A Fort Worth chef opens his Italian restaurant, and it comes with a built-in coffee bar. There's new sushi, breakfast pizza, and a new chef at a fine Arlington hotel. Here's the latest restaurant news in Fort Worth:

Piattello Italian Kitchen, the new restaurant from chef Marcus Paslay, opened January 14 in Fort Worth’s new Waterside development. The menu features antipasti, soups, salads, and house-made pastas and pizzas. Entrees range from $15-$28, and there's a full bar with craft beer, wine, and local spirits. Piattello Coffee Bar, which is part of the restaurant, opened January 2, serving coffee, muffins, pastries, and yogurt parfaits. Scott Lewis (Nonna, Carbone, Sprezza) is executive chef.

Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar has opened a location in Euless, with a dog-friendly atmosphere and a broad menu that includes a little of everything: pizza, pasta, fish and chips, meatloaf, pot roast, wok dishes, salads, sandwiches, small plates, wings, and a full bar with craft beers on tap. This is the second branch in North Texas for the California chain; the original opened in Addison in 2015, and more branches are slated for Plano and Frisco.

Blue Mesa Grill, the local chain known for its Southwestern cuisine and bountiful brunch, made its move to its new location, departing the space on University where they'd been for 20 years. Co-founder Liz Baron says that they were able to open in their new location at 612 Carroll St. in a matter of a few days, which she called "some feat." The new location has large dining rooms, a breezy patio facing Montgomery Plaza, a 300-seat upstairs party venue with a terrace and skyline views, and plentiful parking.

Blue Sushi Sake Grill has an intriguing new menu of sushi items. By "intriguing," we mean that one is vegan; vegan is inherently intriguing. New maki options include a green eggs and hama roll that is a pun with yellowtail, wasabi tobiko, spicy salmon, cucumber, and ponzu. The amazon roll has snapper, olive oil, smoked salmon, crab, jalapeno, and chino chimichurri. The vegan roll has eggplant tempura, avocado, and soy. There are hand roll options, in which ingredients are wrapped in rice and seaweed and formed into a cone shape; and a kid-size bento box for the kids.

Fixture Kitchen and Social Lounge, the chef-driven restaurant on Magnolia Avenue, has expanded its hours to seven days a week, and that includes lunch. The restaurant saw a growing interest in lunch and dinner options in an area of town where many restaurants are closed on Mondays. So Fixture now offers lunch and dinner daily, plus weekend brunch on both Saturdays and Sundays. The cuisine is New American with an eclectic twist, with a full bar and a covered patio that's open weather-permitting.

Houlihan's debuts a "better for you" menu on January 19 with six low-calorie, low-carb, low-sugar, and high-protein dishes. They include Mediterranean black bean dip with lavosh crackers; shrimp and jalapeno sausage mojo; chicken with spiralized sweet potato linguine; grilled chicken; steak enchiladas with Mexican street corn; and grilled chicken wings. Can wings really be better for you? There are two new flavored sparkling waters, in cucumber-mint and ginger-lime. Two new desserts include brownie batter cake with warm fudge; and bite-size pot de creme which you can get in individual flavors such as chocolate-rhubarb or bourbon butterscotch brulee for $1.50 each, or in a flight of 3 for $4.

7-Eleven stores have a new unusual item for breakfast: hot, ready-to-eat breakfast pizza. Toppings include bacon, breakfast sausage, ham, scrambled eggs, cheddar and mozzarella cheese, and peppered cream gravy on top of a flaky biscuit crust. You can get it by the slice, two for $2, or an entire breakfast pizza for $5.55.The chain held a test at select stores where it proved so popular that it became the second highest-selling pizza. "Since we started carrying hot pizza, it has become one of the best-selling ready-to-eat foods at 7-Eleven stores,” says 7-Eleven VP Dennis Phelps in a release.

R Bar & Grill and the Hilton Arlington have appointed Isaac Walker as the new executive chef for the restaurant and hotel. Walker perfectly melds together his experience in fine dining, hotel service, and high-volume quick service restaurants, bringing over 20 years of culinary experience to his new position at R Bar & Grill. His resume includes Kona Grill, Pickles BBQ & Ice House, The Driskill Hotel in Austin, Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, and the Doubletree Campbell Center in Dallas. He'll continue to feature ingredients from local purveyors and dishes influenced by cuisine in the region, such as Dallas Mozzarella Co, Jimmy's Food Store, Veldhuizen Farms, and Gloria’s Tortilla’s from Fort Worth. The cocktail and craft beer program features cocktails made with fresh juices, house made bitters, and mixers.

Riscky's BBQ owner and pitmaster Joe Riscky was selected to be the pitmaster/chef for the 2017 Foodways Texas' "Camp Brisket," which took place in at Texas A&M in early January. He cooked dinner for Texas' top BBQ owners/pitmasters.