Gary P. Farina opened Farina’s Winery & Cafe in downtown Grapevine in 2007. The restaurant uses family recipes that originated in Sicily and Italy and aims to use the highest-quality ingredients possible.[/caption]

Gary P. Farina, owner of Farina's Winery & Cafe in Grapevine, said he grew up in the restaurant business.

In 1951 his parents opened their first restaurant in Irving, also called Farina's, before moving it to Dallas in the late 1970s.

"I grew up working in their kitchen," Farina said. "Most of my recipes are family recipes. My grandparents were from Italy and Sicily. We pride ourselves on using the best ingredients we can buy."

Even though Farina spent a lot of time working as a child, he said he still found time to have fun with his siblings by creating new recipes.

"When my parents had the restaurants and we were all young, my sisters and cousins all worked there. We were messing around and came up with this crazy idea, and we all started working on it."

The item they created is now featured on the menu: Spaghetti Pizza.

A customer favorite, the thin-crust pizza is topped with spaghetti sauce, noodles and mozzarella cheese before it is baked. It can be served with or without miniature meatballs ($10.95, add $1.95 for meatballs).

One of Farina's main passions in life are antiques, so in 1997 he opened Antique Revival, which sells unique and hard-to-find furniture and collectibles. The antique store at 418 S. Main St. is connected to the restaurant.

In 2007 Farina and his wife, Robbie, began discussing the idea of opening a restaurant.

"I was concerned about the economy and what was happening at the time, so my wife and I discussed it and decided that with the direction that Grapevine was going," Farina said, "we felt like a restaurant would be a good fit."

So they made the decision to open Farina's Winery & Cafe next door to his antique store in 2007.

"My two passions are antiques and food. This location is perfect for what we were wanting to do," he added.

In addition to using family recipes for the food, Farina serves about 100 wines from throughout the world and also creates his own Farina's-brand wine to pair with his food.

"We seek out wines you might not normally see in the grocery store, wines that we think are exceptional or reasonably priced," Farina said. "We also serve beer now. I've found beers while I was in Belgium that I liked, so I started carrying them here."

For a perfect pairing, Farina recommends ordering the spaghetti and meatballs ($14.95) or baked lasagna ($16.95) and a bottle of Farina's Texas Blend wine ($32). He also recommends pairing the Sicilian-style marinated steak with a bottle of Jordan Cabernet ($67).