119th Grape Festival celebrates Tontitown history
A title character plays only a supporting role this week at the Tontitown Grape Festival. That's the grape itself, now relegated to cameo appearances at this venerable yearly celebration, whose roots date to 1899. It's the case that not a lot of grapes are grown today around this Northwest Arkansas community, settled near the end of the 19th centur...
Sicilian Wine Dinner
Thu, August 24, 2017. 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM CDT. Gusto - 4800 Burnet Road - Austin, TX 78756. Beautiful weather, great company and fantastic food & wine: it’s not a Midsummer Night Dream! It’s a Sicilian Wine Dinner featuring Firriato’s wines! Gusto's Executive Chef Justin Turner designed a special menu, inspired by the distinctive flavors of Sicily....
Spaghetti And Chicken Tradition
When the first settlers from Sunnyside sat down to a harvest picnic in 1898, the thought of a Ferris wheel or carousel in eyeshot of the church house doors would have been inconceivable. Just as hard to fathom, though, would be the idea that the supper would become a tradition that would span a century and more. This coming week, the 119th Annual T...
Volunteers Prepare For 119th Tontitown Grape Festival
With three weeks to spare, volunteers are starting to prepare the homemade pasta for the 119th annual Tontitown Grape Festival. Volunteer Jettie Franco said participating in the festival is a way to share a piece of her Italian heritage with her family and the community. "I think that's what happens in a lot of nationalities, they don't pass down t...
Sugar Land and Fort Bend County to host Italian Film Festival
The Sugar Land City Council is collaborating with the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce, the International Film Festival of Spello and the Region of Umbra to host an Italian Film Festival. The festival Umbria in Sugar Land will be held in Sugar Land and will begin on Sept. 27, running through Oct. 1 in various venues across Sugar Land. There will be Eu...
Scenes from the Texas Restaurant Association Marketplace: TRUE ITALIAN TASTE!
The Italy-America Chamber of Commerce was thrilled to be a co-presenter of authentic Italian food products and wines at this year’s Texas Restaurant Association Marketplace, held last week in Dallas. The TRA Marketplace brings together more Texas-based food, wine, and restaurant professionals than any festival or fair and it was thrilling to watch...
Gandolfo's a near-deli experience
We joked after a confusing counter experience at Gandolfo's New York Delicatessen that it was fitting for it to have a name similar to Lord of the Rings character Gandalf. Because getting breakfast -- or so we had hoped -- turned into quite the epic. On a recent Saturday about 11:30 a.m., my date and I entered the newest Promenade at Chenal eatery...
Who killed New Orleans' police chief 100 years ago?
In October 1890, David Hennessy, the chief of police in New Orleans, was ambushed outside his home. He was shot multiple times and died the following day. Several Italian men were put on trial, but a jury failed to convict them. Angry residents sought revenge, storming the old Parish Prison and killing 11 people, hanging two of them and shooting th...
Sophia's Gets a New Direction
Sophia’s Italian supper club is focusing on more seasonal dishes and a new bar menu with the help of its recently hired chef de cuisine – Caleb Higginson, a former sous chef at Central Standard. The Chicago-based BDG Hospitality brought Higginson on in May to support executive chef Mark Sparacino. While Sparacino is back and forth between Sophia's...
Opera sings with a pat of Puccini, a beauty, a beast
Texas in summer means hot days at the lake grilling. It usually doesn't mean opera. But beginning 7:30 p.m. July 18, students of Red River Lyric Opera will perform four operas in Midwestern State University's Fain Fine Arts Center Theatre. The three-week summer intensive workshop brings opera singers from across the country to study with voice teac...
Q&A: Lorenzo Simonelli on GE, new Baker Hughes, giving up family business
Lorenzo Simonelli is house hunting in Houston's Inner Loop and is looking for Italian restaurants to check out now that he has become the CEO of the new Baker Hughes. He sat down with the Houston Chronicle at his north Houston office to discuss the transition, his role and the new company that trades on the New York stock exchange as BHGE. Edited e...
This original piece of Italian culture is found in City Park!
Nola Gondola, founded by Robert Dula, will wrap you up with the magic and allure of the Venetian Gondola, and mix it with the romance and flavor of New Orleans. Robert’s childhood dream of being a Gondolier was realized in 2003 when work on his authentic Venetian Gondola began in Venice, Italy. "I'm not Italian," said Dula, who goes by Roberto on t...