Da Mario’s top chef decamps for Fort Worth’s new Sinclair Hotel and steakhouse


DRG Concepts, the owners of Dallas Chop House, Wild Salsa, Chop House Burger and Dallas Fish Market will open a new “modern steakhouse” called Wicked Butcher at the Sinclair Hotel in Fort Worth. The hotel and restaurant will both debut this fall; Wicked Butcher is being marketed as the hotel’s marquee restaurant.

Who’s in the kitchen? Oh, just three familiar names — and a bit of a bombshell.

First, the boom: Luigi Iannuario, a native Italian chef, has decamped Da Mario, the big-deal Italian restaurant in Frisco, to join Wicked Butcher. I like Da Mario a lot, but I’ve been hearing that business there hasn’t been promising for quite some time, so there’s that.

Iannuario is joining two DRG veteran chefs, Richard Triptow and Austin Carlson, to lead Wicked Butcher’s culinary operations.

Wicked will offer premium seafood, dry-aged steaks, game and a raw bar. I’m told to expect cocktails created by Jason Kosmas, sushi, three-inch steaks, plus sides like crawfish maque choux and corn creme brûlée.

Bonus: the 164-room Marriot-flagged hotel will have a rooftop bar, a first for downtown Fort Worth.