Italian Osteria to open in downtown Fort Worth from top restaurant team
December 6,2022
See full Fort Worth Culture Map article by Teresa Gubbins here.
One of Fort Worth's most acclaimed restaurant teams has something Italian in the works: Called 61 Osteria, it's the new upscale Italian concept from restaurateur Adam Jones and award-winning chef Blaine Staniford, and it'll open in downtown Fort Worth in early 2023.
It's opening at 500 W 7th St., on the ground floor of the First on 7th building, originally known as the First National Bank building, designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill of New York.
The name includes a tribute to the building’s completion date in 1961 and the celebration of its 61st birthday this year. Adam Jones was also born in 1961. Many 61s. As for the "osteria," in Italy, it's a place serving wine and simple food.
Italian is something they've been thinking about, Jones says in a release.
"After many years of Blaine and I discussing creating an Italian concept, we decided now was the right time to make our vision come to life," he says. Their other concepts include Grace and Little Red Wasp.
61 Osteria will do traditional Italian with a focus on simple, seasonal ingredients, with a few standing staples plus dishes that rotate in and out in response to the season. It will pull dishes from all 20 regions of Italy.
"I believe truly exceptional Italian food comes from the source and when products are in the peak of their season," Staniford says.
They'll make mozzarella in-house daily, plus pastas featuring handmade and extruded pastas with wheat products from Barton Springs Mill in Austin, made in a pasta room beneath the restaurant.
A rotating housemade salumi program will feature items such as fennel-crusted lomo, black truffle salami, and oregano-Calabrian chili coppa.
Grilled meats and fish will be prepared in a custom-made wood-burning hearth, alongside seasonal vegetables.
Beverages will include New World and Old World sparkling, white, and red wines by the glass and bottle, with an emphasis on Italian producers.
Cocktails will be prepared with fresh-squeezed juices and house-made simple syrup, with a nod to the Italian classics. Bottled and draft beers will come from local, domestic, and imported Italian producers.
Designed by Fort Worth-based architecture firm Ibañez Shaw Architecture, the restaurant faces Burnett Park, home to Jonathan Borofsky’s Man with a Briefcase sculpture. It'll comprise 7,000 square feet, with seating for 120 in the dining room, 50 in the bar, 30 outdoors, and 15 lounge seats.
It'll be open for lunch, dinner, weekend brunch, and Italian Sunday dinners served family-style.
Locations Mentioned: Burnett Park, Grace, Little Red Wasp