Rick Press/dfw.com
Kim Tran, owner of Picchi Pacchi Italian restaurant in downtown Fort Worth.
As of April 1, Picchi Pacchi, the quick Italian lunchspot on the corner of 5th and Main in downtown Fort Worth will look and taste quite a bit different.
Owner Kim Tran -- whose face you've seen behind the counter for about 15 years -- sold the restaurant to Al Muric, the current owner of Sammy's Pizza and Pasta, just around the corner on Houston Street.
Muric actually worked for Tran 13 years ago, and she was confident he could keep the restaurant running. (Tran, who already runs a laundry near the Stockyards, is opening up a car wash there.)
Muric says the name Picchi Pacchi will still hold, but "I'm changing the whole atmosphere."
Look for a menu nearly identical to Sammy's, which serves pizza, spaghetti, gyros, chicken piccata and heckuva lot more. The only Sammy's item you won't find on the new Picchi Pacchi menu: paninis. Muric said he figures that Picchi Pacchi's across-the-street neighbor, Corner Bakery, has that market covered.
Picchi Pacchi will also get Sammy's extended hours: open from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays through Thursday; and 11 a.m. until 3 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays (yes, that's 3 in the morning -- we had no idea Sammy's was opened that late); closed Sundays.
Also look for big interior changes, Muric says, adding that remodeling is already under way (after hours as we speak, they're slapping on yellow paint on the restaurant's upstairs walls). He says the new Picchi Pacchi will have a Tuscany flavor to it, with earthy, but brighter colors and new furniture.
So, as we wait for the Sammy's ethos to take hold on the corner of 5th and Main, be sure to stop in to Picchi Pacchi before April 1, and bid farewell to that familiar face who kept your belly warm, full and happy for 15 years.
Thanks, Ms. Tran. We'll miss you.
