As Tony Vallone once joked, he and his wife, Donna, live at Tony’s, his revered eponymous restaurant, and sleep at Persa. That would be their luxe townhouse on the edge of River Oaks. No surprise then that when we asked for a visit in his kitchen, Vallone allowed that he doesn’t cook there very often.

But cooking runs in his blood just as a great marinara runs through Vallone’s favorite pasta dishes. So you can count on him in an apron on holidays and birthdays when 14 to 17 family members and friends gather around the center island in the vast kitchen.