A view of the cafe in Rice Village.
My writing for this website has been rather sparse of late due to an unexpected personal event. I was diagnosed with cancer in October 2013 and I then I had surgery in November. I traveled to Houston with my family to have further tests and treatment earlier this month. Fortunately, my situation does not seem to be as dire and I had feared. The oncologist in Houston gave me two options: “watchful waiting” or preventive chemotherapy, which would provide a lot more certainty about the cancer not developing again in the future. The “more certainty” option seemed to me to be the most attractive and so I have since received some of the preventive treatment, which will be completed in the week ahead. After my initial meeting with the doctor here, and buoyed by the good news that the cancer had not developed further since my surgery, I went to see the “Roads of Mecca” exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH) (which I will describe in a separate article) and then my favorite purveyor of fine books in Houston, Brazos Bookstore on Bissonnet, close to both the museum district and Rice Village. I picked up a copy of Charles Portis’ latest book, “Escape Velocity,” a collection of his writings from throughout his career. I was particularly interested in reading his travel writings, both for their content and for the writing technique used by the author. Before leaving the bookstore, I asked about local cafes and was directed to Fellini Caffè, an Italian café in Rice Village. The café is located at the street level of an apartment building named Hanover Rice Village. The location is just a block north of Rice Boulevard on Kelvin. Outside the café there are some tables and chairs along the sidewalk, and from the road the café can easily be spotted by its brown awning and the name “Fellini” printed in distinctive typography. The interior of the café has white and black décor with a long counter along one side that displays pastries at one end and savory sandwiches at the other end. According to the Eater website, the owners, Paolo Fronzo and Salvatore Albelice, are from Italy and have lived in Houston for many years. The baristas who work in the café are also from Italy.
The small cookies and other pastry items are made from traditional Italian recipes. I tried several items and they were all delicious. I particularly enjoyed the round “almond ball” cookies with their delicate almond flavor and marzipan-like texture. The pastries were very reasonably priced, ranging from $1 for the smallest cookies to $3 to $4 for larger items. I had a cappuccino each time I visited the café, and they were very flavorful and creamy. The cups were small, which compelled me to purchase more than one cappuccino to prolong the pleasure obtained from drinking them. The urban environment was a very suitable location for the café. During my second visit to the café, a group of Italian women arrived for a get-together and engaged in some lively conversation that provided a very Italian soundtrack to the café theme. I read my new copy of Portis’ book but after a while the soundtrack became a bit of a cacophony and I decided to leave. But I visited the place again a few days later with my wife and daughter and by the time we had purchased our coffee and pastries and had sat around one of the high tables at the rear of the café, the establishment was almost empty and was peaceful. So if you visit the café at different times you will be sure to find the right conditions that meet your personal preferences. When we bought some of the pastries to take with us to give to my mother in law and her husband, the barista asked us where we were from (we get asked this a lot since we are both obviously not originally from Houston) and then joked that many people in Houston ask her if she is from Russia because of her accent. We sympathized with her, understanding some of the challenges associated with living as an expat. I hope that Fellini Caffè will be around for a long time to come. This café seems to have already developed a loyal following and the decor, location, quality of the coffee, the pastries and the service together make for a rather unique café experience for Houston. The reasonable prices and location should attract students from Rice University, and the proximity to local businesses and well-healed residential neighborhoods in the Rice Village area should attract plenty of people who appreciate a touch of Europe in the midst of the U.S.’s fourth largest city.
Café Fellini is located at 5211 Kelvin, Houston, Texas 77005, and is open until 10 p.m. every day except for Sunday. For more information, visit the cafe’s website at fellinihouston.com.
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