one cup heavy cream and reduce to sauce consistency. Pour over chicken and serve with pasta and tomato sauce.



– Frank Bailey

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