What: The Greater Houston Restaurant Association's Golden Fork Awards Gala
Where: The Ballroom at Bayou Place
The scoop: Houston's restaurant community celebrated a year of highs — successfully hosting both the Super Bowl and the World Series — and commemorated a year of lows — sectors of the industry are still recovering from the lingering affects of Hurricane Harvey — at this fourth annual gala. Almost 400 people attended the masquerade-themed event, which raised $175,000 for Texas Restaurant Association Education Foundation, the ProStart high school culinary curriculum, and the GHRA.
During the awards portion of the evening, Mayor Sylvester Turner accepted a special honor on behalf of the city's role in responding to the storm. Gr8 Plate Hospitality (The Union Kitchen, Jax Grill) owners Doris and Paul Miller took home two of the night's top prizes for Restaurateur of the Year and the People's Choice Award. Other winners included Chronicle critic Alison Cook (President's Award), Erin Land of The Guthrie Cente (Educator of the Year), Antone's Famous Po' Boys (Restaurant Neighbor of the Year), Denise and Oscar Taylor of Bonfire Wings (Faces of Diversity).
In his remarks, Turner saluted the restaurant industry's efforts to feed people displayed by the storm, according to the Chronicle. "People were bringing food from the hospitality industry not for 200 people but for thousands," the mayor said.
Who: GHRA president Jonathan Horowitz and Quinn Hoang, GHRA president-elect Greg den Herder, TRA president Mark Davis Bailey, Houston City Council member Dr. Jack Christie, Monica Richards and Jason Osberg, Cleverley Stone, Ofelia and Dominic Laurenzo, Robin and Tom Segesta, John Moore, Mary Donna Moceri, Amy and Ricardo Molina, Phaedra Cook, Rachel Lewis, and Nick Scurfield.
Mayor Sylvester Turner with Ricardo and Amy Molina.
