Chef Irene Garza Redefines Vibe Dining at il Modo with Comfort Italian Food

Behind the Line: Conversations With Our Chefs

Some restaurants get by on “vibe dining” alone, prioritizing appearance over quality. While it makes for great social media content, their food often tastes like an afterthought. Irene Garza, Executive Chef of il Modo Italian Restaurant at Kimpton Harper Hotel in Fort Worth, has solved for that by creating a restaurant ensconced in good vibes, but executed in a way that puts soulful cooking, intentional plates, and a smartly run kitchen first. 

When Garza says, “I want guests to feel like they’re in Italy, sitting by the coast and enjoying a freshly made pasta while sipping on wine,” she doesn’t rely on a Disney-fied dining room made to dupe a cafe in Capri. Instead, she delivers a transcendent experience by focusing on thoughtful dishes. 

“I want diners to smell the herbs, the citrus, the fire in the kitchen, and taste each ingredient in every bite,” she says. She focuses on giving diners a freshly cooked meal that “transports [them] to a memory,” she says. “Maybe it’s a big family dinner, or a vacation you once took. Either way, it should feel personal and unforgettable.” 

The chef achieves this by making traditional Italian dishes from scratch—the way Nonnas do (think: in-house butchering and handmade pastas). In the il Modo kitchen, that means a gnocchi that takes zero shortcuts in its tedious prep (it’s hand-rolled on a wood board) and a top-selling chicken risotto dish, made with a wine butter sauce and a crispy-skinned half chicken (a preparation that Garza says requires as much technique as it does soul).

While il Modo’s menu is anchored in Italian comfort food, Garza ensures some dishes are made “personal and unforgettable” by infusing them with unexpected twists drawn from her own Mexican heritage. “It’s about honoring tradition and then thoughtfully evolving it, layering creativity without losing the essence of what makes Italian food comforting and real,” she says.

One such dish is Octopus al Adobo, which blends Calabrian heat with a Texas twist. Inspired by Mexican cuisine, Garza elevates the Italian grilled octopus by incorporating adobo with guajillo, chipotle, and ancho chiles. 

“Guajillo and ancho chiles are not spicy peppers, but they do provide a smokiness that meshes very well with coastal seafood from Italy,” she says. For the dish, adobo-marinated octopus is cooked in an herb and citrus brine and grilled to a tender texture, before being served on a bed of cannellini bean puree with arugula, orange segments, and fennel tossed in a lemon vinaigrette. “You get the smokiness of the octopus with the creaminess of the cannellini bean puree, and the freshness from arugula and the orange,” she says. What’s more, the orange balances out adobo flavors, a trick taken from al pastor.

Back-of-House Vibe Check

Vibe dining the Irene Garza way is just as much about back-of-house operations as it is the food. After an ascendant career in which the chef worked her way from line cook to banquet sous to senior sous chef and finally the executive chef role, Garza has seen her share of chaos-driven kitchens (though somehow, Garza points out, it’s women who have been labeled as “too emotional for the kitchen”). It’s not her style. “The kitchen shouldn’t run on high emotion. It tears down people’s confidence. Once you have a negative perspective, everything’s going to be negative,” she says. “I’ve also noticed that those are the kitchens that are often disorganized, with cooks not even knowing what they have in stock.”

Instead, Garza shows strength by leading with compassion and serving as a backbone for her team. “I hold people accountable without letting fear run the show,” she says. If a line cook needs a hand with prep, she provides support instead of a tirade. It’s a style of leadership that begets a positive, creative atmosphere. For good measure, Garza uses music to further foster the energy. In her kitchen, anything from Taylor Swift and Ella Langley to rap and R&B classics fills the air. “I dance while I cook—always. Whether it’s a slow sway or a full-on lyric drop mid-service, music fuels me in the kitchen. It keeps the vibe right,” she says.

Food with an Energetic Infusion

Garza’s philosophy of leading with intention also extends to the dishes themselves. The chef’s mother, a restaurateur in her own right, instilled the importance of cooking as a way of providing nourishment to the diner’s body and spirit. “In having a family restaurant, my mom always moved with intention. Whenever she would cook, she’d take a few moments to put good intentions into the food, almost as a way of blessing the meals.” 

The chef says her mom would take a few moments to meditate on the food as a healthy nourisher for the diner, especially should that diner not feel well or be having a hard day. “That is something that I got from her, and carry to everything that I do, whether that’s cooking at home or at the restaurant. I want everyone eating my food to feel good when they eat. I don’t want them feeling overstuffed, so I set those intentions,” Garza says. ”It’s said that people carry energies, and we put our energy into more things than we realize. If that thing is something we consume, I think we should always put good intentions into it.”

The concept of plating up good energy may sound woo-woo to some. Others may never know their entree was made with positive intentions in the first place. That’s beside the point, Garza maintains. Her ultimate goal is to bring people together, unlock key memories, and start a conversation among loved ones—all through food. 

“I just want someone to come and feel like they’re eating with family because nowadays, we live in a fast-paced world in which we sit down with those we care about less and less,” she says. “Behind my food is the idea of connection. I want diners to feel like someone cooked for them with intention and served it to them with care. I want them to feel like they were part of something and leave with an experience they’ll carry with them.” Can you think of a better vibe than that?

Chef Garza’s intentional cooking brings il Modo to life, but it’s only the beginning of your time at Kimpton Harper Hotel. Rising above downtown, the entire property seamlessly pairs historic Texas charm with refined, modern hospitality.