"61 Osteria, from restaurateur Dain “Adam” Jones and chef Blaine Staniford, the duo behind Little Red Wasp and Grace, kind of got lost in the shuffle for Dallasites. It was another fine dining Italian spot in a beautiful restaurant, but all the way over in Fort Worth. The opening menu wasn’t too terribly different, at least at first glance, from the rest of the pack. Since then, however, Staniford and Jones have found a groove and now they’re doing something that most fine dining establishments, not just the Italian ones, in Dallas have gotten away from. They’re making eating adventurous again. From the start, Staniford intended to include Texas foods that could be sourced locally into the menu while utilizing his French training to craft the menu. “We didn’t ever want to be just a red sauce/white sauce [place], or pick a specific region,” he says. “We do take chances with some of the ingredients, but it’s still approachable.” While the menu has a few standards, like the rosemary focaccia, tagliatelle bolognese made with brisket, and a bistecca Fiorentina for two, there are also a lot of those “chancey” dishes. For example, the fermented peppers in a traditional Italian Christmas sausage dish are served over polenta and fennel. It’s not the traditional pan fry or grill one expects. “We took a couple of hundred pounds of peppers from Comeback Creek Farms. They’re lacto-fermented meaning that we toss them in salt and they naturally ferment over a seven to 14-day period allows us to preserve them and keep them for a few months and the peppers to keep their flavor,” Staniford says, noting that they are finished with a cook on the grill. In fact, the whole dish is local — the polenta comes from Brazos Valley Polenta in Waco, the sausage is made in-house. Or look to the branzino with the head off, which is a no-no in Italy. Staniford opted to do it anyway, but wanted to leave the skin on and with a pan sear. It is served with Brussels sprouts, which he notes is on all the menus at all of their restaurants this time of year, but here with the mix of sweet and sour through an apple cider, apple cider vinegar, and sugar for the sauce. It's served with citrus-roasted golden beets on top of turnip puree with hazelnuts. It’s the kind of dish that is loaded with ingredients diners can easily identify but when they’re listed on a menu, it’s not clear what it will look like on the table or even how some elements will fit together. This sort of arranging of ideas is what makes eating at 61 Osteria so exciting. Another thing that makes this restaurant a great experience is the hospitality, which starts with Jones. He is the kind of co-owner who works behind the host desk, walking guests to their tables and chatting with them so that everyone feels like a regular. On my first visit, Jones seated me and asked if I was the famous Courtney Smith, referencing my work at Eater Dallas. I had not told the restaurant I would be visiting, he simply saw my quite common name, noted it, and did his research. I have not had that experience at any other restaurant since I started working at Eater, although I use the same Gmail account to make all of my reservations. Other restauranteurs tell me they or their staff do the leg work to know who is coming in, but Jones and his staff show their work. Jones has been operating and working at restaurants in Downtown Fort Worth for 32 years. He worked at the original Del Frisco, a storied steakhouse. Grace, which serves classic American fare, is in its 17th year of operation. When Glenn Darden was ready to put a restaurant in the 1961 Building (that is what the 61 in the restaurant’s name references), also known as First on 7th, Jones and Staniford jumped at the chance. The main dining room and entryway are decorated with custom art created by Jones’s wife, the artist Joey Lancaster, and loaded with oversized windows that look out into Downtown. “We were open,” Jones says. “We could have gone French... but Italian is America’s favorite, well we’ll call it foreign food. Italian is hip, and sometimes it can be overdone, because so many people are trying to do it.” And yet, no one is doing it quite like 61 Osteria." - Courtney E. Smith
