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
Meet Brian Boyter, New High-End Residential Broker with an Unique Background

BRIAN BOYTER IS a Houston native with an interesting background in real estate. After an impressive 16-year tenure managing commercial transactions in a Fortune 500 Real Estate Investment Trust, he recently made the shift to high-end residential brokerage. The experience left him uniquely suited to thrive in the sometimes-emotional world of buying or selling a home.

Keep Reading Show less

Jacob Hilton, a.k.a. Travid Halton, at home in his kitchen, where he enjoys cooking as a form of therapy.

PINK FLOYD'S THE Wall. Sinatra’s In the Wee Small Hours. Beyonce’s Lemonade. Three divergent examples of the album as a cathartic, psychological, conceptual work, meant to be experienced in a single sitting. Houston singer-songwriter Jacob Hilton, 37, who records as Travid Halton, a portmanteau of his mother and father’s names, might balk at being mentioned in such company. (This is a thoroughly unpretentious man, who describes himself as an “archaeologist turned singer-songwriter.”)

Keep Reading Show less
Art + Entertainment

How did you get to where you are today? The present moment is a combined history of my family, my time as an athlete, my passion for learning, and my desire to see the world be better. I grew up as a successful springboard and platform diver, however, an injury caused me to seek alternative treatments to heal my body. In that process, I discovered the power of yoga, exercise, meditation, mindset, and nutrition. This holistic approach eventually led me to open a Pilates and cycling studio called DEFINE body & mind. I opened studios around the nation, and after selling most of my business between 2017-2019, I was ready to explore how I could make an even greater impact on the wellbeing of our community. In 2023, I started actively working on a brand new multi-family/apartment concept called, Define Living. The idea focused on offering health and wellness services within a beautiful apartment setting to increase the wellbeing of our residents. Having a strong sense of community is the number one factor in living a happy life, so why not build a community where daily fitness, cooking classes, and social connection are the norm? We opened Define Living in March of 2024, and we couldn’t be happier with how things are being received. We are already looking at building more concepts like this in the Houston area and beyond.

Keep Reading Show less