Casa Duro

On Lower Greenville Avenue in Dallas is something genuinely surprising: a restaurant, Sister, and a café, Duro, both “Italianish” in concept, and both by the small but highly regarded Duro Hospitality Group. They’re remarkable for their quality and also for their authentically European atmosphere, something that’s not exactly common in this town. And upstairs from both is a hotel that, if we’re honest, might be too small to be properly considered a hotel: Casa Duro, a three-room guest house, or a trio of apartments, by the same owners, where their appetite for Italian culture is allowed to run wild.

From the outside they’re discreet, to say the least, but once inside you’ll be bowled over by the depth of their detail — the interiors feel not so much designed as painstakingly collected. Much of what’s inside is antique and vintage, plus some luxe design pieces; in terms of sheer comfort these apartments are up there with Dallas’s high-end luxury hotels, but (naturally) with incomparably more character. Full kitchens are provided, though the ability to stroll downstairs to Café Duro or to easily book a table at Sister is key to Casa Duro’s appeal.