Tony Mandola's Press
I have to say I love the new Tony Mandola’s on Waugh Drive. And what’s not to love?
The beautiful new building expands on the old West Gray site, making it familiar yet better. And the patio is lovely (when it’s not 100 degrees outside). Of course the food is wonderful, much of it the same that the Mandolas have been making since the early ‘80s, often based on Mama Mandola’s recipes.
And there’s one other thing that is familiar to the legions of Mandola followers: There’s a bottle of Tabasco brand pepper sauce on every single table.
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Tabasco has been around for a long time. The family run McIlhenny Company of Avery Island, Louisiana (today run by the sixth generation) has been selling it commercially for 143 years. Edmund McIlhenny created the hot stuff in the mid 1800s from red peppers (capsicum frutescens) he grew on the island. He mixed it with spice and white wine vinegar and aged it in old bourbon barrels before bottling the sauce in used cologne bottles to give to family and friends. (We assume he washed them thoroughly.)
It proved so popular as a spice for post Civil War food that he started the company to sell it commercially in 1868.
Originally all the peppers for the sauce were grown on the island, but now they take seeds from the plants and send them to pepper farms in Central and South America so they have peppers all year long and can handle the worldwide demand for Tabasco sauce. It is sold in 160 countries and labels are printed in 22 different languages.
But back to Tony Mandola’s. Turns out the McIlhennys have actually been there.
“They’ve been to the West Gray restaurant several times,” Mandola says. “Once they just stopped in for the Key lime pie.
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RESERVATIONS
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PRIVATE DINING
SUNDAY BRUNCH
We are now open for Sunday Brunch from 11am - 2pm. Our full menu is available in addition to our new Sunday Brunch Menu.CATERING
GIFT CERTIFICATES
HOURS OF OPERATION
Monday - Thursday
11am - 10pm
Friday & Saturday
11am - 11pm
Sunday
Brunch: 11am - 2pm
Dinner: 5pm - 9pm