Partenope Ristorante, from two Cane Rosso veterans, opens in downtown Dallas with pizzas, pastas, dishes from Naples, Italy

Former Cane Rosso veterans Dino and Megan Santonicola now have their own Naples, Italy-inspired restaurant in downtown Dallas.

The husband-and-wife team have opened Partenope Ristorante in the space formally slated for an Italian restaurant from the group behind the adjacent Dallas Chop House. That team abandoned the restaurant midway through its construction, which Dino says offered him an affordable opportunity to bring his thin crust pizzas, fresh pastas and Neapolitan dishes to downtown.

Dino, a Naples, Italy native, is no stranger to cooking. While in Naples, Dino won a gold medal at the 20102 Pizza Olympics. For several years, he was the culinary director of Cane Rosso, the area’s first VPN pizza temple. That’s where he met Megan, also a veteran restaurateur.

Megan was the food and beverage director at the Hotel Palomar and Central 214 for four years then guided the operations of Cane Rosso for seven years before leaving to join her husband in this new venture.

The 4,000 square-foot restaurant is located on the ground floor of the historic Tiche-Goettinger building, once a prominent department store in the city.

Now home to Partenope and a few hundred apartments, the restaurant is outfitted with a handmade pizza oven imported from Naples; a full-service, 12-seat bar; a private dining room; and a casual, comfortable main dining room that seats 100. Menu items include 10 thin-crust pizzas, fresh and imported pastas and a mostly Italian wine list. Don’t look for true VPN pizzas; those require a wood-fired oven rather than the gas-fueled version installed at Partenope.

The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner daily.

1900 Main St, Suite 102, (214) 463-6222