Ben Berg (photo by Douglas Burns)
Family meals at Cafe Express (photo by Michael Anthony)
A few months after debuting its fresh new look on West Gray, Café Express has announced it will open a new location on College Park in The Woodlands on Monday, Jan. 30. Channeling an artsy European café, the space boasts eclectic wall. hangings, Italian-upholstered furniture and, of course, a menu of "craft-casual" eats like comforting soups and pastas, healthful salads, and perfectly grilled entrees. Café Express plans to open a whopping 30 new outposts over the next seven years, including one in Baybrook this summer.
Offering counter-service breakfast, lunch and dinner, along with grab-and-go items and heat-and-eat meals, Greek-inspired Kriti Kitchen is now open in West U. Chef-owner Mary Cuclis, a Pondicheri alum, started as a caterer, offering handy meals prepped for groups that were announced on her social media platforms. Its popularity segued to her current space located in Weslayan Plaza. Dishes are made with an emphasis on seasonal ingredients, so you might find a few surprise selections each time you visit. Read more here!
A rendering of the forthcoming 1818 Washington restaurants
Not one to rest on his laurels, Ben Berg is back at it. In April, Berg Hospitality Group will open a pair of brand-new concepts next-door to Berg's original B&B Butchers & Restaurant on Washington. At Benny Chows, Berg will, for the first time, explore Chinese cuisine, including dim sum bites and classics like Peking duck, along with a sure-to-be exquisite filet mignon-and-broccoli. Expect Chinese-inspired design elements and, upstairs, a rooftop bar boasting a coveted skyline view. Known as Canopy Social, the third-floor space will have a retractable roof and an indoor-outdoor decor scheme, a la rattan furniture, water features and tons of greenery.
Pizza at Betelgeuse Betelgeuse (photo by Lindsey Cooper-Trevino)
Pizza and cocktails — a classic pairing? It is now, thanks to the success of Betelgeuse Betelgeuse in the Sixth Ward. The hot spot, owned by Chris Cusack, will open a second location this summer, at 4500 Montrose Blvd. Quirky and outer-space-themed, the popular bar known for its laid-back vibes and funky art — not to mention the blistery pies and drink list that also includes local beers and natural wines — will fit right into the Montrose scene. More details are forthcoming.
Wiley's 'Judith and Holofernes'
Presented together as Portrait of Courage and installed on opposite walls, each painting is a masterpiece in its depiction of violence made all the more shocking perhaps because the subject with the sword is a strong, beautiful woman. Portrait of Courage opened Jan. 26 and is on view through April 16.
MFAH associate curator of European Art, James Anno, and associate curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, Anita Bateman, were tasked with the installation of the paintings, both titled "Judith and Holofernes." “There are many layers and narratives that any particular object proposes,” says Anno of his and Bateman’s roles as curators. “We get to choose what aspect we want to put our finger on and say, ‘Let’s follow this story.’ This is a case where we’re doing that. We’re selecting aspects of the work that dialogue with each other in a sense that’s relevant to us right now.”
Wiley, whose portrait of President Barack Obama along with Amy Sherald’s portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama exhibited at MFAH in Spring 2022, is well known for his heroic portraits of Black men and women, who are not professional models, posed in historical settings and exhibiting gestures appropriated from Old Master paintings.
In Wiley’s "Judith and Holofernes," Judith is modeled by Treisha Lowe, dressed in a blue gown, its color close to that of the dress worn by Judith in Gentileschi’s painting, her left arm at a downward diagonal clutching not the head of a marauding general, but that of Wiley’s studio assistant, who is female and white. Including his assistant may be another allusion to the complex role of an artist assistant during the Baroque era of painting, but Lowe’s dramatic hairstyle, carefully applied makeup, and tattoo are thoroughly contemporary. She stands with just a hint of onstage theatricality, the colors of her ensemble and fingernails complemented by an opulent backdrop of flowers and traces of blood on a sheathed sword.
'Judith and Holofernes' by Gentileschi, left, and Wiley
Meanwhile, there’s nothing understated about Gentileschi’s Judith; this is a woman who is not afraid to get her hands bloody. With a little help from her maidservant, Judith holds the struggling Holofernes firmly by his hair with her left arm while using a sword in her right to calmly saw off his head. Gentileschi’s Judith may be a self-portrait; Gentileschi painted this after she had been raped by a family friend, who was brought to a trial in which Gentileschi was tortured with thumb screws to ensure she was telling the truth.
It is heartening to see museums stepping up via their curatorial decisions to challenge the male, Euro-centric narrative of the history of art and societal definitions of whose bodies are “beautiful” and worthy of being painted. But Anno, Bateman, and MFAH director Gary Tinterow all point out that this is something artists throughout the ages have always done.
“You have these artists who have always been at the vanguard of what they’ve been doing, whether they be African American contemporary artists or a 17th-century woman painter, then you have these people who may not understand what they’re doing in the moment,” says Bateman. “But culture catches up to what they’re doing,”
