Spaghetti squash and dry aged Barton Creek meatballs & Sunday sauce are paired Friday, Nov. 4, 2016 at Il Primo.Three years after opening the first Il Primo in North Chattanooga, the owners of the popular Italian restaurant are adding a second such eatery in Ooltewah.
The newest Il Primo, a 120-seat restaurant, will open Friday in Cambridge Square offering an identical menu to the Hixson Pike restaurant that opened in the former Greenlife Grocery building in June 2014.
The name Il Primo, which translates to "The First," may imply only a single location. But Josh Nason, managing partner of Il Primo restaurant, said the success of the first location convinced owner Nathan Lindley to add a second eatery in Cambridge Square just off I-75 at exit 11 in Ooltewah.
"We didn't pick Ooltewah; it kind of picked us," Nason said. "We opened in North Chattanooga with the hope that we would belong to the community on the North Shore. But within a year or so of our opening, we had enough Ooltewah area residents coming to our restaurant we saw the potential for another site."
The newest Il Primo is being built to anchor a new two-story building being added just off the town square in the middle of Cambridge Square, which already includes a half dozen other restaurants, bars and eateries among the offices and stores in the growing complex at the entrance to the Honors Golf Course.
But Nason said Il Primo offers a unique and distinctive menu of Italian foods. All sauces and dressings are made in-house each day and complete dishes are carefully sourced and prepared, Nason said.
The new location will be led by the same group that created the Hixson Pike location - Lindley, Nason, and Chef Oscar Ixcoit.
The new restaurant will employ 24 full- and part-time workers and be led by Chef Paul Rogers, who came to Chattanooga in February after serving as a chef at restaurants in Charleston, S.C., and General Manager Dan Potter, a 20-year industry veteran.
Il Primo was conceived by Lindley, who also owns the Public House and the Social in Warehouse Row. Lindley said Il Primo is the fulfillment of his dream to have a restaurant that would be part of its neighbors' lives in an atmosphere similar to the small, family-run Italian restaurants nestled in neighborhood cities of the Northeast.
"We love American Italian food and we're passionate about neighborhood restaurants," Nason said.
Similar to the Hixson Pike store, the new Il Primo will be open 5-9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 5-10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Entrees range from a $13 chicken piccata and a $14 Baked Penne and 4 Cheeses pasta to a $26 Pork Osso Bucco or a $34 beef filet roasted garlic. Signature dishes also include Dry Aged Barton Creek Meatballs and Sunday Sauce and Pork Scallopini, Capers & Butter.
The new location will be even bigger than the current 82-seat Il Primo at 1100 Hixson Pike.
Will there be other Il Primo locations in the future?
"Call me in another three years," Nason said.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.