Tony’s, the 60-year-old Italian fine dining institution on Richmond, is changing hands after decades in the Vallone family.
Tony Vallone founded the restaurant on Sage Road in 1965 and ran it for more than 50 years, including through multiple moves. By the time he died in 2020 at age 75, he had transformed it into an icon of the Houston dining scene.
10 YEARS AGO: Tony’s celebrates five decades
After his death, his wife and business partner Donna Vallone continued running the restaurant, with help from other partners.
This fall, a group of four longtime customers took over the restaurant with plans to continue its operations.
David Greenberg, a commercial real estate broker who’s been involved behind the scenes at Tony’s for 35 years, suggested the purchase to the other three: businessman Alan Stein, Alan Helfman of the Helfman car dealerships, and Michael Kaplan, an ear, nose and throat doctor. The group took over in late October, Greenberg said.
“We’re going to continue the Tony legacy,” Greenberg told the Chronicle.
Tony’s restaurant owners and couple Tony and Donna Vallone, before Tony Vallone’s death in 2020. (Tony’s)
He said Donna Vallone will remain involved with Tony’s. Citing her mother’s health, Donna Vallone’s daughter Lia directed a request for comment back to Greenberg.
Greenberg said the change in ownership came at a pivotal time. The restaurant’s lease had been up for renewal, he said, and closing was on the table. Greenberg “didn’t have the heart to see it close,” so he and the other three partners offered another path forward.
He declined to share the terms of the arrangement.
All of the new partners have longstanding memories at the restaurant. Greenberg started eating there regularly about 50 years ago. Kaplan visited sporadically in high school and returned with his parents to celebrate his acceptance into medical school.
Kaplan also befriended Tony Vallone before his death. Around 2015, Tony Vallone joined a Saturday morning breakfast group that Helfman helped organize. The people there, including Kaplan, became friends.
“I began to appreciate him as an individual, what he’s done for the restaurant, what he’s done for the city,” Kaplan said.
Tony’s souffles have long been popular, including an apricot option with caramel sauce. (Tony’s)
Now that they’re steering his legacy, the new partners said they have several changes in the works at Tony’s. A facelift is first and foremost among them.
Starting in the new year, Kaplan said the restaurant would begin renovations while remaining open. An expanded bar, enhanced lighting, new carpet and fresh color scheme are all expected, though he said the details aren’t yet finalized. Greenberg said Christine Ho Interiors is designing the changes.
“We want to recreate the grandeur that Tony’s always had,” Kaplan said, “and maintain a level of excellence in terms of food and service that is really unmatched by just about any other place you can visit.”
Menu changes have already begun. Kaplan’s working on a new pastry list. Stein said he’d suggested a mushroom cannelloni with marsala, bechamel and Parmesan; it’s already on the menu.
The owners plan to emphasize tableside excitement, too, like the bananas foster cooked in front of diners or a flaming salt-encrusted snapper. Many of those dishes had become off-menu only.
This isn’t the only shake-up to happen to Tony’s in recent months. Longtime chef Kate McLean, one of Vallone’s proteges, left earlier this year. Greenberg, who was involved with that decision, said, “She had her different vision, and she went her way, and we went ours.”
Joey Gomez is now leading the kitchen, Greenberg said.
Long a staple on the Houston Chronicle’s Top 100 restaurants list before falling off in 2024, at its height Tony’s was the place to see and be seen. Maxine Mesinger, the Houston Chronicle society columnist, frequently covered the restaurant. Princess Margaret attended a party there. Former Texas Gov. John Connally swung by too.
Tony’s hosted many dignitaries over the years. Here, executive chef Mark Cox offered designer Sherri Zucker, Italian Ambassador Rinaldo Petrignani and Tony Vallone a preview of the evening’s feast. (Bruce Bennett/Houston Chronicle)
Anything was available to its customers. If people ordered dishes off-menu, they would get them. When Stein first stopped by the restaurant with his wife in 1982, his father asked what he wanted.
“Where’s the menu?” Stein recalled asking.
“Tell them what you want,” his father-in-law said. Stein requested crab meat pasta and loved it.
That customization will remain available, Kaplan said, as will the service that diners have come to expect over 60 years. Over the next few months, he’s hoping to gear marketing towards younger audiences and show them why the restaurant has stood for so long.
“We all have a passion for fine dining,” Kaplan said. “I want my kids to look forward to coming for the same reason that we all do.”
This article originally published at Tony’s, an icon of Houston fine dining, to change ownership after 60 years.
Dining and Cooking