food

Spring Over So Soon? Not at Le Jardinier, Where Seasonal Produce Is Still the Star Ingredient

Spring Over So Soon? Not at Le Jardinier, Where Seasonal Produce Is Still the Star Ingredient

Spring Expression

WHILE SPRING CAN seem fleeting in Houston, chef de cuisine Felipe Botero at Le Jardinier inside the MFAH is making the most of the season’s freshest ingredients. French for “the gardener,” Le Jardinier is helping to extend Springtime sensations, even if it’s just through the extra-fresh ingredients Botero has used to craft the seasonal menu.

Living up to its name, the spring menu is heavy on produce, highlighting radishes, peas, alliums, fava beans and artichokes. Light and refreshing, the French white asparagus is beautifully plated and served with puff rice for a crunch.

Veggies also star in the scallop crudo, which is served with radishes and beets — oh, and a heaping pile of royal kaluga caviar! The slices of the tea-spiced duck breasts are paired with equally hearty servings of turnips. Don’t miss the pandan cotta for dessert; it’s flavored like carrot cake and served with pecan ice cream, and a little slice of fresh carrot for good measure.

For the sake enthusiasts, Richard Geoffroy, the former winemaker for Dom Pérignon, has started his own sake brand, IWA Sake. Geoffroy hosts two dinners at Le Jardinier this weekend. He’s calling it the “wine-lovers” sake, and is partnering with chef Botero for a five-course dinner that promises chilled lobster and blue crab risotto. Tickets are available via Resy.

Chef de cuisine Felipe Botero

Spring lunch

art

‘Birds, Bugs and Flowers in the Oven!’ Foltz Presents Playful Work by Gardner, Other Texas Artists

Rachel Gardner with her flower necklaces and, at left, Calla Lilly necklace

ON SATURDAY JULY 27, Foltz Gallery presents Endless Summer, a lively, playful exhibit of works by a multi-generational group of 28 emerging and established Texas-based artists. Taking its name from the 1974 Beach Boys double-album, which compiled the group’s early 1960s hit singles, the show is a visual “mixtape” of colorful paintings, prints, photographs, wall-based installations, ceramics and sculptures, installed lovingly throughout Foltz’s spacious and sunlit galleries. Among the works in Endless Summer are several examples of handmade “sculptural jewelry” by artist Rachel Gardner — a series of wearable wildflowers and fruits, including olives and strawberries.

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Art + Entertainment
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Reality Star Aesha Scott of ‘Below Deck’ Makes Splash at Rooftop Soirée

Roshan Moayed

Aesha Scott, Jack Vielhauer, Courtney Scott

AFTERNOON SHOWERS DIDN'T stop a gorgeous gaggle of yo-pros and creatives from filling downtown’s Z on 23 rooftop lounge to meet Aesha Scott, the standout star of Bravo’s Below Deck reality show.

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