Press

In Italian-American cuisine, Sunday gravy isn't a brown sauce for meats. It's a meat-rich red sauce that's lavished on pasta. Chef Julian Barsotti -- owner of Nonna, Carbone's, Sprezza and the now-open Fachini -- calls this ragu "the ultimate cultural identifier of Italian-American cuisine."

"It's a distinctly Italian-American dish that's not present in Italy. The closest regional Italian dish to it is a Neapolitan ragu," a simple meat-based sauce, he says.

It isn't a coincidence that two Italian-inspired restaurants have opened in Highland Park Village within a few weeks of one another. One's upstairs, the other downstairs, and they come from two of Dallas' most prolific local chefs.

Upstairs is Fachini, a swanky Italian-American restaurant from Julian Barsotti, a Highland Park resident who owns several Italian shops nearby: Carbone's, Nonna and Sprezza. Downstairs is Perfect Union Pizza Co. a casual, kid-friendly pizza joint from Nick Badovinus, who operates Dallas-area restaurants Neighborhood Services, Town Hearth, Off-Site Kitchen and Montlake Cut.

It was just over a year ago that Nancy Nichols wrote that “two Dallas powerhouse chefs are teaming up to open two restaurants in Highland Park Village.”

The time has finally come. I’ve written about my first impressions of Nick Badovinus’s Perfect Union Pizza Co. And now Julian Barsotti’s Fachini is open upstairs, completing the duo of restaurants in which they are both partners. Fachini’s website isn’t finalized and Opentable is just newly taking reservations, but they’ve been open for service quietly as of late last week.