It was eat, drink and be very merry at Winter Street Studios Thursday night, when close to 500 revelers poured in for the first annual CultureMap Houston Tastemaker Awards. With a dozen chefs whipping up their tastiest party bites, Herradura tequila hosting a tequila lounge and with DJ Bizonee and Melodic spinning the discs, this party roared.
Intermittently during the night, winners of the 12 Tastemaker Awards were texted to partygoers, who also monitored their cell phones for news of Johnny Manziel's fate in the NFL draft.
Sharing time at the turntable, the DJs kept the decibels and the energy level ramped up while the throng played in the Smilebooth arena and perused the art-lined space where artists with Winter Street studios displayed their colorful works.
Much of the night's fun was schmoozing with Houston foodie headliners, a good number of whom perched in Herradura's tequila lounge. Among the notables were Clark Cooper Concepts' chef Charles Clark with Adriana Banks and Grant Cooper with wife Jaci, 60 Degrees sommelier Vanessa Trevino Boyd, Nara chef Donald Chang, Punk's Simple Southern Food GM Isaac Johnson, Brasserie 19's Shawn Virene, Brooklyn Athletic Club's Shepard Ross and cookbook author Erin Hicks.
Urban Harvest was beneficiary of the bash that was supported by sponsors Ben E. Keith, Herradura and Yellow Cab (love those taxi cab cookies). No surprise then that Yellow Cab prez Roman Martinez made the scene along with marketing whiz Cindy Clifford. Add Women of Wine charities, Java Pura and Good Pops to the mix of tasty contributors.
But the real VIPs of the evening were the chefs staffing the dozen of food stations where 60 Degrees Mastercrafted, Boheme, Trenza, Eatsie Boys Cafe, Mala Sichuan Bistro, Goro & Gun, Mr. Peeples, Triniti, Kuu, Ibiza, Nara and Coppa Osteria put their best food forward. Yum!
Mixing it up at the Winter Street Studios was a wide variety of guests that included young professionals, society types and foodies. The energized crowd included Cahal Mawery and Gabby Schmees, Travis Lenig, Annie and Dr. Amid Banjeree, Heather Rogers and Ben Nichols, Stuart Rosenberg, Marcy de Luna, Melody Le, Alyce and Patrick Kerley, Thuy Pham and Ricky Tiet, and CultureMap food writer Eric Sandler.
Wendy Reeves, from left, Leslie Snelgrove and Jill Szoke.
