Tony Vallone

Openings & Closings: The Bar Beat Gets Busy While Sushi Spots Shutter

Weeks like this one make it hard to believe I'm actually leaving this post next Friday, because what a whirlwind of activity we've seen in the last seven days. First is news of four exciting new bars heading to downtown, north downtown and Montrose. Two of those bars are from the Clumsy Butcher tea ... More >>

30 Essential Texas Restaurants

Eat here before you die.

Where to Eat on Christmas Day

Your stress-free dining guide to the holidays.

Openings & Closings: The Proof Is In the... Rooftop

I've long said that Houston doesn't have enough cool rooftop spaces, especially close to downtown. That's finally changing with the opening of two fun new spots... The first opened several weeks ago at the Houston Pavilions: the reincarnation of Scott Gertner's Sky Bar on Montrose, which is now -- a ... More >>

Top 10 Restaurants in Greenway Plaza

Last week, we took a look at the 10 best restaurants in Upper Kirby, a part of town that abuts this week's spotlighted neighborhood: Greenway Plaza. While it's considerably more difficult to define Greenway Plaza than Upper Kirby -- which has strictly set boundaries, unlike the area around the mast ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 1: Bobby Matos of Ciao Bello, On Whether Culinary School Is Worth It

Bobby Matos Ciao Bello 5161 San Felipe 713-960-0333 ciaobellohouston.com This is the first part of a three-part chef chat series. Look for parts 2 and 3 in this same space Thursday and Friday. Ciao Bello, Tony Vallone's lighter, more casual version of his iconic Tony's in River Oaks, offers some ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 4, Tuna and Bottarga at Tony's

This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston® issue, we're counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston's cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least o ... More >>

The Rest of the Best: Houston's Top 5 Restaurant Playlists

The only times I notice the music in a restaurant is when it's really bad (Christmas music playing year round at Sichuan Cuisine), really out of place (Nine Inch Nails blaring out of the speakers at now-closed Tony Vallone joint Ciao Bello or Cannibal Corpse washing over the line of patrons at Amy's ... More >>

First Look at Don Julio's

Credit where it's due: The margaritas are very good.​As often as I feel exhilarated with the state of the food scene in Houston, I feel exasperated just as frequently. Such is life in our city, and you take the good with the bad. And such is life at Don Julio's, the suburban import Tex-Mex re ... More >>

Openings & Closings: The Chock Full o'Nuts Edition

Yeah, I don't understand this either.​Remember last week, when we blithely reported that it had been such a wonderful week of good news? Prepare yourself for a mixed bag this week -- and it's a big bag -- starting with the ugly stuff. After Caffe Bello's abrupt closure, there were rumors that ... More >>

Openings & Closings

The chopped brisket sandwich at Ray's Real Pit BBQ.​It's been a week of changes for Houston restaurants -- menu changes, chef changes, location changes -- and some of those changes include at least one shocking closure. That closure was Caffe Bello, which quietly closed its doors on Monday. T ... More >>

Twenty Ways to Please Your Lover on Valentine's Day

​*17 - Alden Hotel (February 14) Chef Sam Beier has created a lust-worthy Valentine's Day menu featuring Sunchoke Veloute, Roasted Lobster Salad, Shrimp-Crusted Flounder, Cane Sugar Cured Duck Breast, Petite Filet with Favas and Lobster Ravioli, and Caramelized Halibut, among others. The mea ... More >>

Openings & Closings

Still one of my favorite photos. Welcome back, Leon's.​More great news for the Heights this week as it was announced that D'Amico's Italian Market has set its sights on White Oak Boulevard for its second location. The popular restaurant has been operating at 5510 Morningside in Rice Village si ... More >>

Montrose Match

The Vallones somehow fit right in with Houston's funkiest neighborhood.

Mini-Tinis and Mini Pizzas at Caffe Bello

The bianca pizzetta.​Happy hour at Caffe Bello draws all types, from the two gay men on my left last week who were in search of a good cigar bar to the older, well-dressed couple who were quizzing the bartender about where he'd worked in the past over a bottle of white. "You look so familiar, ... More >>

Openings & Closings

Jazzie's played out; Gatlin's takes the stage.​As mentioned earlier this week, the latest Tony Vallone outfit -- Caffe Bello (322 Westheimer) -- has finally opened in the old La Strada location in Montrose. Early indications are that the fabulous pizzettas are the restaurant's strong point, wi ... More >>

First Look at Caffe Bello

Papparedelle and mixed seafood linguine at Caffe Bello.​Tony Vallone has officially invaded Lower Westheimer. The Montrose dining scene has long been a bastion of quirky restaurants -- whether upscale or ultra-casual -- and seeing an old-school, old guard River Oaks restaurateur like Tony Val ... More >>

Robb Walsh's 100 Favorite Houston Dishes: #47 Pasta with Fresh Peas, Ham and Mushrooms at Ciao Bello

​Over the course of the next few months, I'm counting down 100 of my favorite Houston dishes. I chose some because they are such quintessential Houston creations, others for their cultural or historical significance, and others because they are just so damn tasty. Share your own nominations in ... More >>

Top 10 Restaurants in the Galleria Area

Photo by Erika RayStocking up on salsas at Chacho's.​The Galleria has more than 26 million visitors per year. While a significant amount of those people are tourists -- what wouldn't we give to visit a city just to shop there! -- many are Houstonians who gravitate toward the Uptown Park area o ... More >>

Ciao Bello

Food Fight and Common Decency

Highlights from the Blog at HOUSTONPRESS.COM

Ain't No Feud Like A Food Feud. Or Maybe There's No Feud At All

​Cleverley Stone is a Houston food institution. Of sorts.For some, she's a lively, well-informed foodie who offers great discounts and tips on her blog, on a weekly radio show on CNN 650 AM (Proposed Station Motto: You've Probably Never Heard Of Us), on local TV morning shows and on her Twitter.Fo ... More >>

Ain't No Feud Like A Food Feud. Or Maybe There's No Feud At All

​Cleverley Stone is a Houston food institution. Of sorts.For some, she's a lively, well-informed foodie who offers great discounts and tips on her blog, on a weekly radio show on CNN 650 AM (Proposed Station Motto: You've Probably Never Heard Of Us), on local TV morning shows and on her Twitter.Fo ... More >>

Victory Over The River Oaks Shopping Center! Kinda

That proposed restaurant in the River Oaks Shopping Center that had everyone up in Armani-clad arms?It's not going to happen.It wasn't the Lexus Revolution that killed it, though -- the city gave Weingarten Realty pretty much everything it asked for in the way of variances.No, it was the economy ... More >>

Robb's Review: On the Menu

Robb's Review: On the Menu

Tex-Mex Makeover

Sabor morphs into 1308 Cantina

Best Service

And Then There Was One

Vallone sheds several restaurants — but keeps Tony's

Chipotle off the Old Block

Austin's Serranos Café and Cantina tries out its Tex-Mex on Houston

Adiós, Los Tonyos

Tony Vallone sells his Tex-Mex concept to Serrano's

Barfin' Green

Hangover planning for St. Patrick's Day

Gem on Jones

Get to A Taste of Portugal before Tony Vallone tells everybody about it

The Pig's Nose Knows

It's time to try a tiny bit of truffle

Steak House Shuffle

Vallone's takes a break just in time to give Fleming's a shot

Where's Chango?

The "San Phillipy" set swears by Tony Vallone's first Mexican restaurant, but don't go looking for authenticity

New World Order

Tony Vallone is searching for his lost shaker of salt at the new Los Tonyos

Patriotic Excess

Luxurious Vallone’s most interesting new menu items arean early casualty of the war

Fall For It

La Griglia

The Boom Is Back

At Vallone's: Big hunks of meat and other people's money

Sold American

With his eponymous new cafe, Mark Cox sheds his Tony's past

What's in a Name?

If the name is Russo's Cafe Anthony, it's memorable Italian eating

Alison Cook looks back at 1996: Year of the Rat

Vallone (Jr.) Does Dallas

The Insider

Clash of the Caterers

Was it one too many chicken empanadas? It's Jackson vs. Jerry in the battle of the high-society foodmeisters.

Diner's Notebook

Slippage Report

Room with a Voodoo

With good reason do the see-and-be-scenesters flock to Tony Vallone's reorchestrated Anthony's