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    That's a lot of meals

    Houston Restaurant Weeks raises a record $1.2 million for Houston Food Bank

    Clifford Pugh
    Oct 10, 2012 | 1:46 pm
    • Mayor Parker, right, proclaimed Wednesday as "Cleverley Stone Day in Houston."Stone, left, poses with the mayor.
      Photo by Clifford Pugh
    • Houston Food Bank CEO Brian Greene, left, Cleverley Stone, middle and MayorAnnise Parker, right, celebrate a record haul for Houston Restaurant Weeks.
      Photo by Clifford Pugh

    It felt as hot as a summer day on the steps of City Hall Wednesday, but that seemed somehow appropriate as officials announced that Houston Restaurant Weeks, held during the month of August, raked in a record $1.222 million for the Houston Food Bank.

    "I had someone check the numbers because I was so pleasantly shocked," Houston Restaurant Weeks founder Cleverley Stone said.

    The amount donated was a 52.8 percent increase over 2011, Stone noted, when around $800,000 was raised. "In today's economic climate that is incredible, and I say, thank you, Houston, Texas."

     

      "I had someone check the numbers because I was so pleasantly shocked," Houston Restaurant Weeks founder Cleverley Stone said. 

    This year, nearly 170 restaurants offered a special $20 lunch and a $35 dinner, with $3 of each lunch and $5 of each dinner donated to the Houston Food Bank. Nearly 48,000 lunches and more than 205,000 dinners were sold, with an estimated $13.47 million spent on food, beverages, sales tax and tips.

    Stone said the economic impact was likely higher because she conservatively estimated that diners spent $10 on beverages. Mayor Annise Parker agreed, noting that she dined out during Restaurant Weeks "and I know that for our table, it was a lot more than that amount."

    Stone said the event began in 2003 at the suggestion of a friend. It ran for a week and netted $5,000 from 16 restaurants.

    It has now grown so popular that it's become one of the best times of the year for Houston restaurants, said Del Frisco general manager Arthur Mooradian. "We used to take vacations in August and now we can't because it's become the busiest month of the year for us...August has become a great celebration month."

     Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse came in as the top fundraiser, followed by Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, Americas River Oaks, Perry's Steakhouse & Grill — Memorial City and Masraff's.

    Among the first-time participants was Tradicao Brazilian Steakhouse, with two Houston-area locations. Marketing director Melissa Abrantes proudly brought a mock-up of a check for $7,400 that was the portion they donated. "Next year we can do even better," she said.

    Houston Food Bank CEO Brian Greene said that every dollar of the donation provides three meals to a needy family. "Every meal that was had at a restaurant, for us is 15 meals going out to some family in need or an individual," he said. "We are grateful to everyone who participated."

    Houston Restaurant Weeks is an all-volunteer operation; 100 percent of the proceeds go to the Houston Food Bank. "This is the best kind of volunteer activity," Parker said. "It starts with a great idea, it continues with volunteer help and it grows every year through the generous contributions of the restaurants that participate and Houstonians that take advantage of it."

    Parker proclaimed "Cleverley Stone Day" in Houston in honor of Stone's volunteer efforts.

    unspecifiedseries568664051
    news/restaurants-bars
    series/htx-good-eats-2012

    welcome to paradise

    Veteran Houston bartender shakes up the Heights with new tropical bar

    Eric Sandler
    Jul 8, 2025 | 1:12 pm
    Berwick's Birds of Paradise bar exterior
    Photo by Eric Sandler
    Berwick's Birds of Paradise opened on July 4.

    The woman behind your favorite bartender’s favorite bar has quietly opened a new cocktail spot in the Heights. Called Berwick’s Birds of Paradise, it’s the latest project from Double Trouble owner Robin Berwick.

    Berwick tells CultureMap that she began looking for a new project about a year ago. Double Trouble, a coffee and cocktail bar that opened in late 2011, no longer required her full attention. She found an ideal space with the former La Coqueta at 2020 Studewood Street, a standalone building in a prime area of the Heights. Similar to Double Trouble, Berwick took inspiration from tropical destinations for BBOP's (pronounced “be bop”) drinks and design — with some additional flair from the only kind of bar she’s never worked at.

    “I might be embarrassed if you print this, but it’s the truth. I have bartended in just about every category of bar: restaurant bar, nightclub, dance club, strip club, dive bar, and Anvil and Poison Girl, the cocktail bars that people knew me from before Double Trouble,” she says.

    “The only place I didn’t work that I wanted to was a resort hotel bar. I never want to be responsible for running a hotel, but I wanted to open a bar that felt like it was once attached to a hotel.”

    Patrons will notice a screen printed portrait of a woman hanging on one of the bar’s walls. Berwick has decided that it depicts the mythical owner of the non-existent hotel that BBOP is attached to.

    “I don’t know her name, but she’s a little spooky and she’s blue. I just look at her and ask her what would she do,” Berwick says.

    Berwick worked with Jarred Pruitt and Eli Ashby at Houston builder Pruitt Structures to renovate the space with everything from new plumbing and HVAC systems to a vintage-inspired tile floor and an all-new ceiling treatment. The costs ran a little higher than expected, but Berwick cites her “fantastic investors” who raised the money required to build the bar she envisioned.

     Berwick's Birds of Paradise bar interior The building received a comprehensive renovation to become Berwick's Birds of Paraidse.Photo by Eric Sandler

    The cocktail menu takes a similarly tropical (not to be confused with tiki) theme. For example, the bar’s frozen cocktail is called La Bruha, after a nickname Berwick received from the tradesmen who helped renovate the bar. “It’s a riff on an El Diablo,” she explains, “Tequila, fresh lime juice, spicy ginger beer, habanero tincture, topped with a layer of elderberry liqueur. The ginger surprises people. It’s got a little punch to it.”

    Similarly, the Crocodile Tears Martini gets a little island flavor courtesy of Strange Water, a coconut water created by former Houstonian Yael Vengroff, and Grey Goose Citra vodka. “Everybody’s been saying it’s ‘dangerously drinkable,’” Berwick adds.

    BBOP’s tidy food menu is overseen by veteran Houston chef Jacob Pate, whose resume includes Coltivare, Good Dog Houston, and the recently-closed Savoir. Current offerings include chicken wings, a smash burger, and a Bikini Sandwich — similar to a Cubano, Pate gives the traditional Catalan-inspired pressed ham and cheese sandwich a Houston twist courtesy of muffaletta compound butter and tomato condiment.

    “On the horizon is a house made sausage dog that I’m excited about,” Pate writes in an email. “At Savoir, we had some fun butchery projects that I would like to build upon where it makes sense. Beyond that, the first priority is figuring out how it all fits in our small kitchen and having fun.”

    In addition to food and drinks, Berwick is working with Heights cigar bar Nice Ash to stock a humidor for BBOP. Patrons will be able to smoke a cigar on the bar’s patio. Because people will be smoking (among other reasons), BBOP is strictly 21-plus.

    The bar opened quietly on July 4. So far, its customers has been a mix of curious neighbors, Double Trouble regulars, and Berwick’s friends in the service industry. After spending so much time on renovations, she says she’s happy to focus on operating her bar.

    “I had been used to this high stress level, waiting for the bottom to drop out [during the renovations],” she says. “When the first guests came in, I relaxed. We know how to make drinks.”

    Currently, the bar is open Wednesday-Sunday from 4pm - midnight. Days of service and hours of operation will expand once additional employees have been hired.

    news/restaurants-bars
    series/htx-good-eats-2012

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