October 8, 2009
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UPCOMING
EVENTS
WINE TASTING AND FOOD PAIRING AT
MEZZANOTTE
Tuesday October 13 at 7 PM. $50/person
Reservations required 
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ENTERTAINMENT
THIS WEEK
 
AT MEZZANOTTE
JEREMY GARCIA
Friday 10/9
7 to 10 PM

Valiente

Originally self-taught, Jeremy later earned a Bachelor's degree in Classical Guitar Performance. Later he studied with Robert Guthrie at SMU where he completed a Master's Degree in Classical guitar. He has also received flamenco guitar instruction from several renowned maestros.  Jeremy maintains a busy performance schedule and we are very excited of having him perform at Mezzanotte. Don't miss him.
RONNIE STALLWARTH
Saturday 10/10
7 to 10 PM
Ronnie
If you haven't heard Ronnie yet this is your chance. Ronnie is a very accomplished saxophone and clarinet player. His extensive repertoire of cool jazz includes great melodies from Grover Washington Jr., Stanley Turrentine, Kenny G and many others. His music mixes real well with good wine, food and company.
_________________

AT CAPRICCIO
 
GUILLERMO SERPAS
Friday 10/9
7 to 10 PM
 
Guillermo2
Evoking the influence of legendary guitarist Carlos Santana and popular folk
players, Guillermo produces the electrifying rhythms of salsa, Latin jazz, and bolero, representing his Latin American roots and pumping vigorous life into his virtuoso classical-guitar performances.

CAPRICCIO TAPAS

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MEZZANOTTE RISTORANTE
 
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In This Issue
Upcoming Events
Back from Italy!
Our Villa in Tuscany
Weekly Specials
Featured Wines
BACK FROM TUSCANY!
 
CHAPTER 3
The way we started our days was with a very nice breakfast prepared by our personal chef Alessandra. She would arrive at around 8:00 AM and would proceed to setup our table which consisted of fruits, jams, home made breads, ham, butter, yogurt, and, of course, coffee. She also prepared our eggs. It was always wonderful!

Breakfast

By 8:30 we would be ready to venture out to the neighboring (close and distant) towns. For this we were picked up by our (designated) driver Leonardo. He would usually be accompanied by his lovely Brazilian wife Sauma. They both carried radios so that one part of the group could venture to one side of a town while the other would go do something else.
 
Leonardo           group in van
 
Notice the seat belts!! Leonardo is an experienced driver but the speed limits don't mean much to him. Zipping around those curvy roads was an adventure in itself!
CHAPTER 4 - FLORENCE
We hit the road at 9:00 AM and arrived there 2 hours later. Florence is just an amazing city so full of art and history. It is hard to describe and even harder to photograph because its magnificence cant be captured by a camera. Here is a picture of the famous Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge). This bridge is over 1,000 (yes, one thousand) years old. This bridge used to have butcher shops along its length but now it hosts jewelers, art dealers and souvenir vendors.

Ponte Vecchio

Once in Florence we had to go visit the Uffizi gallery. This gallery has a mind boggling collection of medieval art and you can easily spend a whole day exploring it. We only spent 2 hours because by this time we were already hungry and thirsty!
Our friend Phil would talk to anybody; even to the "statues" outside the Uffizi gallery!!
 
Phil
  
And, of course, we went to visit the Duomo. It was just breathtaking: 

Duomo

Here is a small video taken by Adriana (and narrated in Spanish!!) that shows the beauty of Florence. Even in an overcast and gloomy day the view is just something to remember:
 
 
At the end of our visit to Florence we were exhausted, hungry and thirsty (what else is new). So Leonardo drove us back to the villa for a short break. Then he picked us up to go to Da Mario's Ristorante in his town of Buonconvento. Here is the gang at Da Mario's:
Da Marios
 
This was a great ending to a long day in Florence.
Will tell you about the following days in the next issues of the newsletter. Until then....cheers,
Gerry
HOUSTON RESTAURANT WEEK WAS A SUCCESS
The event that run between August 10 and August 31 was a tremendous success. We were very happy to have had the opportunity to participate. Mezzanotte and Capriccio sold many prix fixe menus that contributed to the success of the event. Mezzanotte and Capriccio were two of the 3 participating restaurants in all of northwest Houston. Thank you very much for your support!!
Here is the press release announcing the results:
 
Houston Restaurant Week 2009 Raises a Record $240,000
to Support Houston Food Bank
HOUSTON, Oct. 6 - At a party last night hosted by Pappas Bros. Steak House, Houston Restaurant Week founder and chair, Cleverley Stone, announced that a record $240,000 was raised for the Houston Food Bank during the 2009 event. Eighty-four restaurants participated in the city-wide culinary event, held Aug. 10-23; 64 restaurants extended their special menus through Aug. 31 following the success of the first two weeks of the event. Participating restaurants offered three-course gourmet dinners for $35 per person and pledged five dollars from each special meal sold to the Houston Food Bank.
 
"My most heartfelt thank you goes out to participating restaurants, Houston Restaurant Week sponsors, the event committee, the Houston Food Bank and the 48,000 Houstonians who joined in the effort to fight hunger in our city. Without the support of our generous community, we would not have been able to raise a record-breaking $240,000 to make the 2009 event the most successful to date," said Cleverley Stone, founder and chair of Houston Restaurant Week.
 
"This event provided a great opportunity for everyone in the community to support the Houston Food Bank and at the same time have a fine dining experience. We sincerely appreciate the time, effort and expertise of Cleverley Stone, and we can't thank her enough for her leadership and generosity in organizing the event. We're so pleased with the results and are already looking forward to another successful Houston Restaurant Week next year," said Brian Greene, president and CEO of the Houston Food Bank.
 
Established in 2003, this year's Houston Restaurant Week raised more than three times last year's total of nearly $80,000. Approximately 48,000 Houstonians dined at 84 participating restaurants throughout the greater Houston area; last year's event attracted 53 participating restaurants. To date, the event has raised more than $356,000 to support hunger relief in Houston.
FEATURED WINES OF THE WEEK
 
Wine Bar
 
FEATURE WINE AT MEZZANOTTE
 
Barbera DOC - Marchesi Maraia 2004 - Bottle 36 / Glass 9
From Marchesi di Barolo finest Piedmont region hillside vineyards comes this outstanding wine.  Made with 100% Barbera grapes, it has a captivating ruby red color.  Its bouquet is fresh and intense; infused withscents of wild berries and hints of vanilla.  Medium-full-bodied; on the palate it expands into a warm, robust flavor that is attractively assertive and well-balanced.  This Barbera goes outstandingly well with flavorful first courses and appetizers and is a natural companion to any of our red meat entr�es.

FEATURE WINES AT CAPRICCIO

Our feature this week is three flights of 3 wines each:
 
The Argentinean Whites Flight - 10
- Sauvignon Blanc Black River Estates (Mendoza)
- Torrontes Uma (Mendoza)
- Chardonnay Henry Lagarde (Mendoza)
 
The Argentinean Reds Flight - 10
- Malbec Intimo (Mendoza)
- Cabernet/Merlot/Malbec Intimo (Mendoza)
- Shiraz Uma Telteca (Mendoza)
 
The Spanish Reds Flight - 12
- Tempranillo Castillo de Montblanc (Conca de Barbera)
- Tempranillo Tinto Vivir, Vivir (Ribera del Duero)
- Rioja Gran Reserva Campo Viejo (Rioja)