Houston's foodie world has been buzzing with the news of key firings at Tony's. But owner Tony Vallone says the Web gossip is dead wrong.
Vallone called CultureMap after we cited numerous blog reports that three top staffers had left the restaurant.
Vallone was particularly upset about reports that Tony's general manager Scott Sulma had been fired. Sulma remains at Tony's and is also a partner at Vallone's new restaurant, Ciao Bello, Vallone said.
"Scott is on the floor right now," managing the lunchtime business, Vallone said. "Those rumors are absolutely ridiculous. It's hurtful and it's wrong."
Vallone said executive chef Francesco Casetta left several weeks ago, but said the split was amicable. Jon Honefenger, who was named one of 2009's best young sommeliers by Wine & Spirits, was fired on Tuesday, but Vallone would not go into details.
As for Twitter reports that Sulma accidentally set a guest in the dining room on fire last week, Vallone declined to comment. "That's sour grapes coming from Jon and I'm not going to talk about it," Vallone said.