Samson's restaurant opens in The Adriatica

By Brandi Hart McKinneyUpdate.com editor

The Adriatica now has a way for people to taste the food served on ports near the Adriatic Sea and the Mediterranean as Samson's at The Adriatica, a European restaurant that will serve lunch and dinner, opened its doors on Thursday night.
Samson's at The Adriatica will feature an assortment of Italian, French, and Mediterranean inspired appetizers, pastas and risottos, seafood and meat dishes to choose from. It also has a wide selection of wine and spirits available.
About 300 people tasted a wide range of appetizers and food that will be sold at the restaurant during a grand opening soft opening on Thursday night. The front of Samson's has a large v-shaped entrance and two columns that resembles a Greek style building, which makes the restaurant hard to miss when entering the north section of The Adriatica.
"We're excited to open a very elegant and warm restaurant and add to the culture in McKinney. There are really no restaurants in this area," said Nathan Sheets, a partner of Samson's. "This is going to be the uptown of McKinney," Sheets said.
The restaurant is located immediately west of the Zin Zen Wine Bistro and east of the Kastel building where the Keller Williams office is located. It will serve 60 to 80 people in the intimate interior and about 25 to 30 people on the adjacent patio.
Chef Germano Minin, an Italian trained cooking chef who has worked in the United States for the last 10 years, will whip up the recipes at Samson's.
Some examples of food items that will be served at Samson's are the Angello ai Ferri, which is a grilled garlic-rubbed lamb chop with mint tzatziki that is served with couscous and grilled tomatoes for $22.95. An example of a pasta dish is the is the Garganelli Al Gorgonzola dish, which is fresh penne pasta with gorgonzola, which is a veined, Italian blue cheese, walnuts sauce, Mascarpone cheese, roasted figs and watercress for $14.95.
"This is the place to be," said Jeff Blackard, president of The Blackard Group that is developing The Adriatica.