Two Italian entrepreneurs with Seattle roots will open fast-casual pasta shop Due’ Cucina in Dallas.
The first restaurant is expected to open in August 2024 in Lakewood, near Abrams Road and La Vista Drive, as first reported by What Now Dallas.
Due’ Cucina has a sweet origin story, of two Italian guys who went to high school together. But there’s a business story here, too, as the two have roots at Amazon and in nuclear science. Co-founders Davide Macchi and Filippo Fiori scored a $2.5 million investment from a Houston-based company to expand their Seattle-based Italian concept to three addresses in Texas, according to Geek Wire.
All three of those Texas restaurants will be in Dallas-Fort Worth, Macchi said.
He tells The Dallas Morning News he wants Due’ Cucina to be the Shake Shack of Italian food. The Street made another analogy: It’s “Chipotle for pasta.”
“People say we are classic tech bros,” Macchi said. He bristles at the idea. Yes, Fiori has a Ph.D in nuclear engineering, and yes, Macchi has an MBA and has worked at Amazon. Macchi said they had a bright idea, to bring quick Italian food to an American audience, and they “opened the restaurant and went into debt” in 2017 in Seattle.
The restaurant has grown to four locations in Seattle, with one more under construction now in Redmond, Wash. Macchi believes Texas is the next big move. The renovation in Lakewood will convert the former Unleavened Fresh Kitchen, which closed in late 2022, into an Italian restaurant with an $250,000 upgrade.
The restaurants are small and tech-forward, utilizing self-service kiosks. Behind the counter is the “pasta lab,” where Macchi said he wants customers to “see what we are doing.”
What to eat at Due’ Cucina
Macchi said he and Fiori miss the trattorias in Italian towns big and small.
“We miss the real experience,” he said: “Amazing food, 100% made from scratch and can be consumed in an informal fashion.”
Menus won’t vary much from Washington State to Texas. The short rib ragù and bolognese ragù are two of Macchi’s favorites, and pasta is clearly the star here, with all of it made in-house.
Prices don’t change from lunch to dinner, and the priciest dish will be less than $15, he said. Those who dine in might start with appetizers like arancini or burrata. The restaurant also sells wine, negronis and espresso drinks.
Delivery and to-go will be a significant portion of the business — 40% on average at the other locations, Macchi said. “We are your weekly or biweekly stop for Italian,” he said.
From Italy to Seattle to Dallas. Why?
Macchi, who was born and raised in Italy, moved from Seattle to Dallas to expand Due’ Cucina. He now lives near Goodfriend Beer Garden & Burger House in East Dallas.
He has two kids, ages 2 and 4, and he said he wants to open a restaurant where his kids — and others — can eat the Italian food he grew up with.
“It could have been anywhere,” he said of Due’ Cucina’s next steps. He and Fiori considered Phoenix and Salt Lake City.
“We started saying, ‘Where do we want to live?’”
Dallas felt like the right fit for his family, he said.
What’s next for this bright-eyed company?
Macchi wants to “prove we can feed the market” in Dallas.
And then? He has big dreams for Due’ Cucina, which is part restaurant, part food-tech startup. Once they’re up to eight or nine restaurants, they’ll raise more money to expand.
Due’ Cucina is expected to open at 1900 Abrams Road, Dallas, in August 2024. It will be the first, but likely not the last, in Dallas.