Italian Restaurant Picone Builds Community (and a Reddit Thread) in Denton

Picone is an Italian restaurant that just so happens to serve what some of its customers call “the best burger in Denton.” The chef-based concept aims to be affordable and accessible. The lasagna is thoughtfully plated and is as aesthetically pleasing as it is delicious. It’s also cheekily listed on the menu as “The Garfield.”

The parts of Picone that are artistic, friendly and funny are all reflections of its co-owner and chef, Tony Neglia, who founded Picone last year with his brother, Michael. Family is at the heart of the concept. Even the name comes from his mother’s side of the family and was chosen to honor his grandfather.

“He owned a pizza dough company for about 30 to 40 years,” Neglia says. “Food kind of means family to me. I know that's really corny. But, like, you know, some of the stuff that I do is a lot of the food that I kind of grew up eating and I just kind of add my own personal twist.”
Neglia’s time as the chef at Latin restaurant Boca 31 (whose Denton location closed following a fire last year) and creator of the Italian pop-up concept Bacciagalupe’s have made him a well-known personality in Denton’s food scene.

“Tony is a godsend,” reads a post on the Denton Reddit thread called “Picone Appreciation Post.” “You can taste the difference when the chef has control and the staff is happy. Support Tony. Support Picone.”

There are several posts like this that praise the food, atmosphere and perceived positive treatment of the staff.

Neglia is a longtime Denton resident and advocate of its restaurant scene, but his connection to the community strengthened during the pandemic while he was still at Boca 31. He took to social media to keep the business alive and humanize himself and his crew.

“I put on a hot dog costume and I jumped around and I said “hot dog!” into the screen and like, you know, people laughed about it,” Neglia says. “Like, we're here. We're having fun. We're people too. We're not just people who make food for you, you know.”
When Neglia left Boca 31 to create Picone, he found that the following he had built came with him, and he's been trying to meet their needs ever since.

“There’s been people who were like, ‘Oh, you’re the Boca guy, right.?’ And you know, like I said, it is a pretty similar restaurant concept to a certain extent. Like, counter service. Super chill. Really elevated food, elevated techniques, but served in a very comfortable casual way,” he says. “I know my audience because I'm part of that audience. It's like my community.”

When the fire at Boca 31 happened, Picone had been open only for a month. Since then, Picone has come to be viewed by the community as a sort of spiritual successor to the beloved previous restaurant. Posts about Picone on social media largely paint the two businesses as intrinsically linked.

“Last I heard was no,” reads a response to a Reddit post asking if Boca 31 would ever return to Denton. “But you can go to Picone.”

In a way, this rings true for Neglia as well, as he hired several Boca 31 employees after the fire.

“I had a couple of them already working part-time,” he says. “But then that fire happened. [...] A couple of people hit me up and they're like, ‘Hey, what are we gonna do?’ I'm like ‘Hey, I got some room. Like, let's just figure it out.’”

While Neglia emphasizes that Picone is a separate restaurant that should have its own identity, he has nothing but love for his former Boca 31 colleagues (he shouts out Boca’s owner, Andres Meraz, and plugs the remaining Fort Worth location) and fully embraces the connection.
“My name has become kind of synonymous with Boca,” he says. “What we're doing here is kind of like a continuation to a certain extent. Obviously in my own way, as a chef or owner or whatever you want to call me. But there’s definitely a lot of inspiration there.”

Neglia’s plans for the future of Picone involve continuing to expand and experiment with the menu as well as finding more ways to bring his community together. He has already hosted several events, ranging from brunches to multi-course dinners to magic shows.

Much like the magician he’s employed, he still has more tricks up his sleeve. He plans to invite his friends to act as guest chefs for short stints.

“I'm gonna bring some of my homies around,” he says. “We're talking about chefs that I've worked with in the past or have their own places or their own concepts and stuff like that. Have them come up and do, you know, a couple of dishes for a weekend or that kind of thing.”

Above all else, though, Neglia remains dedicated to making his culinary creations accessible to his community.

“We try to keep it really approachable,” Neglia says. “We're not trying to be anything that we're not. We’re just trying to serve food that we love, how we like to eat it, and we're just like really happy other people like it.”

Picone, 702 S. Elm St., Denton. Tuesday – Friday, 4–10 p.m.; Saturday, noon – 10 p.m.