Luna Bella elevates Spa City dining
Hot Springs has a great variety of privately-owned, non-chain restaurants. These places are thriving because of excellent customer service, atmosphere and of course great food. One place that I had the pleasure to visit that excels in all these areas is Luna Bella. Luna Bella is Italian-American cuisine in a relaxed and comfortable setting...
Martinique Bistro closes and will reopen as 'Avo' under chef Nick Lama
Martinique Bistro in New Orleans will close after 20 years, co-owners Cristiano Raffignone and Kelly Barker announced in a Monday (Jan. 5) press release. The pair has leased the space at 5908 Magazine St. to Nick Lama, 33, the chef de cuisine at Gautreau's. Raffignone and Barker will continue to own the property. Renovations to the space -...
Grazia Italian Kitchen a culinary success story in Pearland
Chef/owner Adrian Hembree has developed Grazia Italian Kitchen in Pearland into a successful restaurant operation in a matter of months. The cuisine at Grazia Italian Kitchen on 9415 West Broadway Street includes a popular dish known as Pasta Mike & Jen and handmade mozzarella cheese. Pasta Mike & Jen is made with grilled chic...
Jonathan’s The Rub brings ‘Brooklyn Italian’ to Houston
In the culinary world there's Italian. Then there's Tuscan and Florentine and even Sicilian. In the U.S., there's even a difference between New York Italian and San Francisco. But have you ever heard of "Brooklyn Italian?" "It's seafood," Chef Jonathan Levine explains, "because we grew up on the Atlantic Ocean. It's also, when you have a...
La DOC Sicilia vola per l’America
Prosegue con soddisfazione la campagna di promozione negli Stati Uniti del Consorzio di Tutela dei Vini DOC Sicilia, che dal 23 al 26 settembre parteciperà alla 25esima edizione del Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta, in collaborazione con la celebre testata Wine Spectator. Gli impegni continueranno poi a Los Angeles con una serie di appuntamenti con...
Enoteca Rossa ready for business in Bellaire
After a low-key soft opening, Enoteca Rossa Ristorante Italiano is ready to beat the drums. The new Italian restaurant at 4566 Bissonnet in Bellaire is announcing its opening with four separate promotions spread over a month. Co-owner Michael Chodrow (his partners are Barry Gomel and Michael May) described the all-day restaurant as a place to...
Michael J's brings italian-american cuisine to town
Michael John Wade and Anthony Armstrong, owners of Michael J's, Ruidoso's newest Italian-American restaurant, cut the ribbon last week on the new establishment. Michael J's specializes in home-made lasagna, eggplant Parmesan, ravioli, beef, veal, chicken and seafood dishes. The Greeters, on behalf of the Ruidoso Valley Chamber of Commerce, sponsore...
New N.O. restaurant has a different read on Sicilian flavors and a different approach to wine
by Ian McNulty A visit to the new Marcello's Restaurant & Wine Bar in New Orleans' CBD can pack in a lot impressions before the food even arrives. The space was, for many years, Le Chat Noir cabaret, and despite its conversion into an upscale restaurant, it may still stir memories of the stage for local theater patrons. T...
September 19 - Le Strade del Vino... del Veneto, Educational Wine Tasting Series
Join us at the ICCC for this new series of Educational Wine Tasting aimed to promote and encourage the Italian "Eno-gastronomic" tourism by showing the cultural, environmental, historical and social context of each region while tasting fine wine productions. This session will be lead by Friedel Landa, Owner of Selected Food & Beverage and Certi...
From the caprese salad to the cannoli, Grimaldi’s hits the mark
Behind the Mall of Louisiana on Bluebonnet Boulevard is fertile ground for casual dining. In addition to the food court, the open-air Boulevard shopping center boasts a range of sit-down establishments, including a spanking new Red Robin, Bar Louie and BJ's Brewhouse, which I mention because pizookie is fun to say. So the fact that another chain,...
Chef-driven grocery and cafe gifts Oak Cliff with Italian goods
An opening date has arrived for the long-in-the-making CiboDivino Marketplace and Caffe, at the Sylvan Thirty complex in Oak Cliff: Monday, May 4. Owned and operated by chef Daniele and Christina Puleo, CiboDivino is an Italian eatery, market and bar featuring prepared foods, pizza, wine and coffee. A native of Sicily, Puleo is the former...
Dallas cocktail king makes Italian restaurant move near new Cowboys HQ
By Teresa Gubbins Frisco gets a taste of Dallas with the spring 2016 opening of Vicini, a new American-Italian restaurant from a group of experienced players that includes Brian McCullough, cocktail magician and co-owner of Standard Pour. McCullough has partnered with Robert Hall, former general manager of Abacus and also part of the Hall w...