Menu envy, or order envy as it’s sometimes known, is a real thing: The food hits the table and you know you should have ordered what your friend ordered. But the opposite feeling has to exist, too. Sometimes you’re the one smiling, as fellow diners sadly compare their plate to yours.

I don’t know what that latter feeling is called, but I was the one gloating on a lunch visit to T. Marie’s Ristorante Italiano, a year-old Midtown venue that has been generating strong word of mouth in Mobile.