Italian revival

Built in 1925, the Packard building at the corner of NW 10th Street and N. Robinson Avenue was reimagined in 2013. For over a decade, it was home to Packard’s New American Kitchen. For a long time, Packard’s was packed: a popular lunch spot for downtowners, a happy hour hub and a favorite with the weekend brunch crew. A rooftop bar was also part of the mix, weather permitting, unless it was closed for one of the many private events the restaurant hosted from the prime perch. Over the years, and even as Oklahoma City experienced a modern-day boomtown of new restaurants and bars, Packard’s maintained a steady business, until it didn’t.

When the restaurant announced its closure in June 2024, it came as little surprise. The once-busy spot had been quiet for months, having never fully recovered from the effects of the pandemic, which included an overall decline in dining out. A March 2025 article by Jaya Saxena in Eater points out that dining at home more often is one of the “pandemic pivots” that has stuck.

Enter Elliot Nelson. In May 2025, JaNae Williams announced in The Oklahoman that McNellie’s Group had signed a lease on 201 NW 10th St. in Midtown Oklahoma City. Tulsa’s Brookside welcomed the first Malfi Enoteca, which opened in early 2025 to solid reviews and good press. In the same article, Williams revealed that McNellie’s Group also has plans to open Bar Serra in the Phillips Murrah Building, after enjoying success at their first location in Utica Square.

Malfi is one of the newest concepts in Elliot Nelson’s McNellie’s Group portfolio, which the prominent Tulsa-based restaurateur formed in 2004 after a study abroad in Dublin led him to open the first McNellie’s in Tulsa. The group has grown to 25 locations encompassing 17 concepts throughout Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Little Rock, Arkansas.

McNellie’s filled a void when it brought a neighborhood pub to Midtown in 2008. The busy, fun pub was an early anchor for the neighborhood, before it was really “Midtown” and not just “that area over by the hospital.” The group did it again when it opened Fassler Hall, in 2014, the same year it opened Dust Bowl.

“For nearly two decades, McNellie’s Group has been a catalyst in our redevelopment of Midtown,” said Chris Fleming, president and partner of Midtown Renaissance. “McNellie’s Irish Pub was first. Then came Fassler Hall and Dust Bowl. And now, with Malfi’s opening in the historic Packard building, we are thrilled to continue and grow the connection between McNellie’s Group and Midtown.”

And though no one could say we are short on Italian in the metro, we were missing this specific niche: the casual neighborhood joint falling somewhere between workaday and upscale, between rustic and modern.

The list of the full team behind the concept reads like a roster of Tulsa’s James Beard nominees. Nelson was named a semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurateur in January. Malfi co-founder Sheamus Feely’s Noche Woodfire Grill & Agave Bar was named a 2025 James Beard semifinalist for Best New Restaurant. The menu was designed by Ben Alexander, of Mr. Kim’s fame, also a James Beard semifinalist (Best Chef Southwest, 2023). Rounding out the team is Executive Chef Connor Underwood, who most recently served as the executive chef at The Jones Assembly. His background includes time spent in Italy, learning how to roll pasta by hand, which comes in handy at Malfi, where the pasta is made daily in-house.

Cheeky menu

The menu, a playfully cheeky newspaper, gives you a good idea of the straightforward nature you can expect from this spot. Divided into two sections, Pasta and Not Pasta, the menu has a total of 21 items, from starters and salads to pastas, entrees and desserts. Everything about it reads unfussy, unassuming and devoid of attitude, all hallmarks of the group.

The bar stays on-brand: perfectly prepared classics like a Limoncello Spritz and Vesper. The cocktail menu blends Italian-inspired classics with inventive twists, including rye-forward Away Kit, made with rye, Cocchi Americano and orange bitters. Frozen Jungle Bird, layered with rum, Campari, pineapple, lime and shaved ice, is another highlight. A zero-proof menu is also available and contains excellent options. The beverage program is helmed by Brett Herrin, who joined Malfi from the beloved Bar Sen.

In the Not Pasta section, there is a little something for everyone. Starters include rich pork and beef meatballs, indulgent arancini, and burrata and prosciutto. Salads are shareable as an appetizer or serve as an excellent entrée. The most intriguing is the kale salad, with tart cherries, gorgonzola, pistachio and balsamic. Four entrées are available, including herb-roasted chicken, sliced prime sirloin and roasted salmon, but the standout has to be the Barbera boneless short rib and jus atop polenta.

The Pasta section offers five different pastas, each homemade in-house: a comforting and deeply savory tagliatelle Bolognese; a delicate and indulgent tagliolini al burro with butter, Parmesan and chives; a basic rigatoni with vodka sauce; a classic spaghetti; and the absolute star of the pasta menu, bucatini with basil cream, pesto and whipped burrata.

If you still have room, there are three desserts available to finish out your meal, including a perfectly prepared vanilla panna cotta, which has long been missing from dessert menus in the 405.

Coastal vibes

The vibes may be just as enticing as the vittles. The good juju starts the minute you walk in the door. The host stand is crafted from a vintage scooter, and bold coral stripes connect the space. Gone is the large, industrial hanging bar that surrounded the old bar at Packard’s, leaving an open and airy feeling perfect for a spot that aspires to evoke the Amalfi Coast.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that the view from the floor-to-ceiling east-facing windows is one of the best examples of Neoclassical Revival style architecture in Oklahoma City. This is truly the one spot in OKC where the backdrop can make your photos look like you’re in Vicenza, central dome and all.

Like much of Midtown, the restaurant will probably be different things to different people at different times of the day. Power lunches will give way to a fun happy hour. Weekends will be a bit of a scene; it can definitely get loud in the space, which only has capacity for a little more than 100 people. And as is the case with particularly photogenic spaces, a certain subset may be there more for Instagram cred than the food. Going at the right time for your own vibes is likely the best way to get the most out of Malfi.

Finally, locals have fond memories of the rooftop at the Packard building, with its view of downtown. There are reportedly plans to open the rooftop again, but there is work to be done before the space is ready for a star turn. Upon seeing the interior of Malfi, it’s fun to imagine just how unique a rooftop space could be, and it would give Malfi the one thing it is missing: outdoor seating.

With Malfi open and Bar Serra on deck, maybe if we’re all really on our best behavior, next we can get a Maple Ridge Grocer.

Visit malfienoteca.com.

This article appears in Celebrate the season across OKC.