Upcoming Houston Food Events: Get Your Tickets for The Morning After and Southern Smoke

Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings:

Act fast to snag early bird tickets to our fourth annual The Morning After, A Houston Press Brunch Event, as prices will increase Saturday, August 10. The event — set to take place at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards, on Saturday, September 28 from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. — will feature eats from over 25 local eateries, brunch cocktail samples and music. Confirmed restaurants include BCK, Boheme, Duck Donuts, Kuu, Snooze and The Rustic, to name a few. General admission tickets ($30 for early bird, $40 regular) include unlimited brunch and drink samples, plus three drink tickets with additional drink tickets available for purchase at the event. The VIP admission ticket ($55 for early bird, $65 regular) includes entry into the event at 11 a.m., unlimited brunch and drink samples, and six drink tickets with additional drink tickets available for purchase at the event.

Southern Smoke tickets (set for Sunday, October 6) are now on sale, and chef Chris Shepherd has added a new benefit dinner to kick off this year’s festivities. The Houstonian Hoot’Nanny: A Southern Smoke Benefit Dinner will take place on Friday, October 4 at Manor House at the Houstonian, 111 North Post Oak, as the chef invites you to dinner with his friends (some who will be cooking, and some who will be dining alongside you). Guests can expect reception cocktails from Underbelly Hospitality spirits director Westin Galleymore, hors d'oeuvres by Chris Shepherd, and courses featuring the foods of Saigon Pagolac, Al Aseel and London Sizzler, plus dessert from pastry chef Victoria Dearmond and wine curated by Matthew Pridgen. Tickets to the benefit are $500 per person (with only 100 seats available).

Due to high-demand, Vinny's, 1201 St Emanuel, has added a New York-style option to its pizza lineup. Over the last month and a half, executive chef Paul Lewis has been working to perfect the new style — a more traditional thin, foldable slice, and Vinny’s now offers cheese and pepperoni New York-style pizza by the slice, and all specialty pizzas available as a whole New York-style pie.

Central Market, 3815 Westheimer, has kicked off its 24th annual Hatch Chile Festival, running now through Tuesday, August 20. During the two-week craze, the market will celebrate the coveted green chile pepper with a variety of in-store events, cooking classes, products, recipes and more. Featured items include hatch guacamole, bacon-wrapped hatch cream cheese poppers, hatch marinated meats, seafood hatch stuffed mushrooms and hatch pepper kolache, to name a few. Look out for in-store events like The Pepper Challenge (Friday, August 9 from 6:30 – 8 p.m., $35 per person) where you can sample five innovative hatch dishes paired with beer and wines; HATCHSTERIA (Thursday, August 15 from 5:30 -7 p.m., free, register online), when you can stroll through the store to find all kinds of hatch-flavored and hatch-infused delights.

Guests are invited to enjoy the zoo after dark at an All About That Bubbly event at The Houston Zoo, 6200 Hermann Park, on Thursday, August 15 from 6 to 10 p.m. Guests can enjoy Champagne or Prosecco and bites like chicken and waffles, pastrami fries and champagne cupcakes in an outdoor lounge at the Zoo’s reflection pool, plus exclusive access to up-close animal experiences and fun photo ops.

On Saturday, August 17 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Urban Harvest will debut its newest market, the Northeast Community Farmers Market at Kashmere Gardens Elementary School, 4901 Lockwood. Operating on every first and third Saturday of the month, the market will provide a source of healthy, local produce to the Northeast Houston area, a food desert continuing to recover from Hurricane Harvey. The new market will accept SNAP benefits (formerly known as food stamps), increasing food access for communities in need. Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner will be at the farmers market kickoff, along with live music, family-friendly activities and a lineup of fresh, local food.

On Tuesday, August 20, Bistro Provence, 13616 Memorial, is teaming up with Houston’s French Country Wines to host An Evening in Provence, a multi-course dinner spotlighting some of Provence’s great wines. Guests can enjoy dishes such as Cassis tuna tartare and organic chicken à la Provençale. The four-course dinner will begin at 7 p.m. and cost is $65 per person plus tax and gratuity. A $30 per person deposit via PayPal is required to secure the reservation and will be forfeited for cancellations made 48 hours or less before the dinner.