To keep up with Houston’s active restaurant scene, the menu at Giacomo’s Cibo e Vino adapts to newcomers. “There’s so many wonderful restaurants in Houston; you can’t be too rigid,” owner Lynette Hawkins said. “You have to be willing to change and adjust to people’s taste and play around with it.”

One consistency customers have come to expect at Giacomo’s over the last 10 years, however, is its comforting atmosphere, Hawkins said. Previously the owner of Houston restaurant La Mora Cucina Toscana, Hawkins closed it after nearly two decades and took time off to care for her father. When she returned to the business, she said a less formal, more relaxing environment was her priority.