While some avoided the torrential afternoon rain on Sunday, close to 500 bold and beautiful types made it through the Post Oak Boulevard high water to join founding chef Robert Del Grande in celebrating 35 years with Cafe Annie.
Pink grapefruit and hibiscus margaritas flowed as the downpour lessened and the merry throng poured in to the RDG Bar + Annie site, recently rechristened as the iconic Cafe Annie. The chef, his wife Mimi, and their business partners Candace and Lonnie Schiller led the celebration that turned the dining room into a dance floor.
Among the heavy-hitters congratulation the team on its decades of success were former Texas governor Mark White and wife Linda Gale, Houston Super Bowl honcho Sallie Sargent, and popular KPRC Channel 2 news anchor Dominique Sachse and hubby Nick Florescu.
The Cafe Annie kitchen kept dishes from its traditional menu rolling including crab tostadas with avocado relish, mini black bean terrines with goat cheese and tomato salsa, Huitlacoche mushroom yartlets with parmesan, duck prosciutto drop biscuits, shrimp sausage corn muffins, and so much more.
When chef Del Grande brought out his signature coffee roasted flat iron steak with beef cracklings and steak sauce, guests practically swooned.
Making the scene were Susan and Mike Plank, Marilyn and George DeMontrond, Lynn Ellis, Devika and Dr. Mahesh Ramchandani, Lynn and Tim Mercer, Lora and Dr. John Clemmons, William Wheless, Roz and Alan Pactor, Patti and Vince Elliott, and Laura Max and Ben Rose.
