Set your Tivo, video recorder or whatever for Jan. 26 at 9 p.m. to the Food Network and Guy Fieri’s show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.” If you watch closely-or maybe you won’t have to watch closely-you will see North Riverside resident Teresa Hall at Tufano’s restaurant in Chicago, where Fieri taped a segment for his show.
Hall was present for the taping since the restaurant was opened by her grandfather, Joe Tufano and his wife, Theresa. It is now under the guidance of Joey DiBuono, grandson of the owner.
The present generation is now the third generation to run the restaurant. Teresa Hall’s father, Salvatore (Sam) DiBuono and his wife, Marie, took over the business from Marie’s father, Joe.
Joey DiBuono’s sister, Joann, is an integral part of the business with help from his other sister, Teresa Hall. And now, another generation is now involved, with Joey’s twin daughters, Darci and Disa. Joey’s wife, Tracy, can be often seen helping out, and Teresa Hall’s son, Sammy, spent many a college break lending a hand.
Learning of Fieri’s visit to Tufano’s was a complete surprise. The family at first believed it to be the result of Joey DiBuono winning the James Beard American Classic Award for the Midwest. In truth, it was the result of numerous e-mails to the show about Tufano’s.
Teresa Hall kept using the word “incredible” when she described Fieri, adding that he is as nice in person as he is on TV. While at the restaurant, he took time to visit with customers and have pictures taken with anyone who was interested.
One of his interests on his visit was how the restaurant made its gravy (I say sauce) from scratch, even though the made fresh gravy had already been made for the day.
Fieri expressed enjoying trips to Italian and Greek restaurants, not just for the food but the friendly atmosphere. To prove the point, he returned to the restaurant the next day.
So tune in and learn more. Hall can’t be sure what will be aired and what ended up on the cutting room floor (I don’t think they do that anymore; I think they just hit “delete”) but look closely and you might just see someone you know.
Birthday greetings to Ray Hall (yes, he’s related to the story above) on reaching a milestone birthday. Won’t say what it is, but he now joins Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Tina Turner and yours truly in a certain decade.
