If nothing is going well, call your grandmother.  ~Italian Proverb

Translated, Nonna means grandmother and we all know grandmother’s are universally lauded for their simplistic wisdom and innate ability to make the sorest soul feel better.  Think of Nonna in that same vane but with more of a hip granny approach that is both updated and timeless all at once.

As we’ve said many times on snootyfoodie, Italian cuisine, at its core should have very few ultra fresh ingredients simply prepared.  Portions don’t need to be huge.  A vat full of cream doesn’t have to be used.  And we don’t need an obnoxious stalk of rosemary garnish sticking up from the plate (if it’s not edible, leave it off the plate).  The problem in Dallas is that so many of our minds have been programmed to believe that Italian is Buca-esque portions of extremely heavy food that isn’t sophisticated enough to warrant fine dining status or pricing.  And the mass exodus of high end imports like Il Mulino (portions and prices were too big), Bicé (location, location, location), and Grotto (never thought their food was that great) only blew air into the wood burning oven of those pundits who claim Dallas’ palate won’t tolerate or support upscale Italian.  So, while those guys flamed out we still firmly believed the palates of Dallas foodies would support a high end Italian concept done the right way.

Simple, clean, bright flavors.  These are the words we continued to say to each other during our visits to Nonna.  Sounds like a pretty simple concept and is certainly one most of the better restaurants have embraced, but the less is more phenomenon hasn’t really caught on in Dallas’ Italy just yet.  When you read most menus, you typically get the first few ingredients but you know there’s a lot more thrown into or on top of the dish, right?  At Nonna, what you read is pretty much what you get – 3 or 4 incredibly fresh ingredients masterfully put together to create a simple, clean, flavorful, well balanced dish. 

With the mad stampede to ‘go local’ – an initiative we wholeheartedly support btw – a restaurant like Nonna can fall under attack for adding in ingredients that are not authentically Italian.  To which Chef Jules Barsotti responds, “Italian food is about procuring what’s local and fresh.  For example, Italians would never use fresh grilled corn in their cooking because that’s not something that would be readily available to them.  But, if they were in Texas they would use it because it’s local and you can get it ultra fresh.”  Hey, makes sense to us.  When in Rome right?  So, while sticklers might glance through the menu and see things like Paula’s smoked Mozzarella, Louisiana chantrelles, or North Carolina white shrimp and immediately dismiss the place as yet another glorified Americanized pizzeria that isn’t traditional in its approach, think again or rethink your thought process.  Or, stick with that so we won’t have to worry about you taking our seat at Nonna.

Nonna’s menu revolves monthly or as the ingredients dictate.  Every meal starts with their air filled, football size bread direct from the wood burning oven in the corner.  With its golden brown crust, it all but begs you to rip off a big piece.  Curious why no butter is served with the bread?  Because it doesn’t need it, that’s why.  And where other restaurants would bring you a big slug of oleo anyway or might dump a cup full of olive oil in a saucer and splatter cheap balsamic and dried herbs over the top, Nonna urges you to enjoy the bread all by itself.  Trust us.  It’s plenty flavorful and delicious all on its own.

Following a tug of war over the last piece of bread, our most recent dinner kicked off with the salumi platter that included finochietta, rosette de Lyon, salame biellese and speck.  Chef Barsotti recommended the Lambrusco as a wine partner.  Even though we’d always kind of dismissed Lambrusco as cheap and below average Italian wine, we learned long ago to never go against a chef rec.  And, wow, are we ever glad we took his advice.  The Grasparossa di Castelvetro from Modena changed our minds about Lambrusco forever.  This semi-sparkling gem, served chilled, was a phenomenal match with the rustic meats.  In fact, we decided, this is the single best food & wine pairing we’ve enjoyed thus far in 2008.  That’s quite a statement for a $9 glass of wine and some shaved meat but it was absolutely perfect.  See it on Dishes to Die For.

A garden of love grows in a grandmother's heart.  ~ Author Unknown

We followed that with a pair of salads that were comprised of (you guessed it) simple, clean, bright flavors.  The first was an arugula and frisee salad with golden figs, crispy pancetta and Texas goat cheese.  The ingredients speak for themselves and only needed a swirl of quality olive oil to marry them up famously.  The other was the best salad we’ve had this year (and maybe any year).  Chef Barsotti took cherry tomatoes from the famous Lemley farm in Canton and cut them in half.  Roughly chopped picholine olives were mixed in with a few pinenuts and shreds of basil.  A light drizzle of honey vinegar pulled it all together.  No lettuce, no fuss, just a faultless blend of earthy sweet tomatoes, salty olives, fragrant basil, and balanced combo of honey and vinegar.  (See it on Dishes to Die For).

Chef Barsotti also typically has Arancini (fried risotto ball) on his Antipasti lineup, done differently as the seasons change.  Most recently it was stuffed with fontina cheese.  On a previous visit it was stuffed with beef ragu.  It’s a decidedly heavier option than the salads but where other places might serve a half dozen of these dripping with oil, Nonna serves up a perfect, greaseless little pair to savor and share. 

Many have said Nonna’s pizzas are the best Neapolitan style pies they’ve found in the U.S.  We’ve only tried one of the pizzas on the menu but what a showstopper.  It was their white pizza with littleneck clams, leeks and fresh herbs.  Again, let me play the broken record, not overly cheesy or greasy but a nice thin crispy crust and a few unbelievably fresh ingredients made this beyond wonderful.  You’ll typically find a Margherita (named after Queen Margherita di Savoia, not the drink btw), wild mushroom, bufala and basil, and homemade sausage versions on their menu as well.  Believe me, we’ll be going back to check out some of these others very soon.

The rest of the menu is made up of a handful of pastas and 3 or 4 nightly specials that are finished off in the wood oven.  On an earlier trip, Chef Barsotti served us a truly magical raviolo.  One giant cloud of pasta was filled with house made ricotta cheese, rainbow swiss chard and bits of roasted “green” garlic.  Baked into the top of the raviolo was a local, farm fresh egg served sunny side up.  A swirl of freshly pressed Texas extra virgin olive oil surrounded the pasta pillow.  Again, for those shaking their head in disgust at incorporating a lowly olive oil from Texas into a classic Italian dish, try to understand this is where fine cuisine is going/has gone.  Combining traditional techniques and traditional recipes with super quality ingredients that are sourced locally.  If the quality is there, it’s there even if the oil wasn’t first cold pressed in Tuscany.  Anyway, back to the dish.  When we pierced the pasta with our fork, glamorous presentation gave way to luxurious bite as the egg yolk oozed down into the cheese and olive oil.  Little bit of pasta, little bit of filling, and a smear of the olive oil and you’ve officially created one of the best bites you’ll ever taste anywhere. 

A grandmother is a little bit parent, a little bit teacher, and a little bit best friend.
 ~Author Unknown

The tagliarini, a pasta similar to fettucini, came in the lightest of sauces with a barely visible touch of cream.  The pasta was toothsomely al dente, the prosciutto just a smidge shy of crispy, the sage sautéed just enough for its earthiness to bounce on your taste buds, and the corn was beautifully charred with a garden sweetness to it.  Yep, we’re going to say it again.  1-2-3-4 ingredients.  Simple, clean, bright flavors.  Of course, we all know fettucini but, thankfully, there were no al fredo sightings at Nonna.  Dressed with the same simple olive oil with a faint, fingertip touch of cream the fettucini was loaded with shrimps.  And as Jules attested, these might be the sweetest and most flavorful shrimp I’ve ever tasted.  Confetti of diced chives gave a little color to the otherwise stark presentation of this truly memorable dish.  We won’t hit you again with the chorus, but hopefully by now you know the words to the Nonna theme song…

We drank a delightful Russiz Superiore Pinot Grigio ($46) with both of these pastas.  If you’re one of those that think Santa Margherita is the only or even a good pinot grigio, please understand the power of marketing and do yourself a favor by branching out to some of the lesser known, higher quality, and less expensive PGs.  Beyond that, you’ll discover the entire wine list at Nonna is Italian and is deep enough with a dozen or so whites and 20+ reds.  You’ll find a few big ticket Brunellos, Amarones, and Chiantis on the list but, for the most part, it’s a list of sub $100 offerings that are anything but mainstream.   Hey, they had a 500 year head start on us in the wine making department so open your mind and mouth.

The specialties from the oven usually include one fish, one meat and then a wildcard.  Halibut seems to be the fish of choice when available and, based on the one we had it’s easy to understand why.  Roasted cherry tomatoes, capers, braised fennel, and Castrelvetrano olives complemented this superb fish filet.  The sweet flavors from the tomatoes, salty bite from the capers, licoricey taste from the fennel and the mild, buttery flavor of the Sicilian olives offered an explosion of flavors but stopped short of overpowering the fish.  1-2-3-4.

We’ve yet to try any of their meats (which, I know, is shocking) so we’ll be reporting back on that.  Two of the wild card wood oven dishes we recalled were a quail saltimbocca and baked eggplant.  Both sound interesting enough to warrant a return trip.  Hey, we were going back soon.

Grandma serves kisses, counsel and cookies daily. ~ Author Unknown

Chef Barsotti.  “I’m not really a big dessert fan.”
Us.  “That’s okay.  We are.”

Hey, the guy can’t tell us what to order on every course so we put our foodie pHD to work and hit some home runs in the sweets department.  A goat cheesecake with blood orange and pine nut brittle was to die for.  Gone was the heaviness from the typical cream cheese and here was the fluffiness from the chevre.  The brittle?  Great crunch and the orange not only gave it a Halloween-ish color but a really exotic flavor.  Also stellar was the peach sticky bread pudding crowned with a sinful amaretto crème anglaise.  This isn’t your 4^th of July peach cobbler but it’s a pretty good way to finish off the evening.  But, the tiara in this beauty pageant goes to the Praline Nougatine.  Think of nougatine as a sugary paste mixed with chopped nuts (in this case pistachios).  Once hot, it’s poured onto an oiled surface and, just before it crisps up, it’s removed and can be formed into different shapes.  Chef Barsotti built a tower with a few sheets of the nougatine with praline ice cream between them.  More chopped pistachios and acacia honey topped this splendorous erection.  Let’s just say they could put the bowl back up in the cupboard – no washing necessary – because we licked it clean. 

Like everything else at Nonna, the dining room is simple yet lovely.  Concrete floors, a few 4 tops in the middle of the room, and a banquette lining the wall.  There’s also a large farm table just inside the entry way that can double as both a large party table or a community table for those that actually don’t mind sitting next to someone you don’t know.  Soft greens, rustic wood, and exposed brick are transformed into a small and hip urban bistro by the original artwork from the Barry Whistler Gallery.  Really, the whole room is so inviting it just relaxes you and puts you in a good mood.  By the end of the night, we saw a few 2 tops seated at the banquette that had struck up conversations and scooted their tables close together.  Basically, Nonna set them up on a couples’ blind date!  How great is that?

Done the right way was our caveat to Dallas embracing a fine dining Italian concept.  Location?  Yeah, edge of the Park Cities doesn’t hurt.  But where the others failed due to a pretentious approach and the other reasons we put in ( ) above, Nonna strolled in with an utterly simple approach that has worked for numerous other fine dining restaurants in Dallas.  Let the purity of the ingredients speak.  And, oh, how they’ve spoken to us. 

Grandma always made you feel she had been waiting to see just you all day and now the day was complete. ~ Marcy DeMaree