For the Falcons fans who are trying to get a glimpse of their team who is staying at the Westin hotel in Memorial City, there is a very good dining option right there, though I imagine it might be a bit busy this week.  If you can get in for lunch, their chili is something to consider

It might seem a bit incongruous that an upscale steakhouse would offer chili on its regular lunch menu, especially so if it is named Vallone’s.  But, given that Vallone’s sibling, Tony’s, the grand dame of Houston dining for over four decades used to serve chili – if not necessarily seen on a printed menu – it is not too surprising.  And, it is pretty good chili at Vallone’s, too, as you might expect.
 
The chili at Vallone’s is your basic bowl of Texas chili: it arrives as an undulated sea of brown gravy with identifiable and sometimes good-sized chunks of beef.  No beans or tomatoes, of course.  This is just like a straightforward chili you might make at home, just with much better beef.  Vallone’s uses the trimmings from the expensive USDA Prime steaks – just filets the other day – that are cut away so the steaks will have a more attractive plating.  The result is a beefier version of Texas chili with stew-sized pieces of Prime beef.  Fitting of the quality of the meat, the chili arrives in a copper pot and then is ladled into a white bowl at your seat.  It comes with four small containers, one filled with diced jalapeños, another with minced red onions, a third with shredded orange cheddar and the last with Fritos.
 
At $14, the good-sized portion can make for a very satisfying and hearty lunch, especially when the weather drops below 70 as it has done a few times recently and might do more so as winter officially starts tomorrow.
 
Vallone’s
947 Gessner (at I-10), 77024, (713) 395-6100
valloneshouston.com

​When I ran into Jeremy Parzen recently at Vinology, my third visit there since I read his article in the Houston Press just a month earlier announcing its opening in the second week of December, I thanked him for letting me know that it was finally open and how unique of a place it was for city, both a well-curated retail shop and a small wine bar.  He quickly mentioned that another food writer had complained to him about his assertion in the piece that VInology was a truly new concept for Houston.  I told him that that contention was ludicrous: Vinology is something novel, and that writer obviously did not know much at all about wine.
 
If you enjoy wine, especially quality Old World wines often from overlooked wineries, and the more balanced producers from the New, you owe yourself a visit to Vinology.  I am regular customer of 13 Celsius and Camerata, the two best wine bars in Houston.  These are bars that also sell wine.  Houston Wine Merchant is a terrific wine shop, but it is just a retail outlet.  Vinology is a retail shop that has a small wine bar – there is a about a dozen seats at the bar – which allows you to sample wines to give you an idea of what might appeal to your palate.  Or, just sample wines to expand your palate.  Nicely, they typically offer about a half-dozen wine flights of three wines each in particular theme.  A recent one featured three styles of Lambrusco (charmat, metodo classico and metodo ancestrale); white Burgundy; Portuguese whites; Tre Tuscan Sangiovese (Chianti Classico, Rosso di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano);  Sonoma County Syrah); and New Zealand Reds.
 
It’s been my experience from the couple flights I have sampled, is that the wines are very well chosen.  The flights might cost between $12 and $20, but they seem to be a very fair value, and fun to taste.  To note, tax and a 20% gratuity are included on top of that.  In addition to the wine flights, there are weekly seminars that might cost $10 or $15, including one tonight featuring the wines of the lauded Alois Lageder from the mountainous Alto Adige in northern Italy.  There are also free tastings each Friday from a local importer, a great way to sample interesting wines.
 
For retail, Vinology has about 350 wines, with a large percentage from Italy and France, a very good thing in my opinion.  There is to interest the wine geek, though it avoids a hipster bent, e.g. there are natural wines only when it makes sense.  And, prices are pretty decent, actually, better than the wine bars and seemingly in much in line with Spec’s, if they carried these wines.
 
The Italian emphasis at Vinology might be expected given that the shop is an offshoot of the Italian restaurant divino, which has had a very well-chosen and engaging, if small list of mostly Italian wines since it opened around fifteen years ago.  This is a natural extension, and one done very well.  Important for a quality wine shop – and a good wine bar, for that matter – the staff is very knowledgeable and helpful, led by Thomas Moesse, Certified Sommelier and Certified Specialist of Wine and formerly divino’s sommelier.
 
Vinology
2314 Bissonnet (just west of Greenbriar), 77005, (832) 849-1687
vinologyhouston.com

The photo above was taken the other day of two empty storefronts on W. Gray near Dunlavy that housed, Mama Fu's Asian House and Vertskebap, two relatively new chain concepts from Austin.  Neither made it very long.  Houston can be tough on chains like these featuring fast-casual ethnic that might do well in a less restaurant city with a far less diverse population than Austin.  I never made it to Mama Fu's, I have to admit.  I am not a fan of the seemingly similar Pei Wei and, more so, there are very good Asian options nearby that serve food that will undoubtedly be fresher and tastier.   I can't say that I am surprised that these locations closed. And they won't be missed. As for Vertskebap, here are might thoughts from 2014 when I visited for the first and last time. 

​Vertskebap is the new fast-casual import from Austin with several bare-bones locations in Houston specializing in doner kabobs, the Turkish version of roasted meet cut from a spinner and placed in bread pocket as was introduced to Germany by Turkish immigrants.  Doner kabobs are not unlike the shawarmas from the Levant and elsewhere in the Middle East and the Greek gyros. 
 
The offerings at Vertskebap are straightforward and focused.  Customers have the choice of a roasted lamb-beef mixture or chicken each from a spinner displayed behind the counter, a vegetable patty or falafel; these are placed inside a pita-like bread, the most popular option, a tortilla or on a bed of lettuce and then adorned with a choice of among ten vegetables (including grilled for an extra charge) and topped with one of five sauces. For sides and drinks, there are made-to-order fries, chips, soda, ice coffee on tap and beer.  That’s nearly it.
 
After three visits to two different locations of Vertskebap, unfortunately, I found that their kabobs were generally bland and boring; slivers of mediocre meat sitting in a cardboard-tasting, soft-textured bread among an array of forgettable accompaniments.  The only saving move, which I discovered on my last visit, was to have the order doused in their Hot Sauce, with some Garlic Sauce squeezed in, too, along with selecting pickled jalapeños among the vegetables.  It made the sandwich much more enjoyable, but nearly just one note in terms of flavor.
 
The beef-lamb mixture cut from the familiar gyro-like cylinder was noticeably a tad dry on my second visit.  Neither of the two orders of it was it enjoyably flavorful.  The chicken was no great shakes, either.  More disappointing was the bread, which would have been better if it was entirely tasteless.   The company’s website describes it as something that is a little different in practice: “Our Turkish-style, partially leavened pide bread is grilled to order. Vegan, low calorie and trans fat-free, it's crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, and won’t get soggy like sandwich bread.” Maybe that bread is very similar to what is used in Berlin for these types of kabobs, but it is easily the worst-tasting bread wrapping I have encountered outside of Jack in the Box or Burger King in quite some time.  “Cardboard-like” was the best food adjective I could come up with to describe its taste. 
 
There was little of the freshness or vibrancy, much less the flavor at Vertskebap, that you will find in shawarmas at pretty much any good shawarma purveyor in Houston – Zabak’s, Café Lili, Shawarma King, Jerusalem Halal Deli, or Phoenicia, for example – or the gyros at Niko Niko’s.  Or any of the food at Istanbul Grill in Houston, long one of the best dining bargains in Houston.  Importantly, also, is that the bread wrapping at each of these other restaurants – which is either sourced locally at a bakery like Abdullah’s or made in house – is likely much fresher and certainly far better tasting than at Vertskebap.
 
Had Vertskebap been around when I when I writing my Houston Dining on the Cheap guidebooks, it would certainly not have come close to warranting inclusion in its present form. And, I had hopes for the concept, as there are two locations close to my office, both closer than any Middle Eastern or Greek restaurant, but nein. 

However, if you think of Vertskebap as another option for fast-food, albeit not quite as fast but pricier than the typical fast-food joint, you might not be disappointed in the taste.  And if you think of it as fast-food that serves good local and regional beer (Saint Arnold Lawnmower, Karbach Hopadillo and Live Oak’s creditable Hefeweizen), you might actually like it.  

The Margherita Pizza Project is progressing, and the end is actually in sight.  Below are the ones I have sampled – most of which I enjoyed to some degree – since the last update on this blog in November.
 
Arcodoro – Good
California Pizza Kitchen (W. Gray) – Poor – Ugh. There is absolutely no reason in Houston to ever go to a California Pizza Kitchen.  If you do, don’t order a margherita.  Get something else with a stronger flavor to cover up the base, and an alcoholic beverage will probably help, too.
Cane Rosso (Fort Worth) – Satisfactory
Cane Rosso (Montrose) – Good / Satisfactory
Ciao Bello – Satisfactory
Collina’s (Richmond) – Poor – This pizza was truly awful, and along with Frank’s, the worst I have had.  Do not.  Repeat.  Do not order a margherita pizza from Collina’s, unless you like the taste of cheap cardboard mitigating with inexpensive industrial-quality mozzarella-like cheese and the worst, most under-ripe tomatoes you can imagine.
Grotto – Fair
Pizza L’Vino (Waugh) – Satisfactory / Fair
Prego – Good
Romano’s Pizzeria – Satisfactory
Russo’s New York Pizzeria – Satisfactory
 
Thankfully, Prego and Arcodoro, and to a lesser extent, Cane Rosso provided some nicely made pizzas along the way.
 
To note, for the ratings, I have ripped off the verbiage used by the New York Times in their restaurant reviews, from best to worst (Extraordinary, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Satisfactory, Fair, Poor).

Thankfully, the pizzas at Arcodoro are still worth ordering.

I just picked up Ella Brennan's memoir about her life as a restaurateur that documents the history of Brennan's and Commander's Palace and the family's other restaurants, which has made for fun reading.  Along the way she writes, "The Wall Street Journal did a story saying we had the third chef's table ever to be done. We didn't even know that. But we'll take a good idea wherever it comes from. In this case, Alex had seen Charlie Trotter's chef's table in Chicago and immediately instituted one at Brennan's in Houston. Well, we were quick to copy him at Commander's."

So, Brennan's here might have had the second chef's table in the country, or as they call, "The Kitchen Table."  It can be a great place for a special meal.  I had the best meal of 2015 there at a media dinner.

​I had been looking forward to the media dinner at Brennan’s in early May 2015.  It’s Brennan’s, after all, one of the grande dames of Houston dining, and one that has been serving the city with a certain amount of refined New Orleans-inflected taste and style since 1967.  That evening, I quickly got the impression that the event was to highlight the notion that Brennan’s is much more than a destination for boozy business entertaining, decadent brunches, and wedding-related celebrations to a group of food writers who might be younger than the restaurant’s typical patron.  And, the event and the food was much more interesting, and better, than I expected.  It will have me thinking of more excuses to visit Brennan’s in the future.
 
I had long enjoyed Brennan’s.  It’s had its ups and (relative) downs for me over the years.  The cooking is often excellent, though sometimes somewhat rote, as it was for my last dinner there before Christmas when I ordered incorrectly what was seemingly grab-bag of ingredients that they might have an excess of brought together in an entrée that was rather pedestrian.  My thought is you should never be allowed to order incorrectly at a place like Brennan’s.  That visit was still a very enjoyable evening with friends featuring polished service and a sufficient amount of well-poured cocktails and wine. 
 
The multi-course media dinner in the Kitchen Table remedied any slightly sour thoughts from that previous meal.  Orchestrated in full view of the expansive kitchen by Executive Chef Danny Trace and team, along with appearances from GM Carl Walker and managing owner Alex Brennan-Martin, the long meal was excellent throughout.  The preparations were lighter than what I have had in the past – possibly because I usually order rich items at Brennan’s, which is easy to do – but they were certainly more vibrant and well-conceived than my previous visits.  It was the best meal I have ever had at Brennan’s.
 
It started with Jimmy’s Oyster Roast, a trio of hickory smoked Gulf oysters served on a small iron skillet with flecks of seaweed.  Next up was the Crispy Louisiana Softshell Crab, just in season.  Deep-fried, of course, but light, fairly delicate and with a nice amount of sweetness (maybe it was a she-crab) and no real evidence of the shell at all.  It was probably the best soft shell crab I have ever eaten.  Course three was the Galveston Docks Koo-Be-Yahn, a soupy Cajun-influenced Courtbouillon sauce served with potatoes.  Featuring the rarely seen barrelfish, a deep-water product that is by-catch from commercial grouper fishing, the dish was a bit more refined than the courtbouillons I have had in the past, and the firm, tasty white flesh of the barrelfish was a very nice match for the preparation.  After the several courses seafood, the star of the plate moved to land, sort of, the Buffalo Bayou Honey Roasted Duck, which is cooked in the kitchen’s new duck oven, an oven recently purchased after some considerable research solely to cook ducks.  With nicely crispy skin, some unctuous bits of fat and meat in a bite, gave notice that they know how to work with the new kitchen toy.  The duck was served with crawfish fried rice, and a fairly graceful orange sauce. Luckily for me, if not my waistline, the writer next to me did not eat meat, so I was able to sample the duck again just to make sure of the consistency of the kitchen. Quality was consistent....
 
A truly artisanal cheese plate followed, which was terrific, then the onslaught of desserts for the table of twelve to share: Dessert Ponchatoula Strawberry Shortcake; Mississippi Mud Pie; a fantastic, tart, but beautifully balanced Lemon Meringue Pie; Southern Pecan Pie; White Chocolate Bread Pudding; Grand Marnier Crème Brulée; and the famous Brennan’s Bananas Foster made table-side.  The strawberries served with the shortcake deserve special mention.  From a small farm in Louisiana, the plump berries were perfectly ripe, luscious and absolutely delicious; I cannot ever remember having more flavorful strawberries.
 
Dining at The Kitchen Table is far from inexpensive – dinner is still $80 per person and starting at $155 with wine pairings while lunch is $60 per person and beginning at $105 with wine pairings – for a five- to seven-course meal of the chef’s choosing.  But I would recommend that you keep it in mind for a special occasion.  The food and experience at that media dinner there were outstanding.  It was a lot like my best meals at Commander’s Palace, its famed sister restaurant in New Orleans.  I mean that in the highest praise.
 
Brennan’s
3300 Smith (just southwest of Elgin), 77006, (713) 522-9711
brennanshouston.com


The Buffalo Bayou Honey Roasted Duck at Brennan's:

Nestled among the numerous sensible lunch options at Paulie’s  – various vibrant salads, pizzas, pastas and even sandwiches – is one that calls out to the hungry rather than the health-conscious, the Pork Tenderloin with Cajun Mustard Sandwich ($10). Not only does it display some heft, it ignores the Italian motif of much of the rest of the menu. No matter, zesty Cajun-inspired flavors are at least as well-loved in these parts, and this porcine-stuffed beauty does much to satisfy.
 
Plentiful slices of moist pork tenderloin are piled between the two halves of a fresh, airy bun and topped with Bibb lettuce and slices of tomatoes along with a fair amount of the pleasantly piquant pale Cajun mustard. The properly cooked and flavorful pork is at the forefront complemented by the regionally appropriate condiment, fresh green leaves, some ripe red fruit, and a tasty bun to make for a subtly delicious sandwich. The side of chunky potato salad featuring purple skin-on tubers and bits of black olive and chopped parsley provides some added color to this enjoyable lunch order at this smart and always enjoyable Montrose-area spot.

This is just one of the tempting and always-satisfying sandwiches here.
 
Paulies
1834 Westheimer (east of Shepherd), 77098, (713) 807–7271
pauliesrestaurant.com

The Brunello consortium is in town today, their only stop other than New York.  It's great for the city's wine community, one that features a surprisingly number of restaurants with Brunello and Rosso di Montalcino on their wine lists.

If you want to impress a client or a date at an Italian restaurant, ordering a Barolo or Brunello di Montalcino is usually the way to do it.  These are the top red wine appellations in Italy.  Several super Tuscans are as highly regarded as the best Barolos and Brunellos, but those usually require more wine knowledge and attention from your guests.  You’d hate to spend hundreds of dollars on Masseto and let that go unnoticed.  Same goes for Flaccianello, which also has a name that some might not take seriously.  Flaccianello.
 
However, “Barolo” and “Brunello” scream top-of-line, even at much lower price points than Masseto, Tignanello, Solaia and Sassicaia, and most of the wines from Gaja.
 
The problem with most Barolos and Brunellos at restaurants is that what is available on their wine lists – usually just the most recent vintages – are not old enough to be in prime condition.  This is especially the case with most Brunellos, even though the aging requirements are lengthiest in Italy, four-plus years for the “regular Brunello and five-plus for the Riserva.  Many of these wines take years to develop.  I had the opportunity to visit several producers a few years in and around Montalcino.  At a tasting at Fattoria dei Barbi, one of the oldest Brunello producers, the Brunellos we tasted were all still extremely tannic.  Our guide told us that Barbi’s Brunellos “need to wait five years at the very least.”  In late 2012, the 2004 vintage was the youngest of their Brunellos that was ready to drink.
 
Another issue is that Brunellos are big and usually very tannic wines that demand big, and usually, fat-laden flavors.  The most common answer I received from producers to my query of what food best paired with their Brunello was “bistecca,” steak.  Dining at wineries and with Brunello for several days, the wine might go best with steak and beef, in general, but it can complement more than that.  Legendary restaurateur Piero Selvaggio of Valentino recommends Brunello with “braised meats, any form of steaks and wild boar and pici pasta with a rich meat ragù.”  The pici (or pinci in Montalcino) is the indigenous pasta of the area, which are like thick, soft strands of spaghetti.  More than bistecca, but big and meaty still work the best.
 
In a restaurant setting, your guests will likely be ordering somewhat disparate dishes, not all steaks. But, Brunello can still work, especially if it is a lighter style.  Two I tasted at an event in Houston last week sponsored by the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino were from La Fortuna and Camigliano.  These wines from a recent vintage were medium-bodied, less tannic than typical, and extremely approachable and drinkable, much more so than the typical Brunello, which will need more time to develop.  These wines would be good to order at restaurant since, while still carrying the prestige of Brunello, these are likely ready to drink now, and the lighter style can appeal to a greater range of dishes than the rich meat preparations.  In Montalcino, I found the wines from Altesino readily approachable and enjoyable when young, too.
 
I asked Joel Mack of the informative, Italian-focused Vintrospective blog, who was a fellow traveler in November, for additional recommendations of a lighter style of Brunello.  He suggested, “La Lecciaia, La Poderina, La Magia, and perhaps Gianni Brunelli.”  A few more to remember when dining to impress.  La Magia is found at a number of restaurants in Houston.

Some of the products sold by Altesino

​The other night at Giacomo’s I was looking for a light- or medium-bodied easy drinking red that would work well on its own and with light appetizers for myself and a couple siblings and their spouses as we waited for our parents.  After scanning the list for a minute or two, with a two or three inexpensive bottles in mind, I ask chef-proprietor Lynette Hawkins if she had any suggestions that would fit what I outlined.  She quickly recommended unlitro from star Aldo Adige-based winemaker Elisabetta Foradori, who was involved in property in the Maremma area of southwestern Tuscany, Ampeleia.
 
Unlitro, which means “A liter” in Italian, is pretty accurate description, as it a liter of red wine contained in an old-style squat bottle, not unlike those used by the cult Sicilian winemaker COS.  Unusually, unlitro is made mostly with Alicante Nero – which is Grenache, very unusual for Tuscany – with Carignan and Alicante Bouschet, a couple of other French grapes.  The wine was perfect for our needs, we all liked, with plans to purchase it in the future.  Also, it was just $28 for a liter.  That’s $28 for a bottle-and-a-third.  It is tough to imagine that there is as well-made and enjoyable red wine on a wine list in the Houston area for such a small tariff.
 
How to describe it?  The list at Giacamo’s does a very job doing so: “has flavors that are pure and lively with no oak to interfere with the myriad aromas of wildflowers, forest fruit, red berries, and subtle spices. A lingering hint of sweetness is balanced with refreshing acidity on the finish. This is both a lovely sipping wine and food pairing wine.”  I tasted some cherry and strawberry among the fruit, which was evident, but not predominant and a profile that lighter than the typical Grenache and Italian in profile.  And, $28, too.  Our table of nearly ten finished three bottles.
 
Unlitro is available retail locally at Houston Wine Merchants for $19.99.  That’s just an $8 markup over retail at Giacomo’s, a testament to their terrific wine pricing.  There were only four bottles left of unlitro at Houston Wine Merchant on Friday after I bought one.  It is worth sample and more.
 
Giacomo’s
3215 Westheimer (between Kirby and River Oaks Boulevard), 77098, (713) 522-1934
giacomosciboevino.com

When I saw Stefano Campatelli again in Houston in late January four years ago, the last time the Brunello consortium was in town, I commented to him once more that “Baby Brunello” is a terrible moniker for Rosso di Montalcino, a diminutive that immediately describes it as no more than second-best. He nodded, and replied diplomatically that there was not much that could be done about it, at least for now, as the reference has some traction among its producers. The agreeable Campatelli was the Director of the Brunello consortium, properly, the Consorzio del Brunello di Montalcino, who was in Houston for a tasting of wines from a few dozen wineries from the appellation.  The consortium has an event this Thursday, which I am looking forward to.
 
I had met Campanelli a couple of months earlier, in late November 2012. I was a guest of the consortium for a tour of several of the wineries, and a chance to taste many more of their wines on their home turf in southern Tuscany, and with the local cuisine. The namesake of the consortium and the prime reason for the visit, the estimable Brunello di Montalcino, is its star. This makes perfect sense, of course. Brunello di Montalcino is regarded along with Barolo in Piedmont as the most prestigious of Italy’s wine regions. Brunellos from Biondi-Santi, the winery that originated the style in the late 19th century, are among the most famous wines from Italy; the recent release of their 2007 Riserva at around $700 per bottle makes it about the most expensive, too. Other Brunello producers like Soldera (until a few years ago) and Valdicava draw nearly similar and continued critical acclaim from the international wine press.
 
But, it was the secondary wines, those bearing the Rosso di Montalcino designation, that were the ones that I enjoyed more frequently during that trip. I tasted many Brunellos that were going to be fantastic, but not yet. The sturdy Brunellos are often not nearly ready upon release – replete with significant tannins that carry them to a long life – and often take between five and ten years afterwards to hit their stride. The youngest of the Brunellos I really loved was from the 2004 vintage. I did enjoy several others immensely, but I liked many more of the Rossos, all of them, in fact, in large part because most of the Rossos are released ready to be consumed, or nearly so.
 
Rosso di Montalcinco was created in 1984 so that the wineries were able to earn money while their Brunellos aged the minimum of four-plus years after harvest, the longest aging requirement in all of Italy. Rossos can be released after just the following September. Similarly, 100% Sangiovese like the Brunellos, usually made with younger vines, the Rossos present another side of the grape that reaches its peak in the picturesque landscape of that part of Tuscany. Though the range of expressions varies, most Rossos are vibrant wines, showing buoyant cherry and sometimes strawberry notes typical of Sangiovese, a mild earthiness, usually gentle tannins, and a wonderful acidity. They display an easy drinkability that often belies their strength, typically between 13.5% and 14.5% alcohol these days. And, these are recognizing Italian; recognizably Tuscan. Rossos are different wines than their more structured, longer-lasting siblings. Not better, but different.
 
Rossos are much more like the top wines from the nearby Chianti appellations. Not surprising, given the similar geography, weather, aging, and makeup of the best Chiantis, which are entirely or nearly entirely Sangiovese. The famed Chiantis, too, typically garner more press than the Rossos.
 
The Rossos exhibit some of the diversity found in the Brunellos from their shared fifteen-kilometer-by-fifteen-kilometer appellation, reflective of the differences in terrain, elevation, microclimates and soils, not mention winemaking techniques. Barriques, tonneaux and large Slavonian oak botti might be employed for aging before spending a minimum six months in bottles before release. Though a single style does not exist, what each of the Rossos has in common is that it is an excellent food wine, as one might expect from Italy. Robust fare is especially well complemented with a Rosso like ragù Bolognese, or even game, according to one winemaker.
 
Though wines labeled Rosso di Montalcino can be absolutely terrific, they will, naturally, always be regarded as second-best in their own region. This means these Rossos might be easy to overlook, but it also makes many terrific values, even priced at $25 or $35. Kevin Zraly, the noted wine educator, led a couple of tastings at the Brunello event in Houston in January, 2013. He was as instructive and insightful – and infectiously energetic – as when he was a guest lecturer at the introductory undergraduate wine class I took at Cornell a couple of decades earlier. He remarked after the first one that “Rosso is one of the top ten values…a great, great wine.” Some further confirmation of what was readily apparent to me after my enjoyably heavy, nearly weeklong, consumption at the source.


Wines at dinner at Castello Romitorio near Montalcino a few years ago.

Though encountered less frequently, the older you get, these still exist in many social situations.

Drunk, Obnoxious – This is a common sight at almost any social event that lasts several hours and the drinks are flowing readily.  This person, who may or may not be an ass when sober, becomes one when imbibing past their limit.  At this point this person is a drag on the party, or at least his immediate area.  This person is one that you will want to watch.  They have potential for property damage and carnage, especially if they get behind the wheel.  

​What else you might try – Make sure this person has a ride home, and encourage him or her to depart under assistance, if possible.  Unfortunately, coffee will only make him more wide awake.  Food will help a little, but time is the only cure, which will hopefully he will have been long taken away from your event. 

Those immigrating from Italy, the vast majority were from southern Italy and Sicily, were different than the average American, and different than those coming from northern and western Europe.

The culture of Naples, and that of the southerners, was quite different from, and often offensive, to the sensibilities of other Europeans, especially those from the cooler climes.  Festivals and even funerals were often replete with wild emotion.  Many travelers, especially during the 1700s, formed an image of Neapolitans, of being superstitious, ignorant, savage, extroverted, lazy, and prone to violence and acute sexual passion.  This often extended to all Italians.   It was thought by many that Naples was, barely, the last toehold of Europe and the rest of southern Italy and Sicily was “Africa."  To many, southern Italians were not thought to be European, even if grand Roman and Greek ruins were in their midst.  In some sense, these perceptions were understandable.  Many Neapolitans and other southerners believed in jettatura, the ability of some people to cause harm magically via the evil-eye (malocchio).  Most adhered to a Christianity riddled with ancient pagan practices and a view that saints were mostly miracle makers rather than models of morality.  The annual ceremonies in Naples in which the dried blood of San Gennaro liquefies was only one of the more obvious representations.  Banditry, brigandage, in the countryside added to both the image and reality of its backwardness.  If the impression might have been inflated, it had some basis in reality, violence was indeed much greater in the south, and there was some level of organized crime in western Sicily and around Naples by the 19th century.
 
A unique feature of southern Italian life that certainly helped shape the culture was the near complete urbanism of the populace, even beyond the large and extremely crowded Naples, long one of the most populous cities in Europe.  Almost everyone lived in cities, towns or villages.  As emigration began, 90% of the people in Sicily and Basilicata lived in communities with some level of urbanity, a far greater percentage than in northern Italy.  Encouraged by the threats of malaria, pirates and bandits, there was protection in a community, especially one on a hilltop.  The peasants trudged daily from the villages to the farmlands and back home.  The crowded conditions caused by this urbanism, and exacerbated by poverty, seemed to encourage, even demand, the demonstrative behavior most southern Italians exhibited.  Shouting, gesticulating and even pantomime was necessary to communicate in the often noisy urban areas that were home to most.  Compounding to this was the temperate climate that encouraged much of life to be spent outdoors.  Southern Italians were natural participants in a daily street theater.

The President's farewell address this evening had the line concerning immigration: "the stereotypes about immigrants today were said, almost word for word, about the Irish, Italians, and Poles."

This was very true in the distant past, of course, sometimes their presence was believed to be more even more insidious, especially the Italians, at times.  Below is mostly from the ebook I penned a few years ago, From the Antipasto to the Zabaglione – The Story of Italian Restaurants in America:

The prominent mid-century historian Richard Hofstatder posited about the mood of much of the general public soon after the First World War: "The Anglo-Saxon Americans now felt themselves more than ever to be the representatives of a threatened purity of race and ideals, a threatened Protestantism, and even a threatened integrity of national allegiance – for the war and its aftermath had awakened them to the realization that the country was full of naturalized citizens still intensely concerned with the politics and divided in their loyalties.”  This was the time of the dramatic rise of the Ku Klux Klan when, "the Catholics were the primary objects of their resentment, at least outside the South,"and another reason of widespread anti-Italian sentiment, as these Italians were nearly all Catholic.

Xenophobia against many of the newcomers was even reflected in scholarly quarters.  Edward Alsworth Ross, Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin – and a founder of American sociology (muse on that after finishing this sentence) and President of the American Sociological Society in 1914-1915 – wrote in a trade book about immigration in 1914 that unless the flood of “gross little aliens” from “the backward and benighted provinces from Naples to Sicily” was sharply diminished, America, “must in the end resign itself to lower efficiency, to less democracy, or to both.”  

These views were held widely enough for two pieces of legislation restricting the tide of immigration from Italy.  The Quota Act of 1921 limited its immigration to 3% annually of their population in the 1910 census.  The Johnson-Reed Act in 1924 further reduced the new arrivals from southern and eastern Europe to 2% of the 1890 census.  Immigration from Italy had slowed to a trickle when the First World War reached it furious conclusion as Germany exhausted itself and the even deadlier influenza epidemic beginning in 1918 infected a fifth of the world's population and killed around 50 million people.  The pace of newcomers from Italy increased in 1920 and reached a last peak of 220,000 in 1921 before declining to around 50,000 per annum for a few years before the quotas took full effect.  There were just 6,000 immigrants from Italy in 1925.  The number averaged 15,000 for several years afterwards, a far cry from before. This was not changed until the large-scale immigration overhaul in 1965.  This set the stage for current restaurant dining diversity that exists today.

And, very truthfully, as the President followed that initial sentence above: "America wasn’t weakened by the presence of these newcomers; they embraced this nation’s creed, and it was strengthened."  Even concerning the Irish....

I just read an article about local versions of the muffaletta, which did not really do justice to the history of the sandwich.  The muffaletta is the second great Italian-American cold sandwich, in addition to the sub, after all.  Cold, well, room temperature.

Created in New Orleans, the muffaletta still largely a local and somewhat regional treat, and it might be the most enjoyable significant preparation in the Crescent City’s culinary legacy from the Sicilian immigrants.  It was created at the Central Grocery in New Orleans’ French Quarter sometime after it opened in 1906 by Salvatore Lupo.  Still around and located near the French Market and the wharves, it was a popular stop for the immigrant Sicilian dock workers and truck farmers to make their lunch.  His customers would purchase the meats, cheese, olive salad, which is traditional in much of Sicily, and bread.  They ate these separately, in the Italian style.  Without much in the way of space to eat in the small store, Lupo, seemingly taking a cue from the American habit, introduced these typically purchased group of items combined as a sandwich. 

That bread was the distinctive, dense circular loaf called muffaletta originally from Piana degli Albanesi, a largely ethnic Albanian community fifteen miles from Palermo, which became popular in the Sicilian capital, too.  The muffaletta bread had been baked in New Orleans for at least a decade at that time.  Customers quickly took to the creation, which was named after the bread.  Since the loaf is fairly large, about 10-inches in diameter, a normal order is a half a muffaletta.  When purchased from the Central Grocery where it is spelled muffuletta, it is a sandwich that improves after a few hours when the oil and vinegar from olive and vegetable mixture can penetrate and soften the thick bread.  The versions in Houston typically use softer bread and often served warm that are meant to be eaten on the spot and can also be very enjoyable, if something just a little different.

Central Grocery
923 Decatur, New Orleans, Louisiana 70116
(504) 523-1620
centralgrocery.com

A full muffaletta (or muffuletta) from the Central Grocery in New Orleans. These are really tasty and travel well.  I make sure to pick up one (or more) each time I am in New Orleans, as I did yesterday.  And, it tasted better today, too.

You might encounter a drunk at your party.  Really.  If you notice the drunk in the mirror, you can ignore the advice below, though, as long as you are not driving.

Drunk, Happy – This person becomes obviously drunk during the party while remaining in a good mood.  This person can often remain or become an enjoyable guest, as the butt of jokes, or otherwise.  

What else you might try – Make sure this person has a ride home, and encourage him or her to depart under assistance, if possible.  Or, conversely you can let him or her “rest” on a sofa or chair somewhat out of the way.