When B.B. Italia Kitchen & Bar opens this week, Houston will finally get to taste the Italian restaurant that owner Benjamin Berg had in his mind when he first acquired the former Carmelo’s on Memorial near the Energy Corridor.

The path to B.B. Italia’s opening on May 2, however, wasn’t without its setbacks. Berg acquired the space at 14795 Memorial in late 2017 and reopened it a week after Carmelo’s closed on Christmas Day 2017. Along with his brother and partner, chef Daniel Berg, the restaurateur known for his B&B Butchers & Restaurant and B.B. Lemon renamed the restaurant Carmelo’s Cucina Italia with a big new menu and major plans for remodeling. That was in spring of 2018.

During that time Berg Hospitality Group was busy: it opened a B&B Butchers in Fort Worth and a new concept, B.B. Lemon, in the Washington Corridor in Houston. Carmelo’s, meanwhile, was looking to find its audience as it dealt with its renovation plans.

The Bergs apparently said basta, and closed Carmelo’s Cucina Italia in January 2019 with plans to reopen with a new concept and name.

“Daniel and I promise to reopen with a new and improved concept that we are confident will be received well by the community,” Benjamin Berg said at the time.

For the Berg brothers, B.B. Italia is a fresh start on their goal for creating a contemporary version of a classic Italian-American restaurant. Daniel Berg’s menu offers upscale takes on checkerboard-tablecloth Italian-American dining with iconic dishes such as shrimp fra diavolo, veal chop parmigiana, lasagna and spaghetti and meatballs. The menu is completely different from the Bergs’ Carmelo’s days.

A pasta connoisseur, Berg and his team are making all pastas in house daily. Pasta options include shells with hot Italian sausage and mini meatballs in a Sunday ragu; tagliatelle with veal Bolognese; linguine with shrimp scampi; rigatoni with spicy vodka sauce; fettuccini Alfredo; bell-shaped pasta carbonara; linguine with clam sauce; three-cheese ravioli in gorgonzola sauce with pecans; Grandma’s Ravioli stuffed with short ribs and glossed with a mushroom and Marsala sauce; and a 20-layer lasagna.

Other entrees: Eggplant parmigiana; chicken parmigiana; chicken with hot Italian sausage and peppers; Italian fried chicken with garlic and Calabrian peppers set on Italian grits; salmon piccata; Chianti-braised short ribs on whipped potatoes; jumbo diver scallops saltimbocca; and pork ribs glazed in a hot Italian cherry pepper sauce.

Starters and salads will include whipped ricotta with grilled bread; beef carpaccio; crab fingers sautéed in oregano, garlic, parsley and breadcrumbs; fried zucchini; fried mozzarella; prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella; minestrone; Caprese salad; roasted beets, oranges, fennel and candied pistachio salad; and antipasto salad with salami, provolone and cherry peppers.

B.B. Pizza, meanwhile, is a separate operation with its own substantial menu of 12- and 16-inch pizzas. And more: hot calzones, sub sandwiches (chicken parmigiana, eggplant parmigiana, meatballs, sausage and peppers, Italian cold cut combo, roast beef), salads, meatballs, fried calamari, fried zucchini and garlic knots.

B.B. Italia’s 8,000-square-foot space has been redecorated in a modern design with a dining room that can seat 100 and a 20-seat horseshoe-shape bar (the bar area also has booths and high-top tables) and boxwood-lined patio for al fresco dining. There are six semi-private and private rooms, too.

Berg Hospitality staff are lending their talents to the new Italian enterprise: B.B. Lemon’s beverage director Monique Cioffi-Hernandez has created a cocktail menu and B&B Butcher’s sommelier Lexey Johnson is rolling out an Italian wine list with bottles priced between $30 and $300.

Source:https://www.chron.com/entertainment/restaurants-bars/article/Houston-s-Berg-Hospitality-Group-opens-two-new-13803665.php