Restaurant owner Carmelo Mauro ran his Memorial Italian restaurant for 37 years before retiring from the competitive food world. Before he served his last supper, Houston restauranteur Benjamin Berg of Berg Hospitality Group (owner of B&B Butchers & Restaurant, B.B. Lemon, The Annie Café & Bar) made Mauro a deal he couldn’t refuse.

Berg quietly ran the place as Carmelo’s until earlier this year, when he closed the 8,000-square-foot space and overhauled it inside and out, revealing it anew as B.B. Italia Kitchen & Bar with a carry-out concept named B.B. Pizza To Go. The restaurant business is in Berg’s bloodline. While throughout his career he ran operations in the front of the house, his younger brother, Daniel Berg, diligently worked in the back. Daniel — a Houston transplant who is positively gobsmacked with his new home city — is a talented chef in his own right.