Seafood News

Italian seafood restaurant Acquario nets fine kettle of fish for Keller

Acquario Italian Seafood

Courtesy photo

A new fine-dining seafood restaurant with an Italian twist has debuted in Keller: Called Acquario Italian Seafood, it opened on October 20 at 8849 Davis Blvd. #100, with a menu of seafood, house-made pasta, and steak.

The restaurant is from partners Nino Rata and Executive Chef Fredi Plaku, a pair of 30-year veteran restaurateurs who recently returned to Texas after operating La Botte Ristorante, an Italian restaurant in Westchester, New York.

Plaku, real name Ferdinando, is a native of Italy whose first restaurant was in Venice called Aquarium, which provided the inspiration for Acquario's name (it means "aquarium").

In a statement, Rata calls the return to Texas "a dream come true."

"There’s nothing quite like this in the area, and I’m so glad to be back," Rata says. "If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere, and I think Keller is perfect for this: the environment, the friendliness of the people, the neighborhoods... It’s a dream come true."

Their menu is dominated by pastas, many featuring seafood such as rigatoni with shrimp and fava beans, spinach pappardelle with shrimp, taglioni with clams and garlic, and squid ink linguini with crab.

Vegetarian pastas sound extra-tempting, including mushroom ravioli, bucatini with fig & gorgonzola, and rigatoni with fried eggplant.

Seafood entrees includes amberjack with risotto and a seafood soup, and there is also beef in the form of short ribs, and two steaks - New York strip and ribeye - plus chicken parmigiana and pork chop Milanese.

Starters include crab cake, calamari, the classic beef carpaccio, and four crudo seafood dishes, plus salads such as Caesar and arugula salad with red & golden beets.

"We prep everything from scratch, we pay attention to every detail, and we balance being modern with preserving the rich culture of Italian food,” Plaku says.

The restaurant is in a soft opening, meaning the menu may change and adjust. They’re currently open Sunday-Thursday 4-9:30 pm and Friday-Saturday 4-10 pm.

They've given nice updates to the space, which was previously occupied by Cafe Sicilia, with a marine-blue banquette along the wall, hardwood flooring, wood-patterned tabletops, cozy padded chairs, and a small bar with water-patterned panels.

Goals include catering, private dining, and Italian cooking classes. A grand opening is set for November 1.

openings

Sub Sandwich News

Grab subs and pizza at new family-owned Lunch Break Cafe in Fort Worth

Lunch Break Cafe

Lunch Break Cafe BLT, with lots of B.

A well-regarded cafe serving sub sandwiches has risen in east Fort Worth: Called The Lunch Break Cafe, it’s a family-owned restaurant that opened in early December at 7251 Stoneway Dr. N. 400, in the former Riverbend Bistro space at River Bend Plaza, featuring made-from-scratch subs, burgers, and pizza.

Lunch Break Cafe represents a second coming: It's owned by William Dorsett, who previously owned a similar concept called The Lunch Stop, which he opened with his family in Haltom City in 2010.

That restaurant specialized in sandwiches but he closed it in 2022 because he had expansion in mind. The prior location did not have the kitchen space for cooked items, including pizzas and burgers, that Dorsett wanted to serve.

He calls this second coming "new-and-improved."

“The Lunch Stop was a smaller location, and it was strictly deli,” Dorsett says. “They wouldn’t allow us to do burgers with the vented hood. So we sold the Lunch Stop and moved here, and now we’re The Lunch Break.”

Several of the deli sandwiches that were a previously a mainstay have been carried over from The Lunch Spot, including BLTs, Italian subs, and roast beef subs.

But now there's an expanded menu with many hot items as well as cold, including pizza in three varieties — pepperoni, cheese, and sausage & black olive, on a choice of hand-tossed or thin crust dough. There are also hot dogs, chili dogs, soup, and chili.

Everything’s made in house from scratch.

The restaurant currently doesn’t have a menu posted online, but according to Dorsett, cheeseburger combos and sandwiches go for $8-$9 and 12-inch pizzas with up to three toppings are $8.

Though The Lunch Break is only a few minutes away from where his first deli opened, Dorsett says this area is a better fit because it's more accessible rather than in an industrial location he was in before, with a name that speaks to his mission.

"It's a more professional area and a great location for workers in search of a good, affordable lunch," Dorsett says.