MONTROSE MED SPA is consistently focused on one thing: the patient. The boutique spa is intentionally designed as haven where clients can realize their aesthetic and wellness aspirations in a secure and comforting environment. Business partners Maricela and Ashley pride themselves on their unwavering commitment to the patient and continuous learning ensuring that clients receive the most safe and effective treatments available. Intentional wellness of placing emphasis on inner well-being and self-care is the vision of the spa and they have curated a team of highly trained professionals who share this philosophy. With this vision in mind, Maricela and Ashley have developed a complete beauty and medical gym experience. Services provided include Medical Weight Loss, EMsculpt Neo, EMface, HydraFacial (face & body), Fillers, Neurotoxins, Microneedling, VI Chemical Peels, and IV Therapy. LUXURY BEAUTY & MEDICAL GYM MEMBERSHIPS available. Schedule your complimentary skin analysis consultation and receive $100 off your first treatment. 713.485.5027, 2505 Dunlavy St. Houston, TX 77006 Follow us on Instagram.
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ON JAN. 3, 2025, I observed a big personal anniversary. As of that day, it’d been 20 years since I first moved to Houston — from the Big Apple media circus, by way of my home state of Louisiana — and began working as an editor in the lifestyle-magazine biz here. It’s been two full decades, which is hard to believe! I like to joke that I’m far too young and good-looking to have done anything for two decades. But here we are.
The Houston area, increasingly diverse and cosmopolitan, has changed so much in that time. For starters, its population has grown from 5.2 million to nearly 6.9 million. It blows my mind that I landed smack in the middle of what I’ve long called “the most fascinating city in America,” just as it evolved from a sprawling, un-zoned and largely misunderstood hodgepodge of urban and suburban influences into a widely revered cultural and commercial mecca, soon to overtake Chicago as America’s third largest city.
Space City, with its renowned arts and culinary and pro-sports scenes, has become a world city, finally fully reflecting its long-held status as the capital of the global energy business, and home of the world’s biggest and finest medical center. I’ve had a front-row seat to all of it.
Now, reflecting on all those great years, it’s time to flip the script a bit. My business partners and I have decided to suspend the publication of Houston CityBook magazine after nearly nine wonderful years in print. As we assess what’s next for the CityBook brand, our digital platforms continue to operate.
I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve built. For so long, many magazines came and went in Houston. Most of them operated for a year or so and faded away. CityBook, on the other hand, survived in print for the better part of a decade. To my knowledge, we’re the only independently published, large-circulation title to have accomplished anything like that since the 1980s or ’90s.
We’ve been a must-read in many quarters, with engaging, beautiful content — including the only full-on fashion spreads regularly produced in Houston with top-notch photographers and Houston-based models, many of whom have gone on to big careers in New York and beyond after gracing our pages. And we’ve presented unique long-form content, such as our “Day in the Life of the Arts” photo-documentary projects, exhaustively reported annual best-restaurants features, the reliably racy and instantly infamous annual “Sexy Issue,” the prestigious “Leaders & Legends” portrait collections, and, more recently, the “Cool 100” features counting down the hippest Houstonians with vivid portraits and surprising characters.
They were labors of love, loved reciprocally by 120,000 readers, and celebrated with bring-the-content-to-life parties and smart marketing events that became some of the hottest tickets going.
It hasn’t always been easy. As a startup, we had to overcome an energy-biz downturn and then Hurricane Harvey. Just about the time we found our feet, Covid hit. And all along, we’ve faced valiant competition from other fine magazines, including one I happened to have helped launch years ago.
No whining though! It’s all been a thrill. And an honor. And I’ll forever be grateful that, of all places, this amazing city is where my childhood dream to launch my own magazine one day — yeah, I know it’s weird — came true. Bigger and better than ever, Houston still holds that same kind of promise for all of us who call it home.
To what shall we aspire next? I can’t wait to see.
Jeff Gremillion is the editor-in-chief of Houston CityBook magazine and HoustonCityBook.com, and the CEO of CityBook Media, LLC. He can be reached at jeff@houstoncitybook.com.
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Christopher Salazar stars as troubled-genius chef in the Alley's 'Seared'.
ONE OF HOUSTON'S favorite theater makers — Alley Associate Artistic Director Brandon Weinbrenner — has gotten some delicious news about his latest show. The run of his Seared, a sometimes-funny and sometimes-intense tale of life in the kitchen at a suddenly hot New York restaurant by playright Theresa Rebeck, has been extended beyond its original schedule and will now be up through March 9.
“Seared serves up a high-stakes battle of art versus commerce in the pressure-cooker world of an up-and-coming restaurant,” per the Alley Theatre. “When a hotshot chef’s genius meets the hard-nosed reality of the business, tempers flare, egos clash, and the flames of ambition burn high. The arrival of a seasoned restaurant consultant only turns up the heat, igniting a battle for creative control that’s as hilarious as it is mouthwatering.”
The show, up and running now, garnered considerable pre-opening buzz when it was learned that noted Houston chef Justin Yu of Theodore Rex had signed on as a chef consultant for the play. His guidance was needed since, during the performance, actors make real restaurant-quality food in a working kitchen! Indeed, audiences are leaving the at the end of the show hungry for salmon, gnocchi and, per an inside joke in the story, scallops.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled to direct Seared in a city like Houston,” Weinbrenner noted. “Like any other sensible Houstonian, I love dining out. And not just for the delicious food but also for the drama! There are high stakes, urgent timing, opinions galore, relationships in the kitchen and on the floor, and all of that in Theresa Rebeck’s Seared.
“And I get to collaborate with friends! Theresa and I have been friends for a decade,” the director added. “The cast is made up of our beloved resident acting company members and a big local talent.”
The cast includes Elizabeth Bunch, Chris Hutchison, Christopher Salazar and Kory LaQuess Pullam.
'Seared' director Weinbrenner is known for his fast-paced style.
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