Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Girling.
Hi Scott, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
After graduating from the culinary school of Fort Worth, I decided to further my education by enrolling at the Italian Culinary Institute in Calabria, Italy, and explore my family’s roots. After spending 6 months abroad with full immersion in Italian gastronomy, I returned to DFW. There I did the line cook shuffle working at various restaurants before landing a sous chef gig at the Grape Restaurant in Dallas, working under Chef/Owner Brian Luscher and Chef de Cuisine Sarah Chastain. Following three great years at The Grape, I left to take a little break and do more casual cooking, taking a job at Local Pint in Flower Mound working for friends and owners Phillip Coleman and Anna Borland. Here, in an unlikely place, the Italian restaurant dream slowly started becoming a reality. Prior to the pandemic, we started doing fresh pasta pop-up dinners every Tuesday night. Every Tuesday got busier and busier as word of mouth spread. When the pandemic hit, we started doing three-course Italian dinners every Tuesday and would sell upwards of 60 to 70 a night. Phones would ring of the hook, and guests lined up outside; it was quite humbling. After seeing the success and demand, my wife Desiree and I sat down to start making the dream of owning a restaurant a reality. My wife and I met in Denton, so the city has always been near and dear to our hearts. After 2 long years later of searching for the ideal location, we signed the lease of a small cottage house near downtown Denton. In November of 2021, I was lucky enough to meet James Hoger, who immediately stepped into the role of General Manager and hit the ground running. We hired what we feel is an all-star staff in both the front and back of the house. Every employee had their footprint in the opening with ideas and how to make things work and run smoothly. In April, Nilmarie Toledo joined the team and gave me the total package sous chef to lean on. We take a lot of pride in the work the staff does with their incredible attention to detail and hunger for always wanting to learn. It’s really what makes this place so unique, and I can honestly say I’ve never seen a staff with this much drive.
After being open 8 months, we’ve become reservation only from the high demand and limited seating, something I never thought would happen. It’s definitely nice knowing exactly how many covers you’re doing on a nightly basis when you make everything daily and try to limit waste. Our menu is rather small, with fresh pastas being the driving force in addition to a nightly special. We make everything in-house from breads, pastas, and salumi/salami. We try to keep things rather authentic but also like to incorporate fun seasonal dishes with whatever we can get from local farms and vendors.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Every restaurant has their hiccups. Obviously opening a restaurant during a pandemic had its complications, and we were learning a lot on the fly. One of our big challenges in being reservation only and small seating capacity is we really rely on everyone showing up to their reservations which has been difficult at times because of Covid. It can be frustrating at times, especially with no-shows, since we prep accordingly for how many covers we have that night and really try to limit waste. Luckily it hasn’t been a daily occurrence, and the majority of guests have been able to give us at least 24 hours notice which makes it a lot easier to fill the open table.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I’m going to continue to preach about our team. I think a restaurant is only as successful as the team behind it. It’s such a hard industry to work in, and having a good staff that can lean on each other physically, mentally, and emotionally will almost always be successful. The amount of effort and dedication our staff puts in on a nightly basis is so rewarding to watch, and seeing them grow has been very fulfilling.
Contact Info:
- Website: Osteriamuro.com
- Instagram: Osteriamuro
- Facebook: Osteria il Muro
Image Credits
Ranjani Groth Photography
