Alt Art Auction

Divas de los Muertos haunt Lawndale Art Center gala

Photo by Katy Anderson
Photo by Katy Anderson
Photo by Katy Anderson
Photo by Katy Anderson
Photo by Katy Anderson
Photo by Katy Anderson
Photo by Katy Anderson

Over 245 eight-by-10 inch pieces of decorated tin served as the basis for Lawndale Art Center's 23rd annual Día de los Muertos retablo silent auction and gala. The art organization invited artists to create a retablo or ex-voto inspired work for the auction, all of which were bid upon by the party's discerning viewers.

The retablos decking the walls of the Grace Cavnar Gallery included first-time artists as well as local heavyweights the likes of Al Souza, Joan Laughlin and John Runnels. The selection was in every sense diverse, from Carlos Pozo's hard-edge sketching and Clark Kellogg's woodcraft wizardry to Myke Venable's mod Ellsworth Kelly tribute and Kendall Gremillion's oil spill abstractions.

Installations by local schools filled the lobby and migrated upwards into the building's mezzanine, where the band Mr. Bristle and friends lured bidders with Latin grooves. Guests sipped St. Arnold brewskies and cocktail interpretations of Vitamin Water and Cabo Wabo Tequila.

In the maraca mix were event chairs Miri Wilkins and Penelope Gonzalez Marks along with Diana Hudson, Lawndale chair of the board of directors and Día de los Muertos underwriter. Also spotted in the circulating swarm were architect James Glassman spying on his Etch-a-Sketch retablo, Big Show guest curator Paul Middendorf and Lawndale director-cum-emcee Christine West.

The exhibition of retablos is on view through Nov. 6.

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What's Eric Eating Episode 284

Houston's red-hot restaurateur Ben Berg dishes on his 9 hotly anticipated new concepts

Photo by Leah Wilson

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On this week’s episode of “What’s Eric Eating,” Berg Hospitality Group founder Ben Berg joins CultureMap food editor Eric Sandler to discuss his growing company. Currently, Berg operates eight Houston-area bars and restaurants, but that number will double by the end of 2023.

With that in mind, Sandler and Berg go through all of them with the restaurateur describing each concept and providing an updated timeline for each. They are:

Annabelle’s, an French-inspired brasserie
Benny Chows, a Cantonese-inspired Chinese American restaurant
Buttermilk Baby, a retro-styled soda fountain
Canopy Social, a rooftop bar
Dune Road, a New England seafood restaurant
La Table, a fine dining French restaurant
Prime 131, a live fire steakhouse
Tavola, a Roman-style Italian restaurant
Turner’s Cut, a luxurious steakhouse

Sandler asks Berg what the company is doing to prepare itself for all this growth.

We’ve invested a lot in people. We’ve brought in a lot of hires who have a lot more experience than I do, or, at least, some of them have years more experience. It’s kind of exciting,” he says.

“In the past two years, we’ve created the Berg Hospitality mission, our values. We’re in this position now, three years ago we had 13 or 14 group employees. Right now, we have 32. It’s merging these personalities, getting the strategy correct, and creating an infrastructure to support the stores.”

Listen to the full interview to hear Berg discuss the other styles of restaurant he’d like to do one day. He also shares the one Houston restaurant he’s been visiting regularly.

Prior to the interview, Sandler and co-host Linda Salinas discuss the news of the week. Their topics include: new owners acquiring Weights + Measures, New York City-based coffee shop and cafe Citizens’ plans to open in Montrose; and Bobby Heugel adding daytime coffee service to Refuge.

In the restaurant of the week segment, Salinas and Sandler share first impressions of Ojo de Agua, the Mexico City-based all-day cafe that just opened in River Oaks District.

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Subscribe to "What's Eric Eating" on Apple podcasts, Google Play, or Spotify. Listen to it Saturdays at 2 pm on ESPN 97.5.

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