Mietta O'Donnell
Mietta O'Donnell (6 January 19504 January 2001) was a Melbourne-based Australian restaurateur, chef and food writer, described in her later years as Australia's leading culinary publisher and critic. She was also a noted arts and music patron, and a song competition is named in her honour. Career O'Donnell's grandparents were Italian migrants, Teresa and Mario Vigano, who arrived in Melbourne from Milan in 1928 to establish 'Mario's' restaurant in Exhibition Street, ]]Melbourne]], which they ran for over thirty years. O'Donnell, with her partner Tony Knox, opened her restaurant 'Mietta's' in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy North in June 1974. 'Mietta's' moved in 1985 to Alfred Place in central Melbourne, eventually closing in 1995. In February 1992, Jex Saarelaht and Kate Ceberano performed at the restaurant. They recorded and later released an album titled Open the Door - Live at Mietta's. She was killed in a car accident in Tasmania while traveling to speak at a food and wine seminar. Her funeral was attended by over 1,000 people from the arts, politics, and the culinary world. Mietta Song Competition 'Mietta's' restaurant had also become a salon of the arts, including music. In 1995, along with her partner Tony Knox, Len Vorster, Michael Easton