What: I’ll Have What She’s Having "Happy Birth Day" Pop-Up
Where: The Dunlavy
The scoop: I’ll Have What She’s Having, the local organization that unites doctors with people in the restaurant industry to promote women's health, celebrated its first anniversary with this one-night only pop-up under the chandeliers at The Dunlavy. The event raised $8,500 for Shades of Blue Project, a local non-profit committed to helping uninsured women gain access to the psychiatric help they need when dealing with post-partum depression. This illness affects as many as one in four minority women, according to organizers, and bringing awareness is near and dear to IHWSH.
The event paired non-alcoholic beverages with each course to celebrate WellWeek, IHWSH's spotlight on mental health. The mocktails were incredibly creative and flavorful, including the Crystal Visions (blackberry, kaffir lime) by Anvil bartender Kehlen Scott and the Smoked Cocoa (coffee, hickory salt, and vanilla).
Chefs Jane Wild (The Dunlavy), Jill Bartolome (Aqui), and Dawn Burrell (Kulture) prepared an impressive, seven-course meal. Our favorites savory dishes included Wild's heirloom okra with honeycrisp apples, squash, cinnamon, and shallot and Burrell's jerk lamb with rice and peas. Bartolome, who earned the CultureMap Tastemaker Award for Best Pastry Chef in 2018, stunned the crowd with her poached pair with milk chocolate, caramel, and lemon cake.
The recent event is one of three components of WellWeek. Events also include Sunday's Depressed Cake Shop, which raised $11,000 for The Montrose Center and National Alliance for Mental Illness - Greater Houston, and a citywide program of special non-alcoholic cocktails and desserts being served by bars and restaurants such as Anvil, Public Services, Coltivare, UB Preserv, and more.
Who: Ryan Pera and IHWSH founder Dr. Lori Choi, Lucy Puryear, Shades of Blue Project founder and CEO Kay Matthews, Claire Smith, Kate McClean, Otto Sanchez, Cat Nguyen, Erin Smith, Jody Stevens, Carla Gomez, Nuray Taylor, and Chelsea Padon.
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Mary Clarkson is the co-owner of Avondale Food & Wine in Montrose and a frequent co-host of CultureMap's weekly podcast, "What's Eric Eating."
