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Champagne and Caviar Dreams: Luxurious Spread Awaits Diners at Symphony Fundraiser

Daniel Ortiz
Champagne and Caviar Dreams: Luxurious Spread Awaits Diners at Symphony Fundraiser

Jordan Williams, Ryan Russell

THE CHAMPAGNE AND caviar were flowing as 20 chefs participated in the first annual La Nuit Du Caviar event benefitting The Houston Symphony League.

Three-hundred guests were greeted with freezer martinis from chef David Skinner of Kemah’s star restaurant Eculent, then sampled bites from top chefs. Each creation included the night’s ingredient du jour: caviar. The creations ranged from Phat Eatery’s shrimp dumpling — topped with a healthy scoop of caviar — to vanilla ice cream mixed with caramel syrup and caviar from Uptown hotspot Turner’s.

As guests enjoyed live music from the Houston Symphony, they voted on their favorite bite of the night. Chef Jassi Bindra of Amrina in The Woodlands served a caviar crisp with yellow fin tuna, avocado and Granny Smith apple, garnering the grand prize.

The event honored Houston restaurant celebs Mimi and Robert Del Grande and Benjamin Berg for their contributions to the city’s culinary scene, and Houston Symphony president John Rydman and his wife Lindy for their work with various Houston cultural institutions. The event is a spin-off of the popular Truffle Masters dinner, held annually.

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Emily Smith, Jessica Meyerson

Lukkaew Srasrisuwan, John Newinn

Matthew and Danielle Sokol

Sally and George Abisalloum

Sharonda Belford, Sidney Lacey

Stacey and Al Lindseth

Tajana Surlan, Van Nguyen

John Rydman, Diane Roederer, Lindy Rydman

Ryan O. Harris

Chef Jassi Bindra of Amrina giving his acceptance speech for People’s Choice Award winner

Parties
parties

Trees for Houston Puts Down Serious Roots, Toasts New Campus and $485K Till at Annual Ball

Helen Winchell, Marti Grizzle, Brittany Franklin, Jensen Wessendorff

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books

Herself with a Moving Backstory, Leah Lax Compiles Those of Houston Immigrants in a New, Must-Read Book

Leah Lax

A PANICKED MOTHER traveling by foot from El Salvador to reach the U.S.-Mexico border rubs crushed garlic cloves on her skin to ward off the cottonmouth snakes crawling over her legs. A group of half-starved teenage Vietnamese refugees on a boat they hoped would ferry them to safety huddle together as pirates board and steal all their possessions. At a UN Refugee Office, a father of six and a member of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (a minority ethnic group based in southern Nigeria) whose leadership had been executed by a corrupt Nigerian government, is granted emergency refugee status. The interviewer reaches into her pocket and hands him money to smuggle his family out of Nigeria.

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