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Food

Look inside Downtown Dallas' new Italian restaurant, Americano, now open

It's an Italian restaurant but it's called Americano. Don't let that confuse you.

Americano was designed to embody "the sweet life" from the 1960 film La Dolce Vita. The restaurant is named for the cocktail James Bond famously drank, the Americano. (Bartenders make Americanos three ways, perhaps to entice Campari drinkers of any variety.)

(G.J. McCarthy / Staff Photographer)

The new restaurant expected to open in the Joule hotel in downtown Dallas on Thursday, Oct. 8 is one of several splashy debuts in Dallas this fall. Executive chef Matt Ford is making Italian-American classics, according to a press release.

Unlike more upscale restaurants in Dallas, where you're forced to Google half of the ingredients, Ford's relatively straightforward menu includes dishes you're likely familiar with: Pappardelle with bolognese, linguine with shrimp, and butternut squash tortellini are on its pasta list. Pizzas come simple, such as in the margherita, and more inventive, like the pumpkin blossom, ricotta and tomato.

A 32-ounce steak, priced at $75, is an outlier; most pastas cost $12-$13 each. Large plates such as stuffed quail and half chicken are $16 and $19, respectively.

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Casual seems to be key here.

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The restaurant takes over the space inside the upscale Joule hotel that was formerly Charlie Palmer. For a time, chef Ford was set to join chef Greg Bussey in a Modern Texas restaurant called Grasslands. That plan was scrapped; Americano takes its place.

Here, they're doing "a stylish take on Italian," as described by Michael Tregoning of the Headington Cos., which owns the Joule, in a January 2015 Dallas Morning News interview by Karen Robinson-Jacobs.

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The Joule is also home to brasserie CBD Provisions, cocktail den Midnight Rambler and the coffee shop Weekend.

Look inside Americano, one of Dallas' most interesting restaurants opening this fall:

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The menu:

Located at 1530 Main St., Dallas. Hours: Monday - Thursday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday - Saturday 11 a.m. to midnight, Sunday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. americanodallas.com.