Despite Sunday's loss to the San Diego Chargers, spirits were surprisingly high at Monday night's Taste of the Texans benefit at Reliant Stadium. "They're gonna get it done this year. Right!," cheered Texans president Jamey Rootes as the crowd of 700 echoed his enthusiasm.

Bob McNair, who earlier had declared that coach Gary Kubiak is staying, was optimistic, addressing the crowd that with the division game coming up against the Jacksonville Jaguars this weekend, "We're gonna kick ass." Ever the gentleman, McNair quickly blushed at his language, which actually was incredibly tame by today's standards.

The fans who turned out to rub shoulders with the players and coaches remained so full of Texans loyalty despite the team's 4-4 record that many seemed more interested in getting their footballs autographed than sampling the tempting food offered by dozens of restaurants and caterers. At the VIP party that preceded the food fest, even McNair signed footballs as did general manager Rick Smith and a number of the players.

Easily recognizable in their red Texans polo shirts were Matt Schaub, Kevin Walter, Joel Dreessen, Chris Myers, Shaun Cody, Dominique Barber, Kareem Jackson, Neil Rackers and Garrett Graham — to name a few.

For this pre-party event, Ruggles' Bruce Molzan and RDG's Robert Del Grande headed the serving tables where there was plenty of manly beef for players and their fans. Even that was a modest prelude to the vast display of food that tempted calorie-counters at the main party held in the Verizon West Club. Vegans probably should've stayed home. There seemed to be more beef here than in a West Texas feed lot.

Among the dreamy taste temptations were the filet on potato rolls from III Forks, arancini from Hotel ZaZa's Monarch, Korean tacos from the Methodist Hospital System, apple-smoked hamachi-big eye toro tacos from Soma Sushi, desserts from Ooh La La, Yelapa's fresh flounder ceviche, Capital Grille's to-die-for Ragu beef short ribs and Gelato Blu's Italian ice creams. Guests grazed through a field of food dreams that included offerings from Grotto, Del Frisco's, Brennan's and Steamboat Steakhouse. This was one charity event where no one went home hungry.

Proceeds benefit the Houston Food Bank and the Methodist Hospital System.