Dining Update—Adriatic Cafe & Italian Grill

[caption id="attachment_68009" align="alignright" width="460"] The owners of Adriatic Cafe and Italian Grill have been experimenting with new off-menu items like steak arrabiata.[/caption]

Growth is the theme for Alban Bulliqi and Ekrem Hyseni, owners of the Adriatic Cafe and Italian Grill in Cy-Fair, where a business boom has resulted in not only the addition of new items to the menu, but the addition of more square footage to the restaurant itself.

"The restaurant has been filling up [during peak periods] with wait times of about 15 minutes," Bulliqi said. "The expansion is coming just in time."

Over the past year, the duo has added new sections like calzones and veal entrees to the restaurant's menu. Bulliqi and Hyseni have also added gluten-free options, including gluten-free versions of all their pasta dishes. Popular new items include salmon livornese, sauteed with three jumbo shrimp ($18.95), and chicken saltimbocca, made with white wine, spinach and prosciutto ($13.95).

Other additions include home-brewed espressos, cappucinos and lattes. The restaurant no longer focuses on cocktails, but has added more beer and wine in their place. The beer menu was expanded to now include 10 different drinks, while the wine selection has grown to 25 selections.

"We tried the cocktails, but they just didn't fit with the style of our restaurant," Bulliqi said. "Since our food is mainly Italian cuisine, our customers tend to be much more interested in our wines."

Plans are also in place to expand the restaurant's footprint to include the vacant space next door, which would provide room to add roughly 10 more tables to the dining area, Bulliqi said. Construction started Jan. 12 and is expected to last about five weeks. The existing restaurant will remain open during that time.

Throughout the restaurant's evolution, Bulliqi and Hyseni have remained dedicated to their hands-on approach to running the restaurant. They are still active in the kitchen, where they double as the head chefs, and they still talk with customers, catching up on the family and work lives of their regulars.

Long-term plans include eventually opening a second eatery, Bulliqi said. A timetable and location for this expansion have not yet been determined.

"We're waiting until after we finish our expansion before we start looking at where our next location will be, but it's something we are definitely interested in doing," he said. "Even as we bring on more management help, the two of us will always be here, cooking up good food for our customers."