My Table magazine is very pleased to announce that Tony and Donna Vallone, proprietors of Tony’s, Ciao Bello and Vallone’s, are the recipients of the Legends of Houston Restaurants Award that will be given on Sunday, October 4, at the Houston Culinary Awards gala dinner.

Throughout his 50-year career as Houston’s leading restaurateur, Tony Vallone’s passion for quality and his love of creativity in the kitchen have made his namesake Tony’s one of the most celebrated restaurants in the country.

“Tony Vallone didn’t just invent fine dining in Houston, he created a standard few restaurants outside of New York could meet,” says John Mariani, Esquire magazine restaurant writer and long-time friend of the Vallones. “Years later he made Tony’s over into one of the finest Italian restaurants in America.”

At a time when many restaurants would be coasting on their laurels, the food at Tony’s is “better than ever,” declared Houston Chronicle restaurant critic Alison Cook, who wrote an April 3, 2015, profile of Tony Vallone on the occasion of the restaurant’s 50th anniversary.

“I am constantly amazed,” says Tony’s general manager and partner Scott Sulma, “by his ability to teach and to draw talent out of our team in the kitchen and in particular from our chefs.”

That’s not surprising when it comes to Vallone, whose mantra, “first in season, first in Tony’s” has made the restaurant one of the nation’s top destinations for white truffles from Italy, beluga caviar and Grade A5 Kobe beef, among other top-quality food products.

Throughout his career, Vallone has insisted on using only genuine Italian food products. (Author’s note: Tony Vallone once advised me that De Cecco was the only brand of pasta to use.)

A look inside Tony’s

In his 2011 book How Italian Food Conquered the World, Esquire writer Mariani cites Vallone as a U.S. pioneer in the “FedEx” age of the availability of authentic Italian food products in North America, such as Parmigiano Reggiano, burrata and Sicilian sea salt. Nearly an entire chapter is devoted to Vallone in the book.

Donna Vallone, who grew up wanting to be a Broadway vocalist, once told My Table magazine that her favorite thing about the restaurant business is working with her husband every day. The couple excel at making every guest feel cherished.

And it’s a two-way street. Although many might point to Vallone’s encyclopedic knowledge of cuisine and his many years dining at the world’s best restaurants as the secrets to his success, it’s really the couple’s love of “working the floor” that makes it all worthwhile, he explains.

“My greatest thrill,” says Vallone, “is being in the dining room and meeting new people every day.”