Mandola's Market sounds like the lovechild of Jimmy's Food Store and Eatzi's. But it really shares in the heritage of Carraba's and Chili's Bar & Grill. In other words, it has a great pedigree and powerful potential...although we'll have to wait until later this year for it to arrive in Dallas.
Larry Lavine, of Chili's Bar & Grill fame, is launching a branch of a new fast-casual Italian-market concept founded in Austin called Mandola's Market. Similar to Eatzi's, but with an exclusively Italian focus (which make's sense since it's owned and operated by a branch of the Carraba family tree and Italian cook Damian Mandola), the place will be one-stop shopping for items like pizza and dried pasta imported from Italy. Some things it keeps proudly local is wine, produced by the Mandola Estate Winery in Driftwood, along with sausage, rustic bread and gelato, which are made in-house.
Now that's Italian.The restaurant side will also feature pizzas and pastas, as well as assorted other Texas-Italian bites.
Although it's not technically on the Dallas map yet, it's coming. How can we be so sure? Lavine sold Red's Patio Grill in Plano to back it.