Fresh-baked bread, artisan pork products, and Italian wine by the liter! If any of those things are calling your name, head on over to Quartino Ristorante & Wine Bar in the Colony.
The Chicago-based Gibsons Restaurant Group opened their first Texas location in 2023. It’s since become a popular spot in the “Grotto District” of Grandscape.
What is a Grandscape, you ask? It’s an open air mall in a north-northwest suburb of Dallas. A tricked-out parking lot, basically. A theme park centered around what nouveau riche Friscoites (Friscans? Friskers?) think is the good life.
This vast expanse of concrete is swarming with baby strollers and valet parking. The centerpiece is a furniture store the size of the Costco in Idiocracy. There’s indoor golf, indoor go-karts, and Cosm–a hulking LED theater concept imported from Los Angeles. (Cosm is just like a live entertainment venue, except that it’s not live entertainment, and just like a movie theater, except that it’s really expensive to go there.) The whole thing looks like something out of Las Vegas, or perhaps a future bio-dome for wealthy colonists of Mars.
So yeah, that’s Grandscape. But as a Dallas gal who likes to eat and drink, I find myself in the area a few times a year by choice.
Grandscape gets a lot of buzzy new restaurants. The new-development lots can accommodate large footprints and high-concept build-outs. There’s a ton of entertainment and all-day shopping venues, all of which tend to make people hungry. In short, Grandscape is a tempting pie for out-of-town investors looking to order a slice of DFW and nibble on some of that sweet, sweet tech and finance money.
Quartino is one of those new places. But it’s actually good, not just flashy-good. Step through the (compulsory–seriously, there’s a sign) revolving door, and it’s like entering a whole different world.
Food is the focus here–honest Italian food. It’s got that confidently simple, Little-Italy gastronomic power that’s found in Chicago and San Diego and New York and San Francisco but very rarely in Dallas. There is a strip steak on the menu and a chicken parm–you gotta offer it–but overall the menu is concise and inspired.
The 15,000 square-foot Quartino sprawls massively across two levels: A sunny upstairs bar and downstairs dining room. There’s also a large wraparound patio. The interior is stylish, all dark wood and copper fixtures and carefully chosen fonts. The large, mirrored bar is adorned with refurbished subway tile and books on Italian cooking. For food history buffs, there’s a real 1950s NYC deli case–still operating and stuffed with mortadellas and formaggi awaiting their fate.
The Wine
Wine service at Quartino is a bit novel: They don’t sell wine by the glass. Instead, the wines are sold in carafes designed for sharing around the table, familia style.
You order by the 1/4 liter, 1/2 liter or 1 liter. No casks or tap system–wine is in bottles and they measure it out for you into specially labeled decanters. Core wines are also available as a standard .75 liter bottle–so that’s four sizes to choose from.
The Reserve and Cellar selections, on the other hand, are only available by the 750 ml bottle or 1.5 liter magnum. It can all be a little confusing for first-timers and non-metric folks, but the servers are happy to help out.
Solo diners and couples are encouraged to start with the restaurant’s namesake wine pour, the quartino. At 1/4 of a liter, that’s 250 ml, or one-third of a bottle, or a tad under 8.5 ounces. So, it’s about the size of the 9-oz “biggie” pour now common in chain restaurants. It’s just enough wine to wet your palate while you decide on your first course–or your next wine.
Italian wine is the boss here. In fact, the wine list is approximately two-thirds Italian, with ever-popular international varieties like California Chardonnay and New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc playing a supporting role. There’s a good range of table wines and premium pours. The wine staff are enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and the wine list is laid out logically by color, style, and price.
The majority of the wines are recent-vintage and mimic the light-to-medium, lower-alcohol styles that are widely enjoyed in casual restaurants in Central Italy. Think chilled Trebbiano and Sangiovese blends, Pinot Grigio, and Valpolicella.
Note that while some familiar brands are represented, a lot of the Italian selections are house wines unique to Quartino. Not necessarily a bad thing in my book–just not ideal if you’re trying to discover a new favorite wine to pick up at the corner store.
In authentic Italian style, the carafe wines are served with stubby drinking glasses. The bartender explains this to me in an upbeat but apologetic tone, as if he regularly gets pushback on the restaurant’s choice of glassware. “When in Rome, right?” he exclaims to me, exerting waiterly charm while also preparing to pirouette on one foot toward the proper stemware behind the bar.
I’ve never been to Rome, but I have been to Romano’s Macaroni Grill in Plano, Texas. So I am not unfamiliar with the practice of serving casual wines in juice glasses. In truth, I don’t love it. It’s a little precious and it does mute the aromas of wine.
But they’re selling the trattoria thing so hard at Quartino, I’m always ready to buy it. “I’d love to be in Rome right now!” I gush. Signaling yeah, I’m hip, I’m cool, I’m totally up for drinking Cortese from a clunker of a cup and not making a fuss about it.
I look over the wine list and order the Pecorino d’Abruzzo ($10). The server appears a moment later with the promised humble glassware and a mini loaf of crusty Italian bread. The bartop is arrayed with good-quality olive oil, balsamic, chili pepper, cheese, pepper, and salt so you can mix your own perfect dipping sauce. Salute!
The Food
How about the food? I have eaten at Quartino on several occasions and always enjoyed my meal. The Italian classics–pasta, soups, and Neapolitan-style pizzas are solid. Risotto made with fancy Piemontese rice is a specialty. But maybe skip the seafood. We’re landlocked here in North Texas, after all–and a neighboring table’s order of Frutti di Mare smelled distinctively of overripe mussels.
Oh well. Getting the most out of dining means knowing what to order, and you can’t go wrong with a simple, well-made noodle dish. Pasta fans should know that Quartino makes their own fresh pasta daily. The fresh pastas are the gnocchi, fettuccine, and tagliatelle–the latter two spooling out like magic ribbons from a hand-cranked machine in the windowed kitchen.
No less care is taken with the dishes that incorporate dried pasta. The Spaghetti Pomodoro ($14) is cooked to al dente perfection and topped with a bright and simple sauce made from organic tomatoes and fresh Italian basil. (Hot tip: All of the pastas are also available by the half-portion, in case you have already messed up and filled up on bread.)
But where Quartino really shines is their small plates and salumi. It’s a build-your-own-board format with nibbles ranging in price from $6 to $9. Ordering as much or as little as you want is encouraged…and it’s so hard to choose.
The spuntini (snacks) menu features an impressive selection of imported meats, cheeses, and olives. There’s also hard-to-find veggie-centric antipasti. My favorites include the fennel pollen dusted salami ($7), “red cow” Parmagiano Reggiano ($8), and eggplant and caper caponata ($8). And happily, they will bring you as much oven-fresh Italian bread slices as you desire. It’s head-and-shoulders above the generic “shark-coochie” plates available at every bar in town.
One of the best deals in town is Quartino’s Salumeria Tasting ($33). You get two meats of your choice, two cheeses, two veggie antipasti, and an assortment of three types of Italian olives. It’s all great. And it’s generous–enough for 3-4 people to snack on, or for two people to struggle to finish and not be hungry again for a while.
I was dining alone, so I decided to take it easy on the spuntini. I ordered another quartino (the Rosso di Montalcino this time), and a couple of individual small plates. (Girl dinner!)
Meat, bread, and cheese are all sliced fresh to order. The slicer takes the chill off of the salumi, letting their meaty flavors waft tantalizingly from the plate. Tissue-thin wafers of soppresseta (spiced Calabrian sausage, $6) were served with complimentary mostarda (Northern Italian fruit spread flavored with mustard).
The Roasted Asparagus ($9.50) was more zesty and rich than any veggie side has a right to be. Seven wide, tender spears were glazed in cured pork fat and topped with fragrant charred lemon and shards of Grana Padano cheese.
My wife met me for a final course. We shared a ripe, velvety and fruity Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva ($15). Dessert was Torta al Cioccolato (molten chocolate cake, $11.75), topped with a refreshingly lean gelato studded with flecks of vanilla bean.
The Endorsement
With just two locations in the whole wide world–Chicago and Dallas(ish)–we’re lucky to have a Quartino. It’s a delicious way to sip and nibble your way through Italy without having to stand around in a deli or bottle shop.
In a pro move, Quartino has their entire menu and wine list (with prices) online. Why don’t more places do this? It makes dinners and brunches so much easier to plan, especially for groups that have a mix of budgets and dietary requirements.
Speaking of budgets, there’s a rather yummy happy hour (half-price pizzas and bottles of wine) in the bar. Quartino also offers a wine club–two take-home bottles and a loaf of bread–for just $25 per month.
Stepping into Quartino allows you to forget about everything that’s ugly and irritating about DFW’s north suburbs and melt blissfully into a gastronomic oasis. I love it for a weekend lunch date, or solo time with a glass (well, sort of a glass) of wine. With their down-to-earth prices and attentive service, this is an Italian holiday you can enjoy without digging out your passport.
Where: Quartino Ristorante & Wine Bar, 5754 Grandscape Blvd, Suite 200, The Colony, TX 75056 (Closed Monday and Tuesday)
How much: Small plates are $5-$16, mains are $14-$22, wine by the 1/4 liter are $8 and up.
Wines tasted:
Spinelli Pecorino d’Abruzzo (2022)
Alanti Rosso di Montalcino (2023)
Savini Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva (2017)
Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.
Leave a Comment