Last Wednesday night after rainstorms drove away the typical Houston humidity, a party of 35 celebrating a birthday filled every seat on the covered patio at Roma, a casual Italian restaurant in Rice Village. They dined on pasta and seafood and drank bold Italian red wines. Other customers passed under the patio’s string lights and ivy on their way inside, some wearing masks although they’re not required by the restaurant, and others going without. The simple, rustic-style indoor dining room was about half full, and Italian music played softly overhead. Just one week after Texas governor Greg Abbott lifted the state’s mask mandate and allowed restaurants to open at 100 percent capacity, Roma looked like it might have on any week night before COVID-19. Just half…The post A Tale of Two Houston Restaurants—One That Requires Masks and Its Neighbor That Doesn’t appeared first on Texas Monthly.