Dean’s Italian Steakhouse, the new restaurant inside the just-opened JW Marriott hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina, is perfectly suited for these times. The trajectory of Italian cuisine in the United States reflects a need for delicious comfort food, especially for fresh pasta dishes. Meanwhile, in the country’s second-largest financial center, where banking deals get done over dinner meetings, steak and lobster are almost always on the menu.
Enter Dean’s Italian Steakhouse, which opened two weeks ago in Charlotte’s Uptown business district. The dimly lit dining and open kitchen suggest a modern steakhouse, and the menu follows suit, albeit with Italian touches throughout. Wagyu beef, fresh pasta, and seafood exist separately and together—as in the Italian “Oscar” Filet, which is topped with jumbo lump crab and taleggio cream.
Italian “Oscar” Filet at Dean's Italian Steakhouse in Charlotte.
The pasta menu includes mezze manichi with lobster claw in vodka sauce, linguine vongole, short rib gnocchi, and tagliatelle in a Wagyu Bolognese with burrata and grilled fennel.
Steaks, seafood, and surf and turf—the very American strategy of pairing steak and seafood on the same plate—offer a greatest-hits-like sampling of the genres. There’s a photogenic tomahawk ribeye, lobster claws poached in butter, and filets and chops with a variety of add-on sauces.
Typical steakhouse appetizers and sides also get the Italian touch, from an English pea tortellini starter to goat cheese and Italian herb polenta as an accompaniment.
JW Marriott Charlotte.
At lunch, Dean’s fires up the custom Marra Forni oven designed for the space to turn out Neapolitan-style pizzas. And the restaurant’s (and hotel’s) breakfast spot, The Counter at Dean’s, serves illy coffee and Italian pastries, including cornetti, pizzelles, and cannoli muffins.
Dean’s Italian Steakhouse is open seven days a week inside the JW Marriott in Charlotte.