Gung hay fat choy

18 Lunar New Year celebrations welcoming the Year of the Snake in Houston

Lunar New Year is upon us once again, which means there will be several spots in Houston that will celebrate with lion dances, martial arts performances and red envelopes containing fun surprises in the next few days.

Here is a rundown of events, from festivals to dinners to night markets, where you can join in and celebrate the Year of the Snake.

Wednesday, January 29

Dessert Gallery welcomes the Year of the Snake with hand-decorated, Lunar New Year cookies priced at $6.95 each. Indulge in these treats as you celebrate the festivities. 11 am (noon Sunday).

Duck n Bao will have a lobster platter for $29.99, offered with the purchase of an entree, through Sunday. Enjoy alongside their famous Peking duck and Sichuan specialities, plus soup dumplings, noodles, and fish dishes for luck and prosperity. 11 am.

Hidden Omakase is offering all customers a lucky red envelope, containing a lucky bracelet and a gift card redeemable for lunch. The Michelin-recommended sushi restaurant recently launched its new walk-in lunch menu curated by chef Marcos Juarez. 11 am.

Hongdae 33 will have BOGO Korean Soju all weekend to accompany premium AYCE Korean barbecue. In addition to Chamisul (original and fresh) and Jinro Is Back Chum-Churum, there are six flavors including green apple, strawberry and peach. 11:30 am.

Houston Botanic Garden’s Radiant Nature is still around for Lunar New Year. It features more than 50 Chinese lantern installations throughout the mile-long path, each of which is ideal for creating eye-popping Instagram and TikTok content. 6 pm (6:30 pm Sunday).

JŪN will have a Wine and Dine XV Lunar New Year Edition. This meal will include a special four-course, Asian-inspired menu, celebrating chef Henry Lu's Chinese heritage and chef Suu Khin’s Burmese roots. A portion of ticket sales will be donated to World Central Kitchen. 5 pm.

Kazzan Ramen & Bar is celebrating Lunar New Year by giving every dine-in table a red envelope with a surprise inside. Kazzan touts its "volcano" ramen that originated in Osaka, with thick noodles and vegetables. 11 am.

Stomping Grounds will have a lively Lunar New Year celebration. Pho Fix will have free appetizers, fortune cookies, gift card giveaways, and $1-$100 red envelopes. Himari Sushi will be celebrating with $25 bento boxes for dine-in customers. 6 pm.

Trill Burgers has the Indomie Chopped Cheese Sandwich for Lunar New Year. It includes fresh lettuce, tomato, onion, ground beef and American cheese, topped with pan-fried Indomie noodles, sautéed bean sprouts, garlic oil, and Sriracha aioli, all on an Amoroso roll. 11 am.

Thursday, January 30

Norigami is hosting a Lion Dance performance at 7:30 pm, with music by The Boyz of Summer at 5 pm, drink specials, and 25 percent off all day. It’s the perfect way to honor tradition while enjoying delicious food and cultural experiences. 3 pm.

Saturday, February 1

Asia Society Texas Center welcomes the Lunar New Year with performances, art and craft activities, a Lucky Lunar Mission (with a stop in their "Space City: Art in the Age of Artemis" exhibition), and food, all inspired by Lunar New Year traditions across Asia. 10 am.

Chinese Community Center will celebrate the Year of the Snake at its Lunar New Year Festival. Highlights include lion and dragon dances, Asian cuisine, cultural workshops, games and activities, a live snake exhibit, and more. 10 am.

Ginger & Fork will have a full schedule for its Lunar New Year celebration. It kicks off with a prayer ceremony and a lion dance with a martial arts demonstration. There will also be an encore lion dance during dinner service. 3 pm.

Meo Bar will have a celebration featuring a lion dance performance by the Seven Star Dragon Lion Dance Team, alongside a special menu inspired by Vietnamese culinary traditions. Customers can also enjoy festive beverage collaborations in the bar’s speakeasy setting. 5 pm.

Phat Eatery will once again host multiple seatings for its Malaysian New Year’s feast. Each seating begins with lion dance performances, followed by a family-style meal that includes a traditional Malaysian Yu Sheng “Prosperity Toss.” 7 pm (11:30 am Sunday).

Sunday, February 2

Have a Nice Day HTX will have its annual Lunar New Year Market at The Ion. This free, family-friendly event features an exciting lineup of AAPI chefs, creators, a lion dance performance, a red envelope giveaway, and complimentary Lunar New Year sips for 21+. 4 pm.

Traveler's Table will host a lion dance at 12:30 pm for customers with brunch reservations. Nearby sister restaurant Traveler's Cart will also host a dragon dance in its parking lot, perfect for patrons to enjoy while grabbing a quick bite or drink inside the establishment, at 3 pm.

Saturday, February 8

Common Bond Bistro & Bakery still has its limited-edition, Lunar New Year Entremet (in collaboration with Lee’s Golden Dragon) through Wednesday, February 12. Lee’s Golden Dragon will also do a performance at Common Bond’s Heights location. 11 am.

Have a Nice Day lunar new year market dragon dance

Photo by Alan Castelan

See a dragon dance at the Have a Nice Day market.

holidays lunar new year

Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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