Casual Chic, Elegant Eats

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DALLAS | SPECIAL FEATURE | 04.15.2010 | Holly Haber. CADILLAC CONCIERGE: Alberto Lombardi is at it again. The creative restaurateur has retooled the menu at Sangria Tapas Y Bar, hiring a new chef with a pan-Mediterranean repertoire to expand on what had been strictly Spanish cuisine. And, Lombardi is working his magic across Cole Avenue from Sangria, developing a new eatery that's expected to open in June in the 1905 church that formerly housed Chips burger joint. It's all very hush

hush, and the only thing we know for sure is that the cuisine in the new restaurant will hail from some region in Europe.

"Maybe I'm crazy," Lombardi said. "But I love what I do, and opening a new place is a charm. There is something exciting when I do something new. It's been like this all my life, pretty much."

The bon vivant from a little town in Northern Italy has become one of Dallas' most savvy and respected restaurateurs -- having started in big D 30 years ago as a waiter at The