Chef-owner Austin Waiter of The Marigold Club, now serving fried chicken and Champagne on Sunday nights.
And the drinks? They’re going big. Champagne bottles are half-off, and if you’ve ever dreamed of sipping Krug by the glass with your fried chicken, this is your moment. Feeling fancy? Add caviar service and settle in for the kind of Sunday that’s anything but sleepy.
Set inside The Marigold Club’s moody, glam dining room — think velvet, Murano chandeliers, and hand-painted murals — this new weekly tradition is giving end-of-weekend blues a very bubbly makeover.
Reservations are highly recommended. Southern comfort never looked (or tasted) so good.
Fried chicken for two, buttery mashed potatoes and half-priced Champagne are on the new Sunday menu at The Marigold Club.
Heather Almond and Zinat Ahmed
The real star of the evening? 6,500 pounds of crawfish, served up with all the fixings — plus Gulf Coast favorites like lobster fritters, seafood fondue, boudin balls and bread pudding with a boozy twist.
Guests got competitive during the live auction, which featured everything from Caribbean escapes to helicopter hog hunts. A chocolate lab puppy named Blue Bell stole the show — and a new home — with Cotton EVP Zinat Ahmed. He’ll be trained as an emotional support pup for visitors to Taylor’s Place, a retreat for families facing terminal illness that’s set to open this fall.
Closing out the night? A crowd-pleasing performance by country star Mark Chesnutt, who brought the house (or barn) down.
In the crowd was Pete Bell, Fady Armanious, Ellie Francisco, Whitney Kuhn Lawson, Kristen Cannon and Heather Almond.
Bailey Bell Layne and Pete Bell
Opening Performance by Bayou Roux
Houstonians traveled to CrawFest at the Cotton Ranch in Katy
Stacey Lindseth, Fady Armanious, Ally Ehrman
Balloon Details
Crawfish
John Bryan, Mary Jon Bryan, Billy Bob Thornton, J.P. Bryan
Before dinner, guests explored the museum’s immersive exhibits, including a Boomtown-inspired façade, a Spindletop Saloon serving the night’s signature Rob Roy cocktails and a recreated 1980s oil executive office — complete with a vintage computer and slideshow of Astrodome-era memories.
Art lovers flocked to the Kermit Oliver & Hermès exhibition, featuring the work of Oliver — the first American artist to design scarves for the French luxury house. The collection of paintings and fashion pieces was recently featured in Garden & Gun and Texas Monthly.
During the program, J.P. Bryan offered heartfelt remarks about the honorees, who were each awarded a custom History Medal of Honor containing a rare silver coin from the 1500s.
Rodeo Houston auctioneer Randolph Holford kept the crowd on their toes, leading a lively auction featuring dream-worthy getaways (The Broadmoor, San Miguel de Allende, Croatia), a Versailles gala experience and even a chance to invest in a racehorse.
Dinner from Culinaire included a Gulf Coast wedge salad with shrimp and candied bacon, followed by an Angus filet with truffled potato purée and long bean lariat. And, can't have a gala in Texas without a decadent butter cake layered with chocolate, pecans, and cream cheese filling for dessert.
Then came the big finale: a performance by Billy Bob Thornton & The Boxmasters, who delivered a crowd-pleasing set on the museum lawn. Earlier in the evening, VIPs enjoyed a private meet-and-greet with the Landman star inside the museum.
In total, the gala raised over $1.3 million in support of The Bryan Museum’s education and outreach programs.
Scott Rice, Kelley Sullivan Georgiades and George Georgiades
Kelli and Eddy Blanton
Kirby McCool, Lindsay Holstead, and Courtney Hopson
Russell & Jolyn Scheirman
Nicki and John Morris
Ernie and Janet Cockrell, Stephanie and Ernie Cockrell
Terry and Tom Smith
Dr. Jochen Reiser and Gerri Popov
Dianne and Fred Burns