Amaro Montenegro Announces 2019 U.S. Winner of ‘The Vero Bartender’ Competition
Yesterday, Amaro Montenegro, the award-winning Italian liqueur, hosted its much-anticipated 2019 international cocktail competition, The Vero Bartender, at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans. The annual competition crowned Zachary Sapato, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, as the most innovative and talented bartender in the U.S. Amaro Montenegro, a bran...
Mille Lire’s Summer Pastas Are an Overlooked Gem in Oak Lawn
This has been a bad month for Mille Lire, Oak Lawn’s criminally underrated Italian restaurant. On June 30, co-owner Brian Ellard, wife Ornella and her two teenage children were killed in an airplane crash in Addison. The restaurant kept its doors open after the tragedy and Ellard’s co-owner and brother-in-law, Giuliano Matarese, continued to lead t...
River Oaks Italian eatery Giacomo’s Cibo e Vino marks 10 years
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 Gi...
Authentic Italian dishes are the inspiration behind Mio Nonno Trattoria in Flower Mound
Growing up in Naples, Italy, Francesco Russo had a passion for food at an early age. He would watch as his family made meals, such as gnocchi, from scratch. “My mother used to make the sauce, and my father made the gnocchi,” he said. Russo and his family left Italy and moved to New York when he was 9 years old. At age 16 he started working in resta...
Modern Italian restaurant La Mensa adds to a promising trend in French Quarter
People who remember the old French Quarter restaurant Maximo's in its heyday likely recall the open kitchen, the deep booths and the regional Italian food. Through the 1990s, Maximo’s was a hot spot. Along with its neighbor, G & E Courtyard Grill, it helped make its stretch of lower Decatur Street near the French Market a destination for French Qua...
Bonci brings roman-style pizza to the U.S., with some americanized twists
The fast-casual pizza concept opened its first location in Rome in 2003 and now has three units in Italy and two in Chicago, with stores opening soon in New Orleans and Miami. It serves pizza al taglio—priced by weight, extravagantly topped and cut with shears. The crust is focaccia-like, made from a high-moisture dough that’s airy yet chewy. The c...
Buon appetito: The 5 best Italian spots in Arlington
Looking to satisfy your appetite for Italian fare? Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top Italian spots around Arlington, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of the best spots to achieve your dreams. First up is Spazzio's Italian Cantina, situated at 2500 N.E. Green Oaks Blvd., Suite 106. With 4.5 stars out...
Forbici Modern Italian restaurant opens in Hyde Park Village
Last week, Jeff Gigante and managing partner Jay Brunetti opened a new restaurant in Hyde Park Village called Forbici Modern Italian. The restaurant serves a variety of Italian dishes, but the emphasis is on their Roman-style pizza. It's what inspired the name of the restaurant, Forbici, meaning scissors in Italian. It represents the Roman traditio...
Assocamerestero sends 9 top bloggers to Umbria, including one from Houston
Earlier this month, the Association of Italian Chambers of Commerce (Assocamerestero) sent nine top North American bloggers to Umbria, including one from Houston, Melody Price. The weeklong trip gave the writers, including lifestyle and food bloggers, the opportunity to experience not only authentic Umbrian wines and food products but also classic...
Russo's New York Pizzeria Hits Milestone With 50th Location in Pearland, Texas
Russo's New York Pizzeria, the nation's only chef-driven New York-style, Italian restaurant and pizzeria franchise concept, marks its 50th location in the Pearland Town Center. The Pearland location's milestone opening was one of five openings for the brand in 2018, with new locations in Austin, Texas, Cedar Park, Texas, Spring, Texas and Dubai, Un...
At Dab's in Metairie, Duke LoCicero plans late-night dining, small plates
Duke LoCicero is a familiar name in New Orleans dining. For his next act, the chef is planning a new restaurant to bring something a little different to Metairie. He’s now developing Dab’s at 3401 N. Hullen St., which he plans to open by Sept. 1. LoCicero describes Dab's as a New Orleans bistro, and it will have some of the signature dishes from th...
A Sicilian Family’s Favorite Dishes Hit The Woodlands Next Month
A new all-day Italian eatery is headed to the Woodlands thanks to a third generation Sicilian-American who’s reviving his ancestor’s recipes from the old country. Radunare Italian-American Table will open mid-July at 2520 Research Forest Drive, Suite 500. It draws its name (pronounced “rah-due-nar-a”) from the Italian word that means “to gather or...