Two New Italian Restaurants Open in Fort Worth and Grapevine’s Bacchus Kitchen + Bar Goes Global

Wine has long been the quiet foundation of a great meal. Two new Italian restaurant openings in Fort Worth and a reimagined menu at Hotel Vin’s flagship restaurant in Grapevine share a natural confluence with that most ancient of libations. This is the Fort Worth restaurant news to know right now.

Bacchus Kitchen + Bar Debuts Reimagined Culinary Vision

After taking a direct line from Fort Worth’s T&P Station to downtown Grapevine, we stepped off the train in front of our destination — Hotel Vin — eagerly anticipating the evening’s main event. The hotel’s flagship restaurant, Bacchus Kitchen + Bar, opened in the fall of 2020 with a Mediterranean-leaning menu designed to complement the retreat’s extensive wine offerings. Culinary Director Joseph Thomas informed us that evening that the original concept had not fully realized the restaurant’s potential.

The event’s lavish wine pairing dinner, hosted in The Riedel Room, featured a rich, earthy maitake mushroom toast with cured egg and truffled ricotta, Sauvignon black mussels in a garlic butter broth that has been living rent-free in our minds ever since, and an Angus meatloaf, among several other superlative dishes.

Meatloaf may seem an unlikely standout in a Marriott Autograph Collection dining room. As Chef Thomas — who brings over 20 years of luxury hospitality experience — explains, anything set on a Bacchus Kitchen + Bar table reflects collaboration from his team and a premium placed on regionally sourced ingredients.

“What’s most important with meatloaf,” he tells PaperCity Fort Worth, “is the ingredients. We start with a blend of New York strip and ribeye, then mix in a mirepoix that we render and hand-blend with red wine. To enhance the beef flavor, we also made a Wagyu tallow that is boiled down with water in a big sauté pan. The water evaporates while the beef melts, so it doesn’t burn or scorch. Then we add in some thyme, rosemary, coriander seed, black pepper, white pepper, garlic, and fresh bay leaves.”

The new menu is grounded in modern American comfort food with worldly influences — a direction Thomas says reflects the hotel’s mix of regional regulars and international visitors. Just under a year into his new position, Thomas says he was drawn to Coury Hospitality by the distinct character of the properties and the level of trust founder Paul Coury puts into his team.

“Paul is a very humble man and an inspiration to work for,” Thomas says, adding that the hotel’s guests have loved the new menu concept. “We’re listening to feedback from our patrons. We may bring back some familiar dishes in a new, modern version. If we add anything, it will have our own unique signature on it.”

Felina Softly Opens in Near Southside

If any space in Fort Worth feels destined for superlative craft pizza, it’s the stretch just south of downtown that once housed Funky Picnic Brewery & Café. The former neighbor to Black Cat Pizza is now home to Felina, a new Italian concept by the Bocca Osteria Romana team. On a recent afternoon, the restaurant’s large vertical lift windows were raised to welcome the crisp air and golden-hour light. Felina is spacious with dozens of tables and wooden chairs in alternating hues of red, brown, and green that add a subtle, rustic warmth.

The menu for the soft opening was pared down, with eggplant dip, spinach salad, red and white wines, and a handful of other appetizers and pizzas rounding out the offerings. We recommend the La Felina pizza, which came on a thin, crispy dough that was topped with mozzarella, dollops of a rich, meaty ragu, poblano crema, and golden raisins. The wide variety of flavors alternated from savory to sweet, with never a dull moment from start to finish.

With other options like the Wild Mushrooms — layered with crème fraîche, Oaxaca cheese, a wild mushroom blend, and whipped goat cheese — and The Hot Mess, topped with San Marzano tomato, mozzarella, pecorino, soppressata, hot honey, and whipped ricotta, we’re already looking forward to our next visit.

Buonissimo Brings Upscale Italian Fare to Downtown

We highlighted Buonissimo on our list of Fort Worth’s 5 Most Exciting Restaurant Openings last fall, and our first taste of the downtown newcomer did not disappoint. The space feels polished but approachable, with a clean, modern sensibility softened by warm textures. The lunch menu has ample pasta, salad, pizza, and sandwich options.

We recommend starting with the burrata con pomodorini, a simple but vibrant trio of fresh cherry tomatoes, creamy burrata, and peppery arugula, finished with olive oil and basil. For an entrée, we relished the chicken Parmesan, a generous portion easily suited for sharing. The large, breaded cutlet was topped with a rich pomodoro sauce and melted cheddar, and was juicy and satisfying throughout. We were glad we saved room for gelato — the perfect finish to a delightful afternoon.