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The entrance to Scilla in Dallas is a\u00a0showstopping bar\u00a0with a slab of pink marble. “I think this bar will be busy all day long,” said Benji Homsey, a partner in the project.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
You are supposed to be here: That\u2019s how it feels walking into Scilla, Dallas\u2019 newest Italian-inspired restaurant from the team behind The Charles, Mister Charles and El Carlos Elegante<\/a>. Double doors lead into a grand, backlit, pink marble bar that\u2019s so heavy, steel beams hold it up from behind.<\/p>\n Anchoring the bottom of a 13-story tower near the Dallas North Tollway and Preston Center<\/a>, Scilla was created to be the Park Cities\u2019 new dining room. Those who want to really make it feel like home can join the private club, not yet open.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve wanted to do something here for a long time,\u201d said partner Benji Homsey, a Dallasite who got into the business in 2018 with Chas Martin. Their first restaurant, The Charles, was a fling, you could say. They did it \u201cfor fun,\u201d the two have said<\/a>. It worked so well that Homsey, Martin and the Duro Hospitality team are now not-so-accidentally<\/a> the owners of six Dallas restaurants and one Michelin Key hotel<\/a> that are collectively operated by over 500 employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Add to that list The Chumley House<\/a>, one of the best restaurants in North Texas and Duro\u2019s only one in Fort Worth.<\/p>\n The Whole Red Snapper is a shareable main at Scilla, the new restaurant in Dallas near Preston Center.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Scilla, like many of the company\u2019s other restaurants, might transport diners to Europe. Pick a city in Italy and you might be reaching for your sunglasses as you catch a glimpse of mermaids on the ceiling of one dining room.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have the ocean out our front door. We don\u2019t have mountains,\u201d said Martin, a Fort Worth resident turned Dallasite.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Valet your car out front, and inside Scilla, you can eat branzino with artichokes and muhammara pesto, caviar toast, paella and hamachi crudo with limoncello vinaigrette.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be 105 degrees next weekend, and people will still go out to dinner,\u201d Martin said of Dallas diners. Might as well pretend you\u2019re near the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n Scilla’s seafood tower, made with Maine lobster,\u00a0Cristal Blue prawns, oysters and more, is one of the raw bar options.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Scilla\u2019s\u00a0culinary point of view most closely matches the company\u2019s Greenville Avenue restaurant, Sister. Both are \u201cItalian-ish,\u201d as the founders like to say<\/a>, served in a dining room that feels like somebody\u2019s maximalist home. But Scilla is much larger than Sister, with a big patio.\u00a0<\/p>\n For a company that made its name from Charles spinoffs, the team zigzagged from the theme by opening Sister<\/a>, Norman\u2019s Japanese Grill<\/a> and The Chumley House<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n So who\u2019s Scilla? That\u2019s Martin\u2019s mother, Priscilla.\u00a0<\/p>\n But also: Scilla is a small town in Calabria, Italy. And Scylla is a mythological Greek creature. A man-eating monster, actually.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s flattered,\u201d Martin said of his mom from West Texas, not a monster at all.<\/p>\n Cocktails have sensuous names like the Skinny Lover and Hibis-Kiss. Here’s the Sicilian Shaved Ice made with\u00a0Duro Socorro Joven Tequila, blood orange and pineapple morita.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News The Hamachi Crudo at Scilla is made with\u00a0meyer lemon kosho, finger lime and bergamot limoncello vinaigrette.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News Ross and\u00a0Corbin See, of Sees Design, are co-owners of Duro Hospitality. The brothers and their team designed Scilla and all of the Duro restaurants.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News Scilla’s rigatoni alla Zozzona, a pasta dish, is made with\u00a0pancetta rag\u00f9 and Carbonara espuma.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Scilla\u2019s menu will feel familiar to anyone who\u2019s enjoyed a Duro restaurant in Dallas. Culinary endeavors are led by chef J Chastain, an alum of the Mansion on Turtle Creek and Stephan Pyles. Scilla\u2019s kitchen, led by executive chef Brendan Frankel, is cooking a series of courses meant to be shared. Cicchetti, or small snacks like bruschetta to start, can be followed by light crudos, baked dishes like smoked duck and pastas. To finish, customers can pick wood-fired entrees like lamb kebabs and charred octopus accompanied by contorni, or sides, such as grilled carrots with mint chimichurri and creamy polenta with mushroom conserva.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Chastain\u2019s favorite dish is the paella di mare. It\u2019s the company\u2019s first paella \u2014 a bit of a surprise, given the hearty, large-format dishes they\u2019ve already produced in other Dallas dining rooms. It went on the menu after Chastain and Director of Culinary Jared Harms hosted paella dinners for one another, honing the recipe.<\/p>\n Despite the company\u2019s reputation for restaurants serving the Dallas elite, it\u2019s Duro\u2019s first restaurant this close to Preston Center.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve wanted this neighborhood for a while,\u201d Homsey said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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