Bistro 31 Dallas: Alberto Lombardi’s Table in Highland Park Village

How Alberto Lombardi turned a corner of a 1931 landmark into the European dining room Dallas keeps coming back to.

Some restaurants take your reservation; others seem to remember where you like to sit. Bistro 31, the European bistro Alberto Lombardi opened at Highland Park Village in Dallas in the fall of 2011, has spent fifteen years perfecting the second kind of welcome. Custom Murano glass chandeliers hang above white oak herringbone floors, the menu travels between France, Italy and Spain, and the patio opens onto the fountain courtyard of a National Historic Landmark.

None of it is decoration for its own sake. Bistro 31 is a restaurant named for a date and built by a man who spent his youth refusing to stay in one place – and the room is his argument that a great table has less to do with novelty than with belonging.

A Room Named for 1931 at Highland Park Village

The number in the name works almost like an address. Highland Park Village opened in 1931, a Spanish Colonial Revival town square at Mockingbird Lane and Preston Road that is often cited as the first self-contained shopping center in America, and it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000. Lombardi named his restaurant for that year, in homage to the Village’s original buildings.

For a restaurateur who had already opened concepts across the city, a table here was a long-held ambition. Bistro 31 opened on October 3, 2011, in roughly 2,100 square feet beside the Village’s central fountain courtyard.

Lombardi entrusted the interiors to designer Ron Guest, a longtime collaborator, and the two traveled to Italy, New York and Paris in search of the right reference. They found it in the salons and sidewalk cafés of the French Riviera: Venetian plaster walls, the Murano chandeliers, the pale herringbone underfoot and an Art Deco line running through it all. «It feels like Europe and has a certain brightness,» Lombardi said when the doors opened.

Alberto Lombardi: From a Seminary in Forlì to the Fairmont

The man behind the room did not set out to feed anyone. Growing up in Forlì, in northern Italy, Lombardi entered a seminary at nine, planning to become a Franciscan monk. Four years later he left for hospitality school instead, training at the Hotel Palace school in Rimini.

Then the world called. His plan, he has said, was to learn a couple of languages and go home. Berlin came first, then Brussels to learn French, then Oslo, and finally a job aboard the Sagafjord, a Norwegian America Line cruise ship, where he started as a busboy and rose to waiter on voyages that circled the globe. «At 17, I left, on my own, to seek adventure,» he told D CEO.

The ship let him off in Miami. A stint in San Francisco followed, and then the Fairmont Hotel brought him to Dallas, where he became general manager of the Venetian Room – the hotel showroom where, by his account, Tony Bennett and The Pointer Sisters took the stage. Marriage and children turned a temporary stop into home. In 1977 he opened his first restaurant, Lombardi’s, on McKinney Avenue.

The Lombardi Rule: Every Guest Has a Table

What Lombardi brought to Dallas in 1977 was less a cuisine than a manner. He has described that first restaurant as personal in a way the city had not yet seen, built one regular at a time. Recalling those early years for PaperCity, he put the method in plain terms:

«I knew where they wanted to sit, what kind of waiter they wanted.»

The habit never left. When PaperCity arrived at Bistro 31 to photograph him, he greeted the writer with a kiss on each cheek and the offer of an espresso. A menu can be copied; a remembered table cannot.

By his own count he has opened about 40 restaurants since. Lombardi Family Concepts today includes Taverna, KĀI and his namesake Lombardi Cucina Italiana, along with two Dallas tables LUXCIOR has profiled: the French bistro Toulouse Café and Bar on Knox Street and the modern Chinese dining room Maison Chinoise in Uptown. He still meets guests who assume that first restaurant belonged to his father. It didn’t. It was his.

What to Order at Bistro 31: France, Italy and Spain on One Menu

The kitchen speaks three languages. The menu draws on French, Italian and Spanish cooking, served at brunch, lunch and dinner and rewritten with the seasons. When the restaurant opened, chef Eric Brandt, formerly of the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, set the tone with a crostini sampler – fig with Parmesan and balsamic, tomato with serrano and manchego – alongside tuna tartare, escargot and handmade pastas.

The kitchen has changed hands more than once since, but certain plates have become the reasons regulars return: a Maine lobster bisque finished with tarragon and crème fraîche, the Maine lobster salad, Dover sole meunière and escargot. Dessert has its own loyalists. Highland Park Village itself has written that a meal here is not complete without the olive oil cake with orange caramel.

Weekend brunch spills onto an expanded patio that the Dallas Observer likened to a Parisian café, and the restaurant keeps it temperature-controlled for dining outdoors year-round.

Upstairs at Lounge 31

In June 2012, the Lombardi family opened a second act one flight up: 31, a champagne bar conceived with the feel of a historic villa and a nod, once again, to 1931. Today it is Lounge 31 – an indoor champagne room, an open-air terrace and a Carrara marble bar, with a sushi and crudo menu served alongside the cocktails. Lombardi has said that when he wants sashimi, this is where he climbs the stairs.

Both floors host private events, from the loft and terrace upstairs to the main dining room below.

Fifteen Years at Highland Park Village

Endurance is rarer than it looks in this business, and Bistro 31 has never leaned on fashion. When it opened, a D Magazine reviewer observed that Lombardi did not chase culinary trends but understood the worth of a good neighborhood café – and suggested Bistro 31 might be his best creation yet. The years since have tested that premise against a shopping-center setting, a bustling courtyard and a kitchen that has passed through several chefs.

The numbers suggest the premise held. A restaurant that opened in about 2,100 square feet now counts 203 seats between the bistro and the lounge upstairs, according to Restaurant Business, which ranks it among the highest-grossing independent restaurants in America: No. 76 in its 2024 Top 100 Independents, with an estimated $13.3 million in annual sales, and No. 79 in 2025, at $12.9 million.

The open question for any institution is how to remain a living restaurant rather than a postcard of one. Bistro 31’s answer is quiet and seasonal: the menu changes with the year; the room does not. Fifteen years after it opened inside a landmark built in 1931, it still works the way Lombardi’s first restaurant did – by remembering where you like to sit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who owns Bistro 31 in Dallas?

Bistro 31 belongs to Lombardi Family Concepts, the Dallas restaurant group founded by Italian-born restaurateur Alberto Lombardi, who opened his first restaurant, Lombardi’s, in 1977. He opened Bistro 31 at Highland Park Village on October 3, 2011. The group’s other restaurants include Taverna, Toulouse, Maison Chinoise, KĀI and Lombardi Cucina Italiana.

Why is it called Bistro 31?

The name honors 1931, the year Highland Park Village opened. The Spanish Colonial Revival shopping center at Mockingbird Lane and Preston Road is often cited as America’s first self-contained shopping center and was named a National Historic Landmark in 2000. Lounge 31, upstairs, carries the same tribute.

What kind of food does Bistro 31 serve?

Bistro 31 serves European cuisine drawn from French, Italian and Spanish cooking, with brunch, lunch and dinner menus that change with the seasons. Dishes that have appeared on the menu include Maine lobster bisque, Maine lobster salad, Dover sole meunière, escargot and olive oil cake with orange caramel.

Does Bistro 31 take reservations?

Yes. Bistro 31 accepts reservations for brunch, lunch and dinner through OpenTable or by phone at 214.420.3900, and Highland Park Village encourages guests to book ahead. The restaurant also hosts private events in its main dining room and in Lounge 31 upstairs.

What is Lounge 31 at Highland Park Village?

Lounge 31 is the bar and lounge directly above Bistro 31 at 87 Highland Park Village. Opened by the Lombardi family in 2012, it offers an indoor champagne room, an outdoor terrace and a Carrara marble bar, with a sushi and crudo menu served alongside cocktails and champagne.

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