HRW Donation revealed

Houston Restaurant Weeks reveals lowest donation total in 10 years

Cornerstone Dinner, Feb. 2016, B&B Butchers

B&B Butchers made the largest HRW donation.

Photo by Felix Sanchez

Not even Houston Restaurants Weeks is immune from the lingering economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, but a new event in 2022 may help it get back on track.

HRW organizer The Cleverley Stone Foundation announced that the annual charity dining event raised just $933,820 in 2021.

While that will undeniably bring benefits to Houstonians in need — the food bank turns every dollar raised into three meals — it's the event's lowest announced donation total since it raised $800,000 in 2011. By comparison, HRW raised over $2,000,000 in 2016, 2017, and 2018. In 2019, it raised $1,951,141, according to organizers, which means this year's donation is over $1 million less than two years ago.

Part of the explanation is that HRW allowed restaurants to keep more money for each meal sold to help them recover financially from revenue lost due to pandemic-related disruptions. In prior years, the top level $35 and $49 dinner menus prompted a $5 and $7 donation to the food bank. In 2021, restaurants only contributed $3 or $5. Similarly, the $20 lunch and brunch menus only required a $1 donation instead of the $3 donation in previous years. Organizers tell CultureMap the former amounts will be restored in 2022.

Less clear is how another change may have affected the donation total. Prior to 2020, restaurants made their donations to the food bank directly and reported it to HRW organizers and founder Cleverley Stone.

After Stone died in 2020, her daughter, Katie Stone Cappuccio, established The Cleverley Stone Foundation to continue her mother's legacy of feeding Houstonians in need. Restaurants now contribute to the foundation which then makes a donation to the food bank. It is unclear at this time what difference, if any, exists between the amount raised by the restaurants during the event from diners and the amount the Cleverley Stone Foundation donated to the food bank.

Publicist Melissa Stevens, who co-founded the Cleverley Stone Foundation with Cappuccio, writes in an email that the organization is "committed to providing our donors and the public with complete transparency" regarding its financial information, which will include an audit by an independent third party.

She adds, "It is anticipated that our 2021 financial report will be available in mid-late 2022. While we will publish this report on our website as soon as it is available, the Foundation does not intend to disclose incomplete and unaudited financial information at this time."

Still, HRW is committed to raising more money to benefit the city. Along with the donation total, Cappuccio announced the organization will launch a new event called Eat Drink HTX that will take place from February 15-28, 2022. Designed for more casual restaurants that operate at lower price points that typical HRW establishments, participants in Eat Drink HTX will offer $20 or $25 dinner menus along with $15 lunch and brunch menus.

Like HRW, each meal sold during Eat Drink HTX will prompt a donation of $1-3; proceeds will benefit the Houston Food Bank and Star of Hope, which a local non-profit that supports homeless men, women, and children.

“My mother knew and supported the mission of Star of Hope for many years,” Cappuccio said in a statement. “Scott Arthur, Star of Hope’s director of public relations, was one of her last in-studio radio show guests. We feel the work they do, specifically helping to feed and take care of women and children is so important and empowering.”

A full list of participants is being finalized, but some of them include NoPo Café, Market & Bar, Prego, KP's Kitchen, Osso & Kristalla, Fadi’s, and Buffalo Bayou Brewing Co. Interested restaurants may email katie@cleverley.com for more details.

Organizers released the top 10 HRW restaurants. They are:

B&B Butchers: $55,943
Brennan's of Houston: $22,407
Eddie V's Prime Seafood - CityCentre: $19,815
Eddie V's Prime Seafood - Kirby: $17,740
Traveler's Table: $16,825
The Annie Café & Bar: $16,620
Mastro's Steakhouse: $16,320
Le Colonial: $16,315
Étoile Cuisine et Bar: $15,201
Rainbow Lodge: $13,314

news-you-can-eat

a CultureMap Exclusive

Houston's 'Chinese takeout bar from the future' touches down in Webster

Courtesy of The Rice Box

A rendering previews The Rice Box's new location in Webster.

Houston’s Chinese takeout bar from the future is coming to the Bay Area. The sixth location of The Rice Box will open in Webster later this summer.

Located at 114 El Dorado Blvd, the new location will be called Rice Box Space Center after NASA’s headquarters at the nearby Johnson Space Center. Founder John Peterson tells CultureMap that it’s a bit of a homecoming for him and his wife/business partner, Jenny Vo, as they grew up in the area. As with every new location, the restaurant created a movie-style poster to announce its opening.

Rice Box Webster movie poster The Rice Box Space Center is expected to open later this summer.Courtesy of The Rice Box

For its first truly suburban location, Peterson plans to offer a more efficient pickup system for to-go orders. Dubbed The Rice Box Pickup Reactors, the system applies Rice Box’s sci-fi aesthetic to curbside ordering. As seen in the rendering above, the building will have six slots that drivers will pull into to get their orders.

“The goal is to have guests in and out with food in hand in around 90 seconds,” Peterson writes in an email. “It’s still pickup, but we’re trying to make that moment feel more intentional and more connected to the digital side of Rice Box instead of treating it like an afterthought. We’re looking at this opening as both a new store and a prototype for how Rice Box can work in more suburban markets without losing the part of the brand that makes it feel like us.”

Bay Area-area diners can expect the same menu as the Rice Box’s other locations. That includes staples such as General Tso’s chicken, sesame chicken, beef with broccoli, and orange peel beef. The restaurant also serves traditional Chinese-inspired fare such as Chongqing chicken, cumin beef, mapo tofu, and chow fun noodles.

Recently, Peterson rolled out a new version of Rice Box’s dumplings. Available in chicken, pork, or vegetable, each style of dumpling comes with a different wrapper that enhances the filling’s flavor. They’re also available either steamed or fried.

The Rice Box started as a food truck in the early 2010s. After moving to a permanent location in the Greenway Plaza food court, it has opened brick-and-mortar locations in the Heights, River Oaks, Rice Village, and Memorial.

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