Mario Carbone Just Wants You To Have a Good Time at His Dallas Restaurant

In New York, the Italian-American restaurant Carbone is synonymous with stardom, as much a place to see and be seen as it is a place to enjoy a plate of pasta. Equally famed for its spicy rigatoni and presidents-to-pop-stars clientele, it's hailed by Vanity Fair as the “most celebrity-studded restaurant on Earth.”

Instagram gossip account @deuxmoi regularly chronicles Carbone celebrity appearances — Taylor! Justin! Rihanna! — for its two million followers, so much so that some have wondered whether the restaurant sponsors them. No, answers one Reddit user. Carbone was impossible to get into way before Deuxmoi. (Confirmed: A Google search for “how to get into Carbone” yields social media queries and news articles promising to help you snag a table dating back to 2017.)

Its success has spawned locations in Las Vegas, Miami, Hong Kong and, yes, Dallas. Since opening in 2022, Carbone Dallas has established itself as a formidable presence among the city’s upscale Italian favorites. Although less star-studded than its New York sibling, it’s a worthy upholder of the Carbone reputation.

But Mario Carbone, chef and co-founder alongside business partners Rich Torrisi and Jeff Zalaznick, wants even more for the city. An Instagram in mid-October notified followers that he’d be “cooking up a collection of new ideas for two nights only” in Dallas, and he'd be there to share a series of specials curated specifically for Dallas guests — part of what will become a quarterly program for this location.
“I wanted to harness excitement around the element of not knowing,” says Carbone. “I like to believe I’ve built up enough trust through my cooking to say, ‘There will be specials and I’m not going to say what they are.’ Even though the menus change seasonally, I’m constantly working on things. So I hope this will be the beginning of a program where I’m pulling from my test kitchen, bringing surprises with me. You won’t know until you sit down.”

To begin, we order two glasses of Sanford Pinot Noir from an eye-poppingly long wine list. Our captain (server) for the night then guides us through the equally overwhelming main menu, printed on paper so oversized we have to press it flat below the table to read. Over a basket of the best restaurant bread we’ve ever had — fragrant garlic bread, sesame bread and a supersoft “Grandma” bread topped with crushed San Marzano tomatoes — we select a Caesar salad, a few of the specials, and, of course, pasta.

The first special to arrive is a yellowtail crudo presented on a fish-shaped platter. Each of the six thin slices is melt-in-your-mouth supple, a light start that appetizes while leaving enough room for what’s to come — in this case, another tonight-only special of spaghettini bambini tossed right at the table, a server carefully moving a soup tureen over dried noodles as we watch.

“The spaghettini bambini, or ‘baby spaghetti,’ is intentionally very simple. As Italian kids, you just eat noodles with butter and cheese,” explains Carbone. “There’s a very special Parmesan cheese called Vacche Rosse with a beautifully aged, nutty flavor. I try to keep these dishes seasonally inspired, and that toasted nut flavor of cheese just feels right for fall.”
Afterward, we indulge in spicy rigatoni vodka so famous that it’s inspired countless “dupe” recipes, Gigi Hadid’s pandemic iteration likely the most notorious among them. But nothing comes close to having it at the restaurant. Bathed in a red sauce that’s creamy but not overpowering, it is — like everything else at Carbone — compulsively edible and perfectly portioned to share. The spice level is mild, making the noodles easy to fill up on. One can imagine how this dish, a menu staple since Carbone opened in 2013, might have been instrumental in the restaurant's receiving a Michelin star that same year.

The first-ever Michelin Texas guide will be revealed in November, listing culinary standouts from across the state. When asked what he thinks about Carbone Dallas’ possible inclusion, in the wake of Carbone New York losing its star in 2022, Mario Carbone remains focused on what matters most. “I think the most important thing is that the people who come here are happy, that we put on a nice show every night and customers leave with smiles on their faces. Everything else kind of takes care of itself,” says Carbone. “I’m a believer that you shouldn’t worry about something that’s out of your control. If you get recognized by your colleagues, it’s amazing, but it’s not the most important thing.”

Our last dishes include spicy broccoli rabe and one more special: a veal double parm. The veal is tender and the breading crispy and light; at this point in the night, however, we’re too full to finish and end up taking it home for the most high-end leftovers we’ve ever had. (Even the Carbone takeout bag — printed with a whimsical illustration of a New York street scene — feels luxurious.) Three tiny pieces of rainbow cake mark a sweet end to the night.

As for what’s next in Dallas? Prospective diners should keep an eye out for more surprises.

“We feel really at home in this city,” says Carbone. “Dallas had been high on our list from the beginning because the city plays really well to my style of cooking — very familial, nostalgic, fun. The idea of trust, of guests coming on a Monday and just trusting me, is what’s so exciting. I think this will be the beginning of a lot more nights like this.”