A Casual Crowd Turns Up to Tipple, Taste and Celebrate Opening of New Montrose Restaurant

Leah Walker Wilson
A Casual Crowd Turns Up to Tipple, Taste and Celebrate Opening of New Montrose Restaurant

Clay Ardoin, July Buitrago

A GROUP OF fun-food-loving young professionals turned up for the official grand opening of the new FM Kitchen & Bar location in Montrose.


Live music was on offer on the patio, but the star of the event was the food. Nibbles from FM's kitchen including the FM Burger, spicy fried chicken sliders, hot and honey sambal-flavored wings and churros. The Dallas Cowboys-Tampa Bay Buccaneers football game was broadcast on FM's 96-inch projector screen. Operating partner Jason Mok made welcome remarks at halftime.

The event also doubled as a fundraiser, pulling in more than $1,000 from raffle prizes for Hurricane Ida relief and benefiting Cajun Navy Relief.

Spotted in the crowd: former Houston Dynamo player turned impresario Brian Ching, artist Paper Bag, and Highway Vodka distiller Codi Fuller and husband Christan Fuller.

Jason Mok, Brian Ching

Alexs Torry, Britnee Smith

Christian Fuller, Codi Fuller

DJ set by Coaches

Jo Whalstrom, Robby Rodriguez

Karla Fresquez, James Cale

Kate Davis, Meghan Horne

Mike Schwartz, Ford Creighton

Sasha Willis, Deon Edwards

Patrick Magee, Zach McKenzie

Ricky Walne, Kendall Negley

Parties

David Ansell, Bennie Flores Ansell, Thuy Tran and James Tiebout

THE ROTHKO CHAPEL held its Inspirit fundraiser — a celebration of the power of art and activism — at the industrial-chic Astorian. The evening featured cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and an onstage conversation with actor Cheech Marin, one of the world’s foremost collectors of Chicano art; 2023 Art League of Houston Texas Artist of the Year Vincent Valdez; and legendary civil rights advocate Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers of America with César Chávez. (She’s 93, by the way!)

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Art + Entertainment

Cheech Marin reflecting outside of The Cheech (photo by David Fouts)

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Art + Entertainment