A Taste of Italy

New downtown restaurant to recreate Italian villa

By Marit Adams
The Amarillo Independent

As downtown begins to flourish, old buildings are being renovated, adding light to once-darkened rooms.

Tommy Wilson stands outside his planned restaurant at Seventh and Taylor. (Photo by Ralph Duke)

One of those buildings is the old John Fountain - Tailor building that will host a restaurant and art gallery, said Tommy Wilson as he toured the recently gutted building that will soon become an Italian restaurant at Seventh and Taylor.

"I saw potential." said Wilson, owner of Napoli's Restaurant. “I wanted this to be a destination spot, to bring a lot of culture and help bring urban living to Amarillo."

He added that the building is 97 years old and needed a lot of work. The floors in one room were completely caved in from years of neglect.

Diners will see more than their menus and other diners sitting in an ornate restaurant.

"There will be five antique chandeliers hanging with hand-blown glass," he said.

"Also, I'm having some of the walls knocked out so that the kitchen can be seen from the dining area."

Inside seating won't be the only alteration.

"The back patio still has these huge trees and vines that we are going to keep, but almost everything else will be removed and redone to look like an old Italian villa," Wilson said. “There will even be a jazz stage along with an outdoor bar."

The head chef, who has opened restaurants in Italy and Los Angeles, will feature meals with an Italian ambience — including a lobster ravioli.

Italian food won't be the only art served up at Napoli's.

The East Seventh Gallery will be attached to the restaurant.

Curator Billy Lofton plans on bringing a wide variety of artwork to the new gallery, Lofton said Saturday in a separate interview.

Several months worth of art exhibits are already lined up, Lofton said, adding the gallery is slated to open at the end of September.

Parking won't be a problem, either.

Part of the building has been torn down because it wasn't cost-effective to renovate and that ground floor area will be used for parking once the restaurant is completed in late September, Wilson said.

"The outside of the building was really dilapidated," said David Strange, the building's owner. “Center City was gracious enough to give us $20,000 of the $100,000 needed to remodel the building."

George Schwarz contributed to this story.

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Posted: September 6, 2007