First-ever virtual Taste of Italy trade tasting, an unmitigated success!
On Monday and Tuesday of this week (September 21-22, 2020), the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce South Central held its first-ever virtual Taste of Italy trade tasting in cities across Texas. Participating winemakers and food producers were asked to ship samples to the U.S. earlier this year. Texas-based food and wine professionals and food and wi...
Good food, good music, good art is giving La Divina Italian Cafe new life in these pandemic times
La Divina Italian Cafe is mixing up delightful gelatos and sorbet mimosas, paninis and lasagna and serving them up with artwork and live music. And the combination of food and fun seems to be paying off. Like other eateries, the cafe at 3535 Perkins Road in Baton Rouge has had to overcome its share of challenges during the state's pandemic lockdown...
Italian cafe Pesto Ristorante opens new location in downtown San Antonio on ex-Bella on Houston spot
Pesto Ristorante, the Italian cafe started by Alejandro and Norah Santoyo on Judson Road in 2012, opened its third location today, taking over the former downtown home of Bella on Houston, which closed earlier this year. Known for the buttery, pan-fried shrimp that Alejandro Santoyo adapted after 18 years at the popular Italian restaurant Paesanos,...
Carbone, a Michelin-starred Italian restaurant in New York, will open in Dallas
Michelin-starred Italian restaurant Carbone is expanding to Dallas. The New York City red-sauce restaurant with a “lust for excess” is expected to open in the Dallas Design District on Dec. 1. “We love Dallas and have always felt that it would be an incredible home for Carbone,” says Jeff Zalaznick, managing partner for Carbone’s parent company Maj...
Tony's Italian Delicatessen in Montgomery to open second location in Spring
Tony's Italian Delicatessen in Montgomery will be opening a second location near the intersection of Kuykendahl and West Rayford roads in Spring in late 2020, restaurant officials announced via Facebook on Aug. 18. The announcement comes just a few weeks after restaurant officials announced delivery service would be expanded to the Spring area, whi...
Taste of the Highland Lakes: Italian twists on Texas favorites
Before fusion cuisine became a trend in the restaurant industry, John Russo II of Russo’s Restaurant in Marble Falls was combining the foods and flavors of his Lithuanian-Italian heritage with the regional tastes of wherever he was living. That started on the East Coast, where he grew up in New Jersey. “I come from a huge family that liked to eat...
From the Owners of Patrizi’s Comes a New Eatery: Vic & Al’s
If there’s truly a cuisine representative of America’s melting pot culture, it’s the Cajun and Creole cooking of Louisiana and the Texas Gulf Coast, which incorporates French, Spanish, Caribbean, African, Native American, Italian, and many other culinary influences. Cousins Matt and Nic Patrizi of Patrizi’s Italian food trailer, and the newly opene...
Two Italian Restaurants Are Aiming to Bring Boston Vibes to Bee Cave
Two new Italian restaurants that are taking their cues from Boston are opening in Bee Cave: fine-dining restaurant Ellera and casual beer garden the Garden at Ellera. The Garden is set to open in October, followed by Ellera in November. Both will be found at 12432 Bee Caves Road with dine-in and takeout services. Owner Chris Meroff is from Boston,...
Monte Vista’s Barbaro restaurant serving strong pizzas engineered for takeout
These days, the building at Huisache and McCullough in Monte Vista looks more like a fortress than an Italian restaurant, the brick parapets reaching toward the sky like middle fingers of defiance. “BARBARO IS OPEN” comes the battle cry from the red banner by the street — all-caps, so you don’t miss it driving by. “For takeout,” it also declares, t...
One of Dallas' oldest Italian restaurants now doing buzziest pizza in town
One of the biggest culinary trends in Dallas right now is Detroit-style pizza, known for being thick and square, with a crust that's crisp and cheesy on the edge, and now there's a surprising new purveyor. Called Big D Pizza, it's from Peter Colombo, owner of Alfonso's Italian Restaurant, one of the oldest Italian restaurants in Dallas. Big D is a...
New Orleans Italian bistro Red Gravy reopens in Uptown Sept. 2
COVID-19 restrictions have prompted many restaurants to close temporarily and some to shutter. Roseann Rostoker and Lou Lombardo split the difference — in a way that gives their restaurant Red Gravy a fresh start in a space on Magazine Street, which opens Sept. 2. The couple ran their homey Italian joint just off Canal Street from 2010 until this p...
52 Weeks of Pizza: Volare Italian Restaurant near Olmos Park scores high with cheese pizza
The 80-year-old Olmos Pharmacy building on McCullough Avenue isn’t a pharmacy anymore, nor is it a soda fountain or a diner or a nightclub called the Bharmacy. A year and a half ago, it became the second location of Volare Italian Restaurant, the small Broadway cafe owned by Antonio Sorgente and his wife, Pilar De La Vega. In addition to a full spe...