Lauren Drewes Daniels
Audio By Carbonatix
Il Bracco is a cool-kids table at the swank Preston Center in Dallas. In a land of scenes to be seen, it requires shades and reservations.
The modern Italian restaurant is part of the Western Addition restaurant group, founded by Robert Quick, who previously worked for Thomas Keller at Ad Hoc and Bouchon.
The food is very good; refined pasta dishes, salads and clean proteins. They make most things in-house daily, including bread, pasta and desserts (try the olive oil sundae). The menu covers fresh, light salads to big bowls of pasta and meatballs. Dishes like a spicy gemelli and marsala trumpets are the upgrades Park City clientele likely appreciates. A simple salad — like the Tuscan grains with beautiful, large, tender shrimp and fresh farro — or a roasted chicken dish, is done with finesse.
The appreciation is evident, as evidenced by the near-constant standing room only at the door, where people wait to get in.
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The Real Champ
The bar program is doing some hard work here, though. This past September, the restaurant, which is just over 3,000 square feet, sold almost $300,000 in alcohol. In the past year, they’ve cleared $3.5 million according to TABSReport, which tracks alcohol sales from the Texas State Comptroller’s office.
And a lot of that is coming from one source: The Bracco, a frozen Greyhound with Aperol, New Amsterdam and grapefruit served from an always busy slushie machine.
The pink-ish Bracco, which is fresh, light and not overly sweet (a key feature for longevity) is so popular, the restaurant goes through more Aperol (a vibrant reddish-orange Italian appertif) than any other restaurant in the entire state of Texas.
“Each month, the team pours more than 100 litres of Aperol, serving up 2,700 Braccos at $17 a piece,” from a press release. Factoring in the restaurant group’s other three restaurants in Dallas and Houston, the amount doubles, making Western Addition a significant contributor to Aperol’s surge in Texas. (But don’t tell the crew from White Lotus, which was filmed in Season 2 in Italy, and Aperol Spritzes were the preferred stage prop.)
The inspiration of The Bracco is a Greyhound cocktail, traditionally made with just two ingredients: grapefruit and vodka or gin. This particular one is jazzed up with fresh Texas Ruby Red grapefruit and Aperol.
By the Jug
The Western Addition is even trying to get a trademark on the cocktail’s name: The Bracco (which means “hounds” in Italian).
“From the first sip, we knew the Bracco would be a hit. We’ve opened more restaurants, tried other frozen recipes, and not one can beat the Bracco — that’s why you’ll find it on every Western Addition menu,” said Quick.
The great news here is that you can buy these by the half-gallon. And with the holidays quickly approaching, if you need to sign up to bring something for the potluck, you could totally fill that pot with ice and plop the container in it. It’ll set you back $85.
