Texas-based Italian restaurant sets Scottsdale opening date

A popular Texas-born, Italian-inspired restaurant backed by Hillstone alumni is set to open in Scottsdale next month. Il Bracco will make its Arizona debut just south of Gainey Ranch on March 30. 

Restaurant group Western Addition built the space from the ground up along Scottsdale Road at Rose Lane. This 5,000-square-foot, 165-seat eatery is il Bracco’s third outpost. The upscale Italian restaurant will serve lunch and dinner daily, and reservations are now open online.

The restaurant has built a reputation in Texas for its housemade pastas and sandwiches, which are served alongside hearty burgers and steaks.

On a sunny morning in Scottsdale earlier this year, the Western Addition team shared a preview of il Bracco. As Robert Quick, his wife Mary Lucille Quick and Matt Gottlieb walked through their forthcoming restaurant, the trio pointed out details that have been recently installed. There are windows that offer a view into the kitchen and bakery, a pasta extruder to shape the restaurant’s handmade noodles, a fryer exclusively used for crisping baby artichokes and a cutting station in the walk-in cooler to break down fish and meat.

“It’s a big deal for us to come out here, and we’re really excited that Scottsdale is our first out-of-Texas market,” Robert Quick said.

As he walked through the building, pointing out details and rattling off how they source ingredients and prepare dishes at their other two Italian restaurants, he called their approach “a little absurd, a little obsessive.” Prior to founding the restaurant group, Quick worked as a chef for the acclaimed Thomas Keller and managed kitchens for Hillstone Restaurant Group. 

With il Bracco, the team has manifested their penchant for “nerding out” over food, service and timeless interiors, said Mary Lucille, Robert’s wife and the group’s VP of design. Just because they like to get into the weeds doesn’t mean diners have to, Robert noted.

“For us, it’s very complicated, thoughtful food that we hope the guest isn’t thinking too much about,” he explained. “We don’t want the food to come across as fussy.”

What to expect at il Bracco

Western Addition opened the first il Bracco in Dallas in 2019, followed by a Houston location in 2022. The restaurant group also runs Bobbie’s Airway Grill in Dallas and Balboa Surf Club in Houston.

Il Bracco serves plates brimming with housemade pastas tossed with spicy vodka sauce or a beef, pork and lamb bolognese. Diners also favor fried baby artichokes and chicken piccata paired with a kale salad. Those join entrees of pan-seared sea bass with mint gremolata and eggplant parmesan. 

Some American fare has a place on the menu, too. That includes a center-cut filet and a cheeseburger topped with aged provolone, Calabrian chilies, arugula, fennel and red onions. 

“Dallas and Houston, and certainly Scottsdale, are steakhouse towns,” Robert Quick said. “A lot of our most devoted clientele in Texas will claim to the world that we have the best steaks in town.”

Even in the burger, some of the restaurant group’s obsession shines through, adds Gottlieb, Western Addition’s chief operating officer and fellow Hillstone alumnus. Beef gets ground in-house daily, buns are baked fresh and the provolone is sliced on site to spec.

“Even though we’re Italian, I think the burger’s just a great example of the freshness, the quality, the commitment, the detail,” Gottlieb said.

The restaurateurs will roll out exclusive dishes for the Scottsdale location. The team also started sourcing coffee, honey and olive oil locally. The kitchen, which will be on view for diners, will use Queen Creek Olive Mill extra virgin olive oil to finish dishes, including its Italian sundae.

The popular dessert starts with scoops of vanilla ice cream, which are topped with whipped cream, pistachios and “a very liberal amount of extra virgin olive oil on top,” Quick said.

Because il Bracco doesn’t hew exclusively to Italian fare, Quick noted that it’s the kind of place people visit regularly for different occasions, be it a lunch meeting, a family dinner or a date night.

Mary Lucille describes the look and feel of the space as “Italian modernist villa.” It will feature terrazzo floors, a travertine bar, wood paneling and marble. She has also curated a collection of artworks to display around the space by artists including Derrick Velasquez, Matt Kleberg, David Byrne, Tal R, Vija Celmins, Tony Berlant and Gene Friley.

“We kind of wanted it to feel vacation-inspired and to bring in those mid-century, quintessential Italian elements,” she said. “We’re not doing Venetian over-the-top opulent. It’s definitely a cleaner look.”

When diners walk into il Bracco, they’ll see both the kitchen and the bar, “so you feel that energy as soon as you come through the door,” Quick said. The bar gives way to a large dining room and an expansive patio boasting a fireplace.

The restaurant has garnered fans in Texas. It’s among Dallas’ most booked spots on the reservation app OpenTable and among the Dallas Observer’s favorite Italian restaurants. (The Observer is a sister publication of Phoenix New Times.)

Il Bracco also has the unique distinction of selling more Aperol than any other restaurant in north Texas. The Italian apertivo is used in the restaurant’s titular cocktail, a frozen riff on a greyhound, which also features gin and fresh grapefruit.

The restaurant’s bar also boasts a taut wine list that features both domestic and Italian wines, including the country’s holy trinity of Barolo, Brunello and Barbaresco.

In a town known for stellar Italian restaurants, the il Bracco team hopes to stand out with more than its food and bar.

“Our philosophy of hospitality is to find a way to say yes,” Gottlieb said, “and find every little opportunity we can to go above and beyond.”

il Bracco

Opens on March 30
6160 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale