There's a culinary synergy connected to the historic Fairmount Hotel. Two restaurants. Two different eating experiences. One space.
401 S. Alamo Street landed Nonna Osteria and Silo Prime last year. The restaurants combine the food muscle of Chef Luca Della Casa and San Antonio's resident restaurant dynasty the Silo Group.
"Noona is an Italian restaurant," Della Casa said.
Italian food isn't exactly a stretch from the former American football player turned chef and Food Network Star finalist. He is a native of Torino, Italy.
"Nonna means grandmother in Italian," he said. "We really wanted to give the feeling of grandma preparing food."
They call the place 'Nonna's' for short. The osteria portion simply means they serve wine and a straightforward menu.
He said Silo Prime is a more elevated experience.
"It's a steakhouse with a focus on amazing protein meat or fish," Della Casa said.
The eateries are offering a dinner-only menu special during San Antonio's restaurant week. Neighborhood Eats was provided with a sample from both establishments.
The Nonna's taste test started with arancini: Tomato and sweet pea risotto in a breaded Italian ball afloat in a creamy parmesan cheese sauce. ¡Qué Rico!
Ricotta and olive ravoli was next on the sampler: Stuffed ravoli with kalamata olives, tomato sauce and herbs. Wonderful!
From the menu of Silo Prime, Neighborhood Eats was introduced to their baked French Onion soup crowned with melted gruyere cheese. ¡Qué Rico!
The horseradish crusted Atlantic salmon with couscous, roasted vegetables and heirloom beurre blanc was good too.
There was still room to try their double cut natural pork chop over creamy cheddar grits dripping with mushroom marsala sauce. ¡Qué Rico!
Della Casa finished off the sampling with a slice of Torts Della Nonna (On both menus). It's a lemon custard tart with pine nuts dusted with powdered sugar. The dessert is placed on top of swirls of red wine caramel sauce. ¡Qué Rico!
Restaurant week concludes on January 27.
If you have a suggestion for Marvin send him an email (Mhurst@kens5.com), tweet (@Mhurstkens5) or post it on his Facebook page. #KENS5EATS