Lexington lacking great Italian? Horseman making fine-dining bet on ‘Restaurant Row’
A new fine-dining restaurant is coming to Lexington’s downtown “Restaurant Row” on Short Street, with ties to the the horse racing business.
Florida Thoroughbred owner, breeder and trainer Carlo Vaccarezza will open a Lexington location of Frank & Dino’s, his popular Boca Raton restaurant.
After looking at multiple locations in town, Vaccarezza is going with 271 West Short St., right in the heart of the downtown dining district. Frank & Dino’s will take over the ground floor, with demolition starting later this month.
The new restaurant will join Shakespeare & Co., Creaux, Dudley’s on Short, Zim’s, Corto Lima and more and be a block away from the 21c Museum Hotel and its restaurant, Lockbox.
The new Marriott City Center’s ItalX will be coming on Main Street, as will three more new restaurants on Short Street: The Horse and Jockey, an Irish gastropub across the street; Roulay, a Creole place down the block; and a new concept from the owner of The Village Idiot just across Mill Street.
“I was in the restaurant business for many many years and racing was always my passion,” Vaccarezza said. “And I was lucky enough to breed a very good horse, Little Mike, who won the Breeders’ Cup Turf (2012). Horse racing has been in my blood ever since I can remember.”
Vaccarezza said he hopes to have the new place open in time for the Keeneland yearling sale in September.
It will mirror the Florida location, with a menu of authentic Italian dishes (Vaccarezza is a native of Genoa, Italy’s sixth largest city) and an atmosphere that has the “Rat Pack” appeal of 1950s America. The restaurant will feature appropriate live music most days of the week.
Eventually Frank & Dino’s will be open for lunch and dinner with upscale prices.
The menu will include antipasti, salads, fish, chicken, veal, lamp and pork. And, of course, pasta.
Like the Fagottini Sinatra of “purse pasta filled with mascarpone and Parmesan cheese, pears and topped with a gorgonzola sauce with asparagus tips and toasted almonds.”
Or the Ravioli Della Nonna of “homemade ravioli, cream, butter, Parmesan cheese, a pinch of nutmeg and a touch of tomato.”
One thing the restaurant won’t do: Steak. The niche is strictly high-end, traditional southern Italian cuisine.
“I think there’s room for great Italian in Lexington. You’ve got tremendous steakhouses but there’s a lack of, for better words, a kind of a fine-dining Italian restaurant in Lexington. There aren’t that many, and the ones there are, more like Italian-American,” Vaccarezza said. “I’m not here to bash any other restaurant. Usually when I go to Kentucky to the sales I eat at Tony’s. Couple times I went to Malone’s and Jeff Ruby’s. I haven’t experienced Italian in Lexington much. I eat in Dudley’s but it’s not even close to being an Italian restaurant.”
The opening will depend in part on how long it takes to renovate to what was built as a bank with soaring ceilings and marble everywhere.
The 115-year-old building at 271 West Short, known as the Security Trust Building, sold in August for $4.5 million to a partnership that includes David Kloiber and Jay King of John King Insurance on Cheapside.
King said that most of the building is occupied by offices of lawyers, longtime tenants who will be staying put. But the partners felt the ground floor was a great opportunity.
“We kind of had a vision of putting in something like a restaurant. It’s a high visibility and high traffic location,” King said. “I spend every day down here and I had a feeling that with what downtown Lexington has to offer now with the new hotels this would be a great chance to take advantage of that as a retail space. ... Especially with more people coming from out of town for the new convention center.”
The historic property “has got a lot of charm and it’s a beautiful building. I’m looking forward to letting people see what it has to offer.”
