Clash of the Caterers
Houston society mavens and boldface types are twittering about the old-fashioned food fight going on between the city’s two highest-profile caterers. Jackson Hicks — long the town’s reigning prince of parties — is said to have his elegant nose severely out of joint over the upstart success of restaurateur Tony…
Letters
Incest at the Courthouse When I read the Insider column [November 30] about Judge Debbie Stricklin, I could only think incest. We (the citizens) should be thanking the grand jurors who had the courage and decency to speak up about what they perceived to be improprieties in the grand jury…
Back to Nature
Winter seems a fortuitous season for the opening of the Redwood Grill, and also for a first visit to this new restaurant, which is housed in the Chelsea Market where Anthony’s used to reside. Redwood Grill has retained the same warm terra-cotta walls as Anthony’s and the same terrazzo tile…
Losing the Beat
Call it a mid-rock crisis. That’s probably the best way to sum up Charlie Benante’s state of mind while he was holed up in his New York home a year ago, working on the music for Anthrax’s latest release, Stomp 442. Day and night, Benante stayed inside with his guitar…
Rebel from the North
Without a doubt, Mary Cutrufello makes for an unlikely cowgirl. On this warm December day, the singer/songwriter/guitarist models the dressed-down Johnny Cash look, foregoing any flashier hints to her occupation for a simple black T-shirt and jeans and a modest pair of dark boots. Without the spiffy white Stetson she…
Critic’s Choice
It would be simple to dismiss Guy Forsyth as just another flamboyant fish in the stream of modern-day blues spilling out of the state capital these days. His style is straightforward enough, applying all the desired elements — swampy Cajun swing, electrifying rock and rockabilly compatibility, back-porch intimacy and ample…
Rotations
Junior Kimbrough All Night Long Fat Possum/Capricorn Junior Kimbrough is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, a phenomenal talent who developed an innovative blues guitar style without a single non-African-American influence — at least according to New York Times critic Robert Palmer. Of course, the biggest…
Diner’s Notebook
Style over Substance I was charmed into visiting Baroque, a recent restaurant addition to the artsy shopping mecca of Sunset Boulevard, by outward appearances. First, I was excited about its location. Hurray for the gutsy restaurateur, I thought, who was willing to brave the ghost of the epically popular Ouisie’s…
Mixed Music
Is it worth going to the theater to see a stage version of Singin’ in the Rain when the classic 1952 movie musical is at the video store? The answer to this question — which applies to both conception and execution — is yes and no. In many ways, the…
Good Sense
“Farce,” wrote critic Stefan Kanfer, “is tragedy out for a good time. Its characters miss catastrophe by a pulse beat. What if the husband had peeked behind the door? What if the policeman had knocked a minute earlier?” Or what if you’re one of two well-bred sisters on the verge…
Making Mr. Right
Perhaps the very best fairy tales are those that allow for the possibility that, sometimes, Prince Charming gets lost along the way and doesn’t find his sleeping beauty. Or those that admit that, at other times, Prince Charming never shows up with the glass slipper, simply because he’s something of…
Lenwood Johnson’s Last Stand
It would turn out that Lenwood Johnson was just doing things the way he’s always done them. But at the moment, it seemed a curious time to be missing in action. The occasion was a November 28 meeting to settle a question that, for going on three decades now, has…
Getting the Lead Out
The tortillas looked bad — unnaturally pale, with an odd, clammy texture — but that didn’t stop Houston toddler Angel Faz from grabbing one and gobbling it quickly before his mother tossed the rest into a dumpster. It was three years ago, and the pair was riding home after a…
The Insider
Sign Up for the Next Slaughter For Democrats, the 1994 judicial elections turned out to be about as enjoyable as a mass Aztec human sacrifice, since all of the still-beating hearts torn out of the Harris County courts belonged to members of their party. With that painful memory not too…