Color us hungry

John Palmer creates a bold palette for the pleasure of diners at Ciao Bello

Artist John Palmer worked early mornings to complete the mural before dinersarrived.
Photo by Shelby Hodge
The late lunch crowd got a taste of last-minute touch ups.
Photo by Shelby Hodge
At 22 feet long and 10 feet high, the mural required more than a few ups anddowns on the ladder.
Photo by Shelby Hodge
No marinara in the paint pots, please.
Photo by Shelby Hodge
Palmer's first work at Ciao Bello was on the back wall, once a vast expanse ofgray.
Photo by Shelby Hodge

As tradition holds, when venerable restaurateur Tony Vallone creates a casual restaurant, he infuses the environment with color and visual chicanery. No exception is his relatively new Ciao Bello, where abstract artist John Palmer has just finished a vibrant mural depicting, in an impressionistic style, an Italian plaza.

The project has been one of the most challenging in Palmer's 11-year career. He's had to paint from 3 a.m. until 10:30 a.m., picking up his paint pots and wrapping up his brushes just in time for the arrival of luncheon guests at the Tanglewood area eatery. No mixing marinara and golden acrylics, thank you.

At 22-feet long and 10-feet high, "La Piazza" is one of the largest canvasses that Palmer has tackled and as he said recently, while covered in splashes of deep red and blue paint, the strangest hours he has ever had to work.

Palmer and Vallone first hooked up a few years ago when Vallone, who has long had an eye for popular artwork, purchased some of Palmer's paintings for his signature restaurant Tony's. The artist was then the logical choice when Vallone decided to brighten the previously dark location of Jimmy Wilson's Seafood and Chop House which he and son Jeff Vallone took over in late October and re-opened as Ciao Bello.

Palmer's first commission at Ciao Bello was to create paintings for the dark interior walls of the restaurant.

When Vallone decided to enclose the patio with glass doors and air-condition the space, he felt the back wall, a dark charcoal gray, needed livening up. He called on Palmer.

"I did four studies for Mr. Vallone," Palmer recalled as he rushed to finish the mural in just a few days, in time for a chichi engagement dinner party on the patio. "There were challenges. He is tough and he knows exactly what he wants."

Eventually, they agreed on "La Piazza" and Palmer scrambled to finish it not only in time for the dinner party but also in time for his flight to Berlin where he will spend two weeks working with a painter there.

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What's Eric Eating Episodes 516 and 517

Food experts draft the best dishes at Vietnamese restaurants in Houston

Moon Rabbit/Facebook

Two panelists selected dishes from Moon Rabbit in the Heights.

On this week’s episode of “What’s Eric Eating,” CultureMap editor Eric Sandler recruited five of his friends and colleagues to select their favorite dishes at Vietnamese restaurants in Houston via a fantasy football-style draft.

The panelists — Stevie Vu of the Chowdown in Chinatown Facebook group and Asia Society, Texas; Chelsea Thomas of Local Foods Group; Heights Grocer and Montrose Grocer owner Mary Clarkson; Have A Nice Day AAPI pop-up market co-founder Isabel Protomartir; Houston BBQ Festival co-founder Michael Fulmer — joined Sandler to draft Vietnamese dishes and restaurants in six categories. They are:

Appetizer/Salad
Entree
Sandwich
Soup
Viet-Cajun
Wildcard

In the first round, Vu kicked things off by selecting the sandwiches from Chinatown institution Nguyen Ngo. Thomas followed with the duck salad at Thien An. Clarkson took the mango-papaya salad from Old Saigon Cafe, and Sandler scored the Beef 7 Ways at Chinatown favorite Saigon Pagolac. Protomartir took the Duck House’s crispy egg rolls, and Fulmer closed round one with the beef rolls at Nam Giao, which holds a Bib Gourmand designation in the Michelin Guide.

Sandler shared the full results on Instagram.

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As he noted, the draft results include some of Houston’s most prominent Vietnamese restaurant as well as a few under-the-radar choices that will give listeners some new options to try. Listen to the full episode on any podcast platform to hear the panelists explain the choices and recommend a few places that they could have drafted instead.

In this week’s second episode, chef Christine Ha and her husband John Suh join Sandler to review the results and pick a winner. Since no one selected their restaurant The Blind Goat, each drafter is on an equal footing.

Listen to the full episode to hear who won. Ha and Suh also share thoughts on their favorite selections by each panelist. They also catch us up on the latest happenings at both The Blind Goat and Stuffed Belly, their sandwich shop, including the recent addition of a gumbo pot pie to The Blind Goat’s menu.

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