A popular long-time Italian restaurateur is opening a new restaurant in Plano in a location he knows very well. The new restaurant is Mangia Bistro, and it's from Artur Pira, owner of the exceptional Aboca's Italian Grill in Richardson. Mangia will open at 508 14th St., right off US-75, in a space that was previously home to Paesano's Ristorante, which Pira previously owned.

Paesano's was the first restaurant he opened back in 1997, where he established his crowd-pleasing formula of good-quality food, skillfully made and at a reasonable price — a formula he recreated at Aboca's, which he opened just a few exits down US-75 in Richardson in 2004.