Mike Riccetti

Freelance writer, blogger, editor

United States

Mike Riccetti is a Houston-based food writer, albeit a part-time one these days, who knows the city quite well, and some other things, too. In addition to over 150 articles published in a number of outlets like My Table, Serious Eats, The Galveston County News, Palate Press, i-Italy and The Tasting Panel, he is the author of three editions of the well-received Houston Dining on the Cheap and contributed to several other guidebooks about the area. He was the local Zagat editor for Houston from 2007 to 2015. He continues to blog about the Houston dining scene along with other food and drink items of interest.

Concerning things Italian, which he often writes about, he released a fun and informative e-book entitled, From the Antipasto to the Zabaglione - The Story of Italian Restaurants in America, which is part of a larger and possibly future book project. And, he also co-wrote The Guide to Ridiculously Easy Entertaining - Tips from Marfreless.

In his day jobs, he has worked an editor for a Fortune 500 company and contributed to marketing, sales and training materials in another role.

Portfolio
The Tasting Panel
07/01/2012
Inventing Modern Italian

Given the artful presentation and the wonderful interplay of flavors and textures of a typical dish at Italian mecca Valentino in Los Angeles, it can be difficult to believe that the origins of the restaurant and its owner are rather humble. The former, once a dank Santa Monica bar that began life as Valentino 40 years ago serving familiar red-sauced fare; the other, an immigrant of modest means from Modica in southeastern Sicily who was 16 before his first restaurant meal, at a truck-stop.

Legal News
12/01/2006
Holiday Cheer

When beginning to plan a party, most people do not foresee on any potential legal consequences. Unfortunately, things do happen, even when the hosts and guests are well past those friskier days of early adulthood. There are several issues that all hosts should be aware of. A couple of the most pressing ones are responsibility if a guest drinks too much and the unexpected appearance of the police, both of which are explained below.

My Table
05/15/2008
Days of Pop Rocks and Lava Lamps

This is how the chapter on restaurants sagely begins in the 377- page Texas Monthly’s Guide to Houston by Felicia Coates and Harriet Howle. Recently discovered in a friend’s rent house, the 1976 book—it sold for $3.95—provides a snicker-inducing record of the mid-1970s Houston restaurant scene.

iItaly.org
04/25/2012
Come Dine With Me

Soon after noticing the recognizable visage of Frank Sinatra on the electronic marquee at Houston's Hobby Center advertising an upcoming production of the musical Come Fly Away, my thoughts turned to food.