Urban Harvest Sows a Never-Ending Feast, Reaps $100K

Daniel Ortiz
Urban Harvest Sows a Never-Ending Feast, Reaps $100K

Katherine Chambers, Chris and Jennifer Laporte, Heather Houston

TOP CHEFS TEAMED up to raise $100,000 for Urban Harvest’s community gardens. The night began with open-air cocktail hour in the upstairs lounge and patio of Georgia James. Around 200 supporters sipped a fall cocktail made with Tito’s, and also indulged in the Champagne cart provided by Madame Zero. Bottoms up!


Janna Roberson, Urban Harvest’s Executive Director, ushered guests downstairs to the ultra-chic main dining room, where a six-course, family-style dinner awaited. Georgia James’ Scott Muns took on the first course: beef rillette and sourdough bread. Next up was Elaine Won of Dumpling Haus, who served perfectly crispy fried shrimp wontons. The third course was prepared by Matthew Hamilton of Rosie Cannonball; he created generous portions of butternut squash and mushroom pasta. Brasserie 19’s Michael Hoffman took the fourth course with roasted chicken and caramelized turnip, followed by Tim Reading of the not-yet-opened Leo’s, who cooked up pork loin with toasted Texas pecans.

For dessert, you ask? Hoffman and Hamilton collabed on a to-die-for panna cotta. (Yes, everyone made room.)

Urban Harvest provides community-garden programming, farmers markets, gardening classes and youth education to Houstonians.


Ellie Heinrich, Haley Kurisky, Kay Kurisky, George Kurisky

Rick Chambers, Katherine Chambers, Jackie Wallace, Bass Wallace.

Elaine Won of Dumpling Haus

Heath LaPray, Travis Torrence, Ashton and Sammy Ford

Hillary Jebbitt, Stephanie Fleck, Thea Pheasey

Iris Shaftel, Ellen Weitz, Bailey Dalton, Alston White

Scott Muns of Georgia James

Tami Kazdal, Heather, Chandler Sultan

Tim Reading of Leo's

Parties
Exclusive Furniture’s Sam Zavary Credits Luck, Hard Work and ‘Mom’s Prayers’ for His Success

How did you get to where you are today? I am a firm believer that hard work and having dreams that you strive to achieve will motivate and inspire people to achieve their potential. Working hard, dreaming, and making sure to take advantage of every opportunity is something I learned at a young age. I credit God and God’s grace firstly, but I know that success is a direct result of hard work. I tell my podcast subscribers and followers to continue setting goals, evolving, improving, and planning, and I practice what I preach. I am proud to have started my business in the fastest growing major city in the United States, and I attribute a lot of the success of Exclusive Furniture to the family culture we create in the best city — Houston’s diversity, philanthropy, and innovation have helped me achieve a lot of the milestones in the furniture business (and the “low prices”) you see today!

Keep Reading Show less

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.

Keep Reading Show less
Art + Entertainment

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.

Keep Reading Show less
Parties