Shelby About Town

At $2,000+ a pound, these white truffles have got to be good

Lady leads Giuseppe Marengo and Marco Wiles, proprietor of Da Marco restaurantin Houston, on a hunt for white truffles near Alba, Italy.
Gloria Wiles
Success! A fresh white truffle in the hand is worth $2,000 in the bank.
Gloria Wiles
The rewards: Pasta with white truffles a pricey dish with aromatic elegance.
Truffles are offered in various forms for sale at the market in Alba, Italy.
Gloria Wiles
Giuseppe Marengo and his truffle hunter, Lady
Gloria Wiles
Another display of truffles at the Alba, Italy, market.
Gloria Wiles

It's the height of the white truffle season and connoisseurs of the aromatic, rough gems from Alba, Italy, are wallowing in the rich delights prepared by just a handful of chefs across the city.

When billionaire Fayez Sarofim stepped out to celebrate his birthday recently, he headed to Da Marco and ordered a full serving, $95 a plate, for starters. Before dinner was over, he was contemplating ending the meal with Da Marco's white truffle ice cream (inspired by a dish from Milan), an unusual treat that requires a special fondness for the earthy flavor.

Da Marco chef/owner Marco Wiles and wife Gloria vacationed (a busman's holiday for sure) in Alba for two weeks in October exploring the center of the universe as far as white truffles are concerned, visiting the forests where truffles are harvested and sampling the dishes of Alba's top restaurants.

Venerable restaurateur Tony Vallone has been serving white truffles to Houston gourmands for more than two decades and has a coterie of devotees who consume as much as three kilos a week. At $2,700 to $2,900 a pound, this is eating way high on the hog. That translates into $135 a plate for the top of the line Alba truffles. Among those relishing the dishes (diner's choice of truffle risotto or truffles with pasta) at T ony's are Sheridan and John Eddie Williams and Carol and Mike Linn.

Catalan chef Chris Shepherd has white truffles, not as a regular menu item, but on call-ahead status. Recently, Shepherd hosted a "Wine Me, Dine Me" dinner for Apex Group owner Josh Aruh and 10 friends featuring seven courses, four of them generously laced with white Alba truffles. He repeated the dinner for the following night for another customer. The rich morsels are also a fall tradition at Arcodoro where dishes include risotto, ravioli, fettucini and more with prices ranging from $45 to $95.

White truffle season runs mid-November through mid-December and wholesale market costs range from $1,800 to $2,900 depending on supplier and demand. You can get your own Alba truffles via the Internet at approximately $263 an ounce or more than $4,000 a pound. Bon appetite!

Birthdays galore

So Thanksgiving week is not the time for big celebrations other than turkey day itself. But what to do when your birthday falls during this time of feasting? You or your friends throw a party anyway.

Maritza and Dr. Vicente Valero, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center breast oncologist, opened their home for two dozen chums of Ileana Treviño to help her celebrate a not-so-special birthday. Husband Michael

Treviño did most of the cooking.

Among the well-wishers were Sandy and Dr. Barney Barrett, Carol and Michael Linn, Soraya and Scott McClelland and Nancy Ames and Danny Ward.

A big one

Attorney Chris Bell crossed the half-century mark Saturday night at Eldorado Ballroom where close to 150 fans turned out to wish him well. Because the space is now owned by Project Row Houses, Bell asked that in lieu of gifts, donations be made to the non-profit. Organizing the bash were the birthday boy's wife Allison Bell plus June Deadrick of Centerpoint Energy and Heidi Kirkpatrick Hedrick of Lone Star Strategies.

Celebrants rocking to the sounds of Commercial Art included a number of politicos such as City Controller and mayoral candidate Annise Parker, Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, State Rep. Carol Alvarado and state representative candidate Billy Brisco. Also in the mix were the Bells' two children, 13-year-old Atlee and 11-year-old Connally, plus Dave Strickland, Miya Shay, Jim Jard, Michael Moore and loads of former Bell staffers from his City Hall and D.C. days as well as former campaign staffers.

Lady friends

Donna Vallone was caught by total surprise last week when her book club (Tony's Literary Society or TLS) partners threw a birthday lunch at Susan Krohn's River oaks home. The ladies hosting the ladies who lunched were Sandy Barrett, Randa Duncan, Alina Garcia, Carol Linn, Soraya McCleland, Ileana Treviño, Sheridan Williams and Krohn.

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on the road

Growing Houston coffee shop hits the road with battery-powered electric van

Courtesy of Coffee Fellows

Look for Coffee Fellows mobile café at festivals and farmers markets.

A growing chain of coffee shops is taking its service on the road. Coffee Fellows recently added a mobile café to its offerings.

Built from an all-electric GM BrightDrop van, the mobile café allows Coffee Fellows to brings its signature lattes, coffees, and snacks to festivals, farmers markets, and other happenings across the Houston area. After a couple of trial runs, the van will make its official debut this Saturday, April 11 at the Art Car Parade. The company claims the van is Houston's first all-electric mobile coffee shop.

Coffee Fellows North America CEO Daniel Ogbonna tells CultureMap that an electric vehicle was a natural choice for the company, which places a high enough value on sustainability that it serves all dine-in guests in reusable china mugs rather than add to landfills by using disposal cups and utensils.

“An electric van was a natural thing to do,” Ogbonna says. “It helps play a role in preserving the environment.”

As Ogbonna explains, the van has one battery that powers the vehicle and a second battery for its latte machines, coffee grinders, lights, menu board, and other equipment. A solar cell helps the battery recharge during service. All told, the van can operate for up to nine hours. Best of all, since it’s an EV, it doesn’t use a noisy generator or require propane the same way a conventional, gas-powered food truck does.

Of course, all-electric power comes with some trade-offs. The van serves almost everything a brick-and-mortar Coffee Fellows cafe does — including two exclusive lattes, Ube Coconut and Biscoff Caramel — but some compromises had to be made. Since the van doesn’t have an oven or a blender, both bagel sandwiches and frozen drinks aren’t available. Certain preparations have been tweaked to allow the baristas to serve them more quickly.

“One of the biggest things with the van is paying attention to speed,” Ogbonna says. “We have a shorter menu that allows us to deliver the beverages and food items to our customers in a short period of time. That requires a little bit of thinking to figure out — what is it that customers typically want and how can we deliver it to them in the mobile van with greater speed?”

Ultimately, Ogbonna would like Coffee Fellows to operate multiple vans that could introduce the brand to new customers before brick-and-mortar locations open in their neighborhood. Although it was founded in Germany in 1999 and has four Houston-area locations, the company is still building awareness, especially compared to its national competition.

“We think we have great drinks that can go toe-to-toe with the big name coffee companies,” he says.

news-you-can-eat coffee openings