I’ve known Kingsport restaurateur Raffaele Misciagnia since the mid-1990s, having been a regular customer of his sadly missed restaurant from the former Fort Henry Mall’s heyday. I’ve also taken clients, family and friends to Giuseppe’s, the restaurant property with which he and his brother Michael dominate Kingsport’s Stone Drive.

From that time to this I had never once dined at Raffaele’s; that is, until the dine-around bunch and I were in Colonial Heights and my dining partner pointed at the restaurant’s sign while giving me an arch look and asking “How about we eat there tonight?”