Bistro offers Sicilian
Monday, October 06, 2008
Mary Kelly Bumbaugh
Tony Raffa brings tradition, expertise to the table
From the moment they step in, guests know they will have a dazzling experience.
Artwork, exotic flowers and featured wines warm the room as black-clad staff
in tune with those they are serving navigate between an open kitchen, dining
room, patio and bar, all facing the lakefront. Floor to ceiling windows,
a private wine cove and polished tables with room for quiet conversation
beckon guests to continue.
“We create harmonious experiences for our guests. Our philosophy is to create
lasting relationships with them,” said Tony Raffa, owner of Raffa’s Waterfront
Grill in Kingwood. “I’ve dreamed of having premier restaurants, not just
a flash in the pan, but fine establishments that are really part of the
community, high quality traditions.” His dream has come true twice; once
in 1985 with his first restaurant, Amedeo’s in Kingwood, and again in 2007
when he opened a second, upscale restaurant, Raffa’s in Kings Harbor. This
elegant, yet cozy, bistro offers European, Asian and Southwestern U.S. cuisine,
all under the careful eye of executive chef David Welch, who graduated first
in his class from the Cordon Bleu in Paris and received the, “Gran Diplome
Le Cordon Bleu.” Welch is also director of operations and a limited partner
at Raffa’s.
This bistro, with plenty of room for banquets, special events and private
parties, is the latest link in a long line of family restaurants traced
back to the 1950s in New Bedford, Mass., where Raffa was born. His grandmother
cooked for her 11 children using old Sicilian recipes passed down to her.
The children all worked in a textile mill. They brought friends and supervisors
home for the good food until the house was so crowded she opened a restaurant.
Raffa’s parents, uncle and cousin followed in her footsteps for many years.
“It’s safe to say, I grew up in the restaurant environment and, like my
son today, helped in the family business at an early age. I was the youngest
of four kids, making pizza boxes at 8 years old, until I went to work for
my cousin and mentor, Mike Riccardi. I learned catering and the traditional
style of Italian cooking,” explained Raffa. “I went to Catholic high school,
kept working with the family and was always out on the water.”
Setting the stage for what was to come, he joined the Merchant Marines on
the “Jones Tide,” a 180-foot ocean supply boat servicing offshore oil rigs
from the East Coast. Aboard, he prepared all meals for the crew and became
an accomplished navigator and pilot, arming himself with new skills to lay
a foundation for his own business. Later, he accepted an opportunity to
sail the Gulf Coast, Mexico and Bermuda, supplying out of Galveston.
“Despite the adventure and fulfillment, I missed day-to-day restaurant operations,
so I worked in Galveston for a while then moved to Katy to test the waters
of entrepreneurship. At Montesano’s restaurant, I learned the art of fine
dining and realized I wanted to continue in the direction of higher caliber
work. My position there, executive sous chef, was the stepping stone I’d
been waiting for to open Amedeo’s,” Raffa explained.
“This was a leap to see if it would even be accepted by the community. It
was a gamble at that point. I had a partner, but it was still a rocky start.
I stuck to it. It takes determination and endurance to stick it out, one
customer at a time. We made guests feel appreciated and that was the key
to getting off the ground,” he said.
Raffa and his wife of 16 years, Leslie, met at Amedeo’s when she dined there.
She studied business and attended pastry schools for intensive cooking classes
in New York and Chicago and the two became sole owners of the restaurant.
At 12, their son, Logan, like his father before him, is sprouting interest
in the businesses and has good-hearted spats with their other son, Evan,
7, over who will get which restaurant in the future. Even with the demanding
work of managing 85 employees at two locations, Raffa spends time with his
family on ski vacations and trips to New Bedford where they are on the water.
“I want to give back to the community and am on the board of directors of
Golfers against Cancer and board of directors of the Humble ISD Foundation,”
Raffa said. “Another way I’m involved is employing staff that live close
by, who are willing to learn ‘average is not good enough,’ and who want
to create comfort in the dining environment.”
“Staff becomes loyal. I take pride in teaching them high standards. It’s
very rewarding when someone comes back and says, ‘Thank you for helping
me make it,’” explained Raffa.
Raffa expresses his self-motivation and ambition by pushing the edge of
excellence in premier dining, the secret of which lies in the combination
of his extraordinary lineage, creativity and approachable style; however,
the real secret to his success may be that he is comfortable in his own
skin at Raffa’s, never far from the water he has loved all his life.
03/16/2008
This place just opened up in Kingwood and it looked pretty charming so we decided to give it a try. It's a big restaurant that doesn't feel big...the lighting and the decor do a good job of toning down the largeness of the mostly open room.
The menu isn't huge, but every single thing on it sounded fantastic (which is rare). There's also a pretty extensive wine list (although I was disappointed to see so few by-the-glass offerings--maybe one or two in each category). The dinner menu had a wide variety of proteins and food styles--chicken, pork, lamb, seafood, and steak all made an appearance, as did European, Asian, and American influence. Even the salads looked inventive.
I settled on a mesclun salad with walnuts, goat cheese, and green apples, and a crab-stuffed flounder with lemon butter sauce. The salad was quite good--a nice marriage of flavors and just the right size. The flounder was also very good--perfectly cooked (moist and flaky and very light and fresh) and the crab stuffing was VERY generous and mostly crab. I did add some capers from my mom's dish to the lemon butter sauce because, well, I like capers with my lemon butter sauce. Also served with it were some roasted broccoli and carrots, which were perfectly cooked and well-seasoned (no steamed veggie afterthought here).
I also tasted some of my mom's crab cakes and bibb lettuce salad--also very good, the crab cakes were perfect--and my dad's corn and chicken chowder (VERY flavorful and comforting) and Mediterranean chicken with olives and mushrooms (whatever wine they used for his sauce was excellent). I was happy to take home his leftover chicken for lunch tomorrow.
For dessert we all shared the bread pudding--I though it could have been cooked a bit longer (the middle was a bit undercooked) but it was topped with caramel sauce and apples which added a very nice flavor.
I was disappointed that the bread we got before our salads was dry and a bit stale. The whipped butter with it was nice, but it seems like it's a pretty basic thing to make sure you have fresh bread once a day.
Overall, though, the experience we had was quite nice, the service was perfect, and although a little pricey for everyday dining, I think we'll definitely be back when we want a nicer evening out. Plus it's just nice to have a new non-chain restaurant in the area that serves good food with some thought put into it.