For Italian, lately we've been going pretty often to Buon Appettito, which is the white house with azure trim on the south side of Holcombe between Main and Greenbriar. You've passed it exactly 57 times in the last year and thought, what is that building a front for? Here's a link:
http://buonappetitohouston.com/history.phpThe guy playing the guitar in the picuture (not that picture, the other one) is Tino Cantu, who's in his 80s, and who comes to our table and helps himself to our wine. Tino plays classical guitar by ear, which is mighty odd. We trade songs for an hour or so, and sometimes Tino will go off and grab somebody to come hear me play, and sometimes I invite people from other tables to come hear Tino play. It's all very . . . I dunno, entertaining, and the food is much better than I ever would have expected. I suspect it's more authentic in it's way than a lot of stuff in Houston Italian restaurants.
Tino's very proud of his guitar, and he should be. He went from New Orleans to Mexico City in 1964 to buy the guitar from the maker, Juan Pimentel. He says his is number 64, and Segovia bought number 65, and Segovia's is in the Smithsonian. Or something.
Don't talk too loud though, cause it annoys Tino.
