Photo by Kelsey Shoemaker.
Parmesan-dusted bread wrapped in red-and-white-checked paper. Hearty Bolognese sauce served over any pasta shape. Dressings made from scratch just hours before they’re drizzled over a salad.
Abruzzo’s may pride itself on being “a little bit of Italy in Oak Cliff,” but here, a little bit goes a long way.
Owners Elias and Maria Dolores Rodriguez met in a restaurant. He was an Oak Cliff boy preparing to enlist in the army. She was a girl from Mexico working in an Oak Cliff diner while visiting her grandmother for the summer.
Their love and sense of partnership came naturally.
Maria Dolores pursued a career in Duncanville ISD, while Elias worked in the engineering and architecture fields after serving in the army overseas.
Twelve years ago, looking for a side gig to occupy their time, they decided to take over the cottage on the corner of Davis and Tyler and open a winery. In 2013, an Italian restaurant in Bishop Arts closed after the owner decided to retire. She offered to sell her menu to the Rodriguezes, who jumped at the opportunity.
During the past 10 years, Elias says he has gained an “extended family” of regular customers who dine in as many as three times a week.
“There’s a sense of satisfaction in providing that service to our clients,” Elias says. “It makes you feel good when someone says ‘Oh, that was a really good meal that we enjoyed.’ And then they come back.”
They have tweaked a few things about that original menu — weeding out redundant dishes and enhancing recipes through techniques or ingredients discovered on trips to Italy.
Unlike some restaurant menus that go on for pages, Abruzzo’s home-style offerings hover around a dozen (not including appetizers, salads or dessert) before specials.
“We’re not all over the map with the menu,” Elias says. “We do have specials, sometimes I’ll create something, and we’ll promote it a week ahead of time just for that one evening to kind of just change it up a little bit and give people another option.”
As far as appetizers go, the calamari steaks break from the tradition of round, bite-sized squid and are served with Abruzzo’s marinara sauce.
The fettuchini alfredo is a best seller, but the lasagna is Abruzzo’s love.
From the four-cheese lasagna to the seafood option, the lasagnas are made from scratch each morning and “if we run out, we run out.” Elias arrives at the restaurant as early as 5 a.m. to make the dish that he could “cook in his sleep, at this point.
And one of Abruzzo’s salad dressings (all of which are made in-house) has a cult-like following, Maria Dolores says.
“We have a basil dressing that (customers have) been asking us to sell and bottle, and I always say ‘No, because then you’ll stop coming,’” she says.
Even after 10 years of proprietorship, Elias finds himself brimming with enthusiasm and ideas for the restaurant.
Perhaps Abruzzo’s will one day host a wine festival in the restaurant’s tiny parking lot or a dinner service where fettuccine is served straight out of a giant cheese wheel, he says.
And when he thinks about his next trip to Italy, he sees himself in a white chef ’s coat, sleeves rolled up with tomatoes and seasonings swirling, learning the tricks of the trade from a bona fide Italian chef.
Abruzzo’s is closed Sundays and Mondays, and open the rest of the week only for dinner service. The reason for the 5 p.m. open: those pesky full-time jobs.
The restaurant is a passion project and semi-retirement plan.
“We’ve been married for 35 years, and I think as you start to age, you begin to appreciate things in life and share things with your significant other. And this is something that has actually helped us grow a little bit closer,” Elias says.
“Honestly, I don’t know what we would do without the restaurant. I don’t care if we ever make any money, but you’ve gotta love it.”
