Urban Italia Brings Chef Carla Pellegrino’s Italia-Merica Cuisine to Victory Park
<p>When the Tivona Group opened Sanjh last year in Irving, it felt like a statement that Dallas diners were ready for fine dining with cultural depth. Now the hospitality group is turning its gaze toward something closer to home: the neighborhood Italian restaurant, reimagined. On January 9, Tivona will debut Urban Italia, a bold, nostalgic, and lovingly rendered tribute to Italian-American cooking in Victory Park.
The new restaurant is led by Chef Carla Pellegrino, the Brazilian-born, Italian-raised chef best known for her turn at Rao’s Las Vegas and her own restaurants Bratalian and Bacio. Pellegrino calls what she’s doing here “Italia-Merica food,” the dishes that Italian immigrants created in their new kitchens—spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parmesan, steak pizzaiola—when they were trying to bring a taste of home to a new world. “They made do with what they had, more meat, more garlic, whatever was fresh,” she says. “At Urban Italia, we’re serving nostalgia, making sure these classics are made with care, with great ingredients, and with the kind of love that started it all.”
That philosophy runs through the menu, which balances refinement with comfort. Hand-tossed pizzas come from a wood-fired oven, layered with combinations that feel both traditional and contemporary. There’s a Pizza Bianca with San Daniele prosciutto, arugula, and white truffle oil, a Capricciosa topped with roasted zucchini, eggplant, shiitake, and Taggiasca olives, and the classic Margherita, naturally, with buffalo mozzarella and basil.
Pastas are made in-house and show Pellegrino’s deftness with texture and sauce. Fettuccine al Ragù Bolognese comes slow-cooked with veal, beef, and pork, while Shrimp Fra Diavolo carries the kind of gentle heat you remember long after the plate is cleared. Cappelletti with artichokes and Parma prosciutto arrives in a light cream sauce that’s more whisper than wave.
The entrées are a study in balance: Chicken Milanese topped with arugula and heirloom tomato salad, Chilean Sea Bass Mediterranea roasted with Taggiasca olives and teardrop tomatoes, Salmon Harissa with a Moroccan-spiced tomato sauce, and American Wagyu Sirloin Au Poivre finished with cognac and cracked peppercorns.
To match Pellegrino’s cooking, Tivona turned to award-winning mixologist Yangdup Lama for a beverage program that plays with Italian flavors in contemporary ways. Signature cocktails include the Milano Bianco with gin, bitter bianco, grapefruit, and Campari air, and the Amalfi Highball with vodka, Italicus, limoncello, and cranberry. There’s also the Sicilia Espresso Martini that swaps the usual vodka for mezcal and infuses Marsala with fig and hazelnut. Even the mocktails take a turn toward creativity with lemon basil spritzes and hazelnut cold brew shakeratos.
Designed by Fusion AE, the 5,500-square-foot space seats 250 guests across a bright dining room, an indoor-outdoor bar, and a patio inspired by the Italian coast. Warm woods and sunlit tones give it the relaxed ease of a Mediterranean evening, while the open kitchen and sleek bar make it clear this is modern Dallas dining.
“Italia-Merica cuisine is about connection—heritage, emotion, and comfort,” says Sanjay Joshi, CEO and president of Tivona Group. “Chef Carla brings authenticity and warmth to every dish. With Urban Italia, we’re creating an experience that feels both soulful and sophisticated, one that celebrates tradition through a fresh, modern lens.”
Urban Italia opens for dinner January 9 at 3030 Nowitzki Way in Victory Park. Lunch service will debut later this year. Reservations are available now at theurbanitalia.com/reservations.