Editor’s note: It's time to recap the most popular stories on CultureMap from this past week:
1. Great expectations: Sneak peek at new River Oaks restaurant from Hotlanta chef who's coming home. Get the inside scoop on State of Grace, the hotly-anticipated restaurant from Houston native Ford Fry.
2. Familiar faces bring under-the-radar Italian steakhouse to Houston's top dining neighborhood. With a Northern Italian menu featuring massive porterhouse steaks and handmade pastas, this new Lower Westheimer restaurant deserves your attention.
3. Houston lands four spots in list of Top 25 New and Improved BBQ Joints in Texas. Texas Monthly's barbecue editor named four Houston-area restaurants on the magazine's latest BBQ list.
4. Intriguing new restaurant offers fresh take on traditional Thai food with homegrown Texas ingredients. Led by celebrity fishmonger/chef PJ Stoops and his wife, Foreign Correspondents brings a farm-to-table ethos to the traditional foods of northern and northeastern Thailand.
5. Hillary Clinton rouses enthusiastic Houston supporters at top-dollar fundraiser. The Democratic presidential frontrunner was the star attraction and insiders tell CultureMap what went on.
A psychedellc mural lines the wall at the new Foreign Correspondents.
Late August is one of Esquire's best new restaurants.
Photo by Leonid Furmansky