Chef and restaurateur Tim Love—best known for brawny Texas flavors at his eateries, which include Lonesome Dove, in Forth Worth and Austin—has gone rogue: he’s opened an Italian restaurant in Fort Worth. But because the Denton native has a reputation to uphold, the menu is sprinkled with Texas touches: venison porchetta, chile-rubbed lamb chops, jalapeño basil pesto, and brisket pizza. The indoor-outdoor venue, which began service this week, sits across the Trinity River in a small building that most recently housed a couple of short-lived joints, Thurber Mingus and Froggy’s. Completely refurbished, the site now houses Gemelle, which seats eighty inside and out and features bocce courts, a small stage, and a long table where kitchen workers make pasta in real time. There’s also an emerald-green lawn (made of artificial turf) and extensive vegetable gardens (those are real). The restaurant’s name means twins in Italian, but it doesn’t refer to the well-known pasta (that’s gemelli). Instead the reference is to Anna and Ella, the sixteen-year-old twin daughters of Tim and his wife, Emilie. The teens will be helping out as hostesses as often as they can. Gemelle, 4400 White Settlement Rd, Fort Worth, 817-732-9535. Lunch Fri–Sun; dinner 7 days.
First Look: Tim Love Opens His First Italian Restaurant, Gemelle
The Fort Worth eatery, named in honor of his twin daughters, includes bocce courts and vegetable gardens. You’ll also find a Texas twist on Italian classics.
The colors of Tim Love’s alma mater, the University of Tennessee, are orange and white, which explains a lot. Gemelle is Love’s ninth restaurant, joining a retinue spread across three states and five cities. The mainstays include his steakhouse/bistro Lonesome Dove, the Woodshed Smokehouse, the White Elephant Saloon, and an open-air bar and burger stand named the Love Shack.
Photograph by Kelsey Wilson
“Emilie and I took the family”—twins Ella and Anna (pictured) and son Tannahill—to Italy last summer,” says Love. “We hit Rome and Florence and had one of the best meals of our lives at La Conca del Sogno, on the Amalfi coast. The kids were old enough to really appreciate the culture—we went to zero Hard Rock Cafes!”
Photograph by Kelsey Wilson
Gemelle's lobster spaghetti is already one of the most popular items. The generous chunks of langoustine come from the Mediterranean; ditto the recipe, which includes lobster stock, tomatoes, and a touch of garlic. “We punch it up with Calabrian chiles,” says Love. “They’re bright red and pretty intense—for an Italian pepper.”
Photograph by Kelsey Wilson
The patio, shaded in the late afternoon by massive trees, is a welcome retreat. At a distance you can watch your kids playing bocce, ping pong, or foosball. Closer at hand, there are vegetable gardens to envy. And if conversation falters, you can always watch pasta being rolled out on a massive trestle table that looks like it was salvaged from "Game of Thrones."
Photograph by Kelsey Wilson
Gemelle’s puffy, rectangular Detroit-style pizza is a tribute to Love’s wife, who was raised in Michigan. Of the six toppings offered, the one with brisket and a home-grown-chile peperonata is probably the most Texan. The most old-country is the margherita, topped with Italian mozzarella and basil picked fresh from the restaurant’s garden.
Photograph by Kelsey Wilson
“I love Italian food,” says Love. “And I’ve been to Italy a bunch. But it took getting to know and work with [New York restaurateur] Joe Bastianich and his mom, Lidia [the TV personality and cookbook author] before I felt like I was actually capable of doing my own place.”
Photograph by Kelsey Wilson
The restaurant’s hallmark is a silhouette of two young girls with their ponytails entwined, an image reminiscent of old-fashioned school art projects. “My mother saved several of these silhouettes of her children,” says Love. “They’re what inspired it.” The distinctive shape is used throughout the restaurant, including on the monogrammed white cocktail and dinner napkins.
Photograph by Kelsey Wilson
You’re never far from an adult beverage—or a kid’s beverage, for that matter—at Gemelle. You’ll even find them down on the lawn among the ball courts at this compact bar done up in Love’s favorite orange and white color scheme. Next to it is a small neon-lit stage that will host music occasionally.
Photograph by Kelsey Wilson
Thanks to massive spring rains, the gardens have gone crazy. “We’re growing okra, squash, white eggplants, and twelve different kinds of tomatoes,” says Love. “Plus parsley, basil, and spinach. There are artichokes in the corners. We also have day lilies, which are edible, and sunflowers, which aren’t—but they look great. And lots and lots of chiles.”
Photograph by Kelsey Wilson
The five choices on the dessert menu will rotate with the seasons, but for the summer, the Meyer lemon semifreddo with fresh berries is “off the charts,” says Love. Other options include a vanilla affogato and a butterscotch budino—the creamy Italian pudding—with caramel and Mediterranean salt.
Photograph by Kelsey Wilson
“It was a funky old building” when we took it over, says Love. But they managed to dress it up. He found the white marble tops for the tables and the brown leather banquettes in Austin, and he hired a man to stencil the concrete floor in a pink, dark green, and white geometric pattern.
Photograph by Kelsey Wilson
To be honest, the little building didn’t have a lot going for it. But designer Justin Seitz of Seitz Design Ltd.—a Dallas firm known for upscale residential interiors—managed to give the inside a touch of class without completely negating the old-school vibe of the burger joint that last occupied the premises.
Photograph by Kelsey Wilson
Outside seating includes the highly desirable cabanas with green striped awnings, each with a comfy white sofa or lounge (here called a day bed) on the side. You can eat there if you make reservations in advance. And if you don’t mind the action on the very nearby bocce courts.
Photograph by Kelsey Wilson
First Look: Tim Love Opens His First Italian Restaurant, Gemelle
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