There’s no place like Deep Ellum on a beautiful, sunny afternoon, especially this time of year when the trees have filled their branches with bright green leaves before the summer heat hits us.
One place to enjoy that weather is on the patio of Postino on Main Street. The restaurant marks one year this month in the neighborhood, where customers have been enjoying bruschetta, wine, beer and more at the bar, in the dining room and on the patio.
While Postino has locations in five states, the company works to “move into neighborhoods that are rich in culture, music and arts,” says Dallas manager Quin Silvernail, which is why Deep Ellum became the Dallas home.
The space features roll-away garage-style doors behind the bar, so the air flows from the patio inside, as does the light, which fills the dining room with a pleasant light that makes you want to linger. Alongside one wall are prints of concert tickets — a nod to Deep Ellum, Silvernail says. (Other locations, such as one in Denver, which has a wall of sunglasses.)
The food menu starts with “snacky things.” The sweet potato wedges are a must-order with Calabrian chile-tahini, sesame seed and chive. They’re baked and slightly crispy on the outside with a pillowy inside, and they hold up when you swipe a wedge through the addicting tahini.
The boards and bruschetta are the main portion of the menu, where you can choose four types of bruschetta among the more than 10 options. Silvernail, who has been with the Postino company since 2012, loves going for the brie, apple and fig spread.
“There’s the crisp, refreshing apple, the savory, creamy brie and the sweet, tart, fig jam, it’s just perfect,” he says.
You also can’t go wrong with the chef’s charcuterie, where you’ll get the chef’s pick of cheese, whipped ricotta, Calabrian honey, brie with fig jam, creamy cambozola, honey and walnut served with crostini and lavash bread.
A solid lunch is also going for a soup and/or salad — check out the soup of the moment, try the crisp Brussels sprouts salad and the roasted turkey panini with provolone, tomato, mixed greens and a house pesto.
The food is good, but what makes you want to come back here is the vibe: The natural light flowing through the space, the refreshing air and the relaxed but knowledgeable staff is what this place is about. Your server will know the wine list well, and they’re not going to make you feel lesser than if you don’t know a red from a white.
And if you’re still not talked into it, Postino has a happy hour until 5 p.m. each day with $6 glasses of wine and $6 pitchers of beer. If you visit after 8 p.m. on a Monday or Tuesday, try a bruschetta board and a bottle of wine for $25.
Brunch is another worthy time to visit with menu items such as a croque monsieur or madame, toast topped with scrambled egg, crema, white truffle, crispy oyster mushroom and Parmesan and smoked salmon carpaccio. Do your table a favor and order the delicious cast iron sticky bread.
“Our mission is simple: To make people feel good,” Silvernail says, and that’s from customers to employees.
You’ll notice employees don’t have a dress code — in fact, they don’t even have a set schedule, they come when they want to work.
“Everyone is here because they want to be,” Silvernail says.
Postino is located at 2639 Main St., No. 130, and is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to midnight Friday, 9 a.m. to midnight Saturday and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. Brunch served 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
