Sun’s Out, Big Guns Out! Celeb Chefs Cook for 2,500 Foodies at Al Fresco Charity Event

Sun’s Out, Big Guns Out! Celeb Chefs Cook for 2,500 Foodies at Al Fresco Charity Event

Rachael Ruthmarie, Iris Midler, Ciara Salazar

RETURNING FOR THE second year to the new Allen Parkway development Autry Park, Chefs for Farmers welcomed more than 2,500 foodies for two sunny days of feasting al fresco, all in the name of raising money for local farmers and charity partners.


Following the success of last year’s event, the festival expanded to two days as 40-plus of Houston’s top chefs paired up with local farms to create bites for guests to taste. Each day the attendants voted on their favorite creation. Doko, a sushi joint opening this fall, won Saturday with its Maguro Crudo. And Mandola’s Catering took the top prize on Sunday with tortellini served with a perfectly tender Wagyu meatball. Guests also enjoyed wine and fun boozy pop-ups like the Kettle One Bloody Mary station as they enjoyed the first taste of fall in Houston!

The festival raised $15,000, which was divvied up between Urban Harvest and Houston Food Bank, as well as among local farms including Verdegreens Farms, Blackwood Educational Land Institute, Statkar Farms Wagyu, Animal Farm, Rosewood Ranches and Central Texas Lamb.


Chef Hugo Ortega

Chris Wadley, Katherine Whaley, Jennifer LeGrand, Nicole Graf

Chef Aaron Bludorn

Frankie B. Madola's Catering Team - Winner of Best Bite on Sunday

Chef Mayank Istwal

Leonard Botello IV and Brandon Botello

A next-gen artificial heart from BiVACOR has successfully been implanted in a patient at Texas Heart Institute. The patient survived more than a week, until a donor heart was found for a transplant.

THE PIONEERING CARDIOVASCULAR inventors and surgeons at The Texas Heart Institute (THI) in the Texas Medical Center have made another huge leap forward in the treatment of heart disease, officially announcing yesterday what they’re calling a “monumental advancement."

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People + Places

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