Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/221565
HIS Q FACTOR WHAT'S IN A NAME W hen Jay Landa decided to remodel J. Silver, his 15-year-old Rice Village jewelry boutique, he looked no further than the interior designer of his own Southampton home, Kirby & Company's Dennis Brackeen. Brackeen, known for his bold strokes, transformed the retail shop into a statement-making jewelry box to coddle Landa's collection of gems, and his international jewelry designers Chan Luu, Alexis Bittar, Dian Malouf and Uno de 50. The transformation is global in design — think vibrant green-lacquer walls, ethnic-style woven wallpaper dotted with taxidermy, dark-stained wood floors and a runway of herringbone-pattern marble highlighting rows of custom display cases through the center of the shop. Antique Chinese doors hide storage areas, while well-lit shelf upon shelf showcase the glittering merchandise. A gold-studded multicolored herringbone wall has a bold turquoise lacquered door, while custom-beaded chandeliers twinkle overhead. Landa says that the pronounced change in the store's appearance determined a name change was in order. And with that, J. Silver has now become J. Landa. Kate Stukenberg Killen's Barbecue, 3613 Broadway, 281.485.0844; facebook.com/killensbbq Ronnie Killen is taking his culinary career full circle. A budding cook at 23, he opened his first eatery, a barbecue joint in his childhood home of Pearland, but shuttered the place a while later to travel to Europe, attend Le Cordon Bleu and learn the foundations of his craft. Afterwards, armed with both knowledge and confidence, he went home again and turned a dusty little icehouse into a fine-dining steak-centered restaurant that drew foodies from Houston on the pilgrimage to what's been called one of the top steak joints in the nation. This chef seriously knows his meat, not to mention how to develop a smoke ring in a tender brisket, rendering the fat slowly and picking the right green woods to control the cooking temperature — small wonder he's now taking on barbecue again. Tempting us for months with weekend pop-ups, this month Killen's Barbecue takes up permanent residence in a former '50s-era school cafeteria in Pearland. A destination spot, this 95-seat eatery serves its Central Texas barbecue cafeteria-style and caters, too. Killen whips up beef ribs (which reputedly have a big fan in President George H.W. Bush) and brisket, both made with USDA top-drawer quality meat from Allen Brothers. Out back, he cooks smoked pork ribs, pork and beef links (his own, natch), even smoked turkey and chicken, all doused with your choice of homemade sauce in tangy, sweet and coffee varieties. Even the sides are pretty tempting, from housecured bread-and-butter pickles and pickled jalapenos to mustard-laced potato salad, pulled pork pinto beans and ramen coleslaw. Open everyday from 11 am "till we run out of Q," as Killen says. Laurann Claridge HAROLD'S REBORN IN FOODIE THE GAME TRIPLE PLAY CHANGER Vintage Chambers stove as floral station Bermac Arts, 4101 San Jacinto St., 713.239.0446 House specialty: South Carolina low-country style shrimp 'n grits W SHAU LIN HON BRENT BRUNI COMISKEY BRENT BRUNI COMISKEY We like to think the late Harold Wiesenthal would be happy that his retail empire, Harold's in the Heights, has been reborn into what promises to be another hometown institution. But in lieu of dapper gent's suits and ties, you've entered a foodie paradise, aka the kingdom of the Heights General Store. Owner/founder/ Heights resident Alli Jarrett stocks the nearly 10,000 square-foot space Chef Antoine Ware Owner/founder Alli Jarrett with fresh, locally sourced produce and protein from small-batch family outfits such as Larry Bruce Gardens (source of some compelling pickles), Finck Cattle Company of Gonzales (we spied handsome chops in the cold case), Brazos Valley Cheese, Houston Dairymaids and Atkinson Farms (their plum jam is a winner). And that's just the first floor, where the General Store holds court; downstairs also boasts a coffee and dessert bar (overseen with aplomb by in-house pastry-chef pair Dawn Paulson and Aaron Parson. Alongside the java and sweets, are tempting entrees including the popular wood-fired pizza, available to savor in a charming nook facing 19th Street or to tote home. For more formal dining, dinner is served on the second floor Monday through Saturday, and brunch on weekends, either alfresco on the roofed patio, or in an airy dining room whose walls are lined with salvaged wood from a cotton barn in South Carolina. Upstairs is the domain of chef Antoine Ware, who knows what he's doing and likes to tell stories via food. The New Orleans native mines magic from his heritage, conjuring culinary odes to his mother's cooking, seen in such signature dishes as the savory/sweet marriage in a basil bread pudding with tomato jam, topped by bacon candy and a side of arugula ice cream. This toque is also a master of South Carolina low-country classics such a grillades and grits (smothered pork with an indulgent side billed as "Mamma's cheezie grits"). We're won over by the ambiance — Jarrett melds her own South Carolina family history of a half-century in a small-town grocery supply biz with the colorful lore of Harold's. Nodding to the building's past, she's worked with Wiesenthal's son Michael Wiesenthal to install vintage photographs of Harold's from back in the day to curate a shrine to late founding brothers Harold and Milton, while downstairs, a vintage Jarrett's sign punctuates the cafe, alongside antique train depot benches from her hometown Kingstree, South Sweet treats concocted by in-house pastry chefs Carolina. Best way to take in this new foodie haven? Happy hour, where from a second-floor perch, we recommend Harold's Gibson, Milton's Maker or, for something sans liquor, cold-brewed coffee served on tap, which taste like a cross between sarsaparilla and a dark ale. Catherine D. Anspon hile Midtown real estate continues to go through the roof, one smart gallerist has staked her claim to the action. Isabella Court anchor Kerry Inman — whose Inman Gallery was the original art tenant in 2004 — remains in her recently revamped digs but has scored a prime piece of property blocks east of Isabella, within Robert Ruello in studio at Bermac an easy stroll of neighboring DiverseWorks and convenient to the new arts complex MATCH, opening date TBD). The new Bermac Arts represents a preservation story of a 1940s-era building (which is thought to be the recycling of a much older mansion) married to a 1960s addition, both clad in signature Mies van der Rohe brick. Bermac's past tenants included namesake founders Nell A. Berleth and F.L. McNutt, Rice grads who had the novel midcentury idea of bundling business services for the new one-man office, an ahead-of-its-time concept that earned a 1954 Business Week feature. Later, the complex served as HQ for Mickey Leland's campaign for Congress — a cause supported by the de Menils. The rehab of The Bermac bunch: artist/building manager the 23,000-square-foot dual structures came in Bryan Miller, gallerist/building owner Kerry Inman, architect John Blackmon and project manager at seven figures, but Inman has brisk demand Dan Negrin of Cavalry Construction for the 30 studio spaces and exhibition space (available for short-term lease; the first tenant is the Mitchell Center next spring). Notable creatives/current and future tenants flocking to Bermac include Dario Robleto, Jillian Conrad, Eric Zimmerman, Carrithers Studio filmmakers, Brooke Stroud, Hana Hillerova and Dana Harper. Come January, the Glassell School of Art's Core Fellows will move in while they await a new home — which is perfect, given that Inman was the first dealer to show Core Program talents in-depth some 20 years ago. Catherine D. Anspon SHAU LIN HON BRENT BRUNI COMISKEY Heights General Store @ Harold's, 350 W. 19th St., 713.360.6204; heightsgeneralstore.com. ON A MISSION The Mission, 4411 Montrose Blvd., 713.874.1182; themissionprojects.com One of Chicago's most innovative galleries completes the lineup at 4411 Montrose. The Mission, which emphasizes contemporary North and South American avant-gardists, now occupies the first-floor space that recently temp-housed Lynn Goode Vintage and once served as HQ for the now-shuttered Joan Wich Gallery. But The Mission is no Midwest transplant — it's owned by Sebastian Campos, a young lion/burgeoning Evan Rottet, Sebastian collector who grew up in Houston. (His parents, Cecilia Campos and Natalia Ferreyra and Luis Campos, are founding members of the MFAH with an upended skyscraper by Susan Giles power collecting group the Latin American Maecenas; his dad is a museum trustee). Campos met gallery director Natalia Ferreyra when they worked together on Mari Carmen Ramírez's "Inverted Utopias" in 2004. Flash forward, add gallery assistant /artist Evan Rottet (whose mom is architect Lauren Rottet) plus coordinator Sarah Busch, and the team is ready to take on Houston. The Mission has already strutted its stuff at the Houston Fine Art Fair 2012 and this fall at the Texas Contemporary; artists in their stable share a clean-lined aesthetic, conceptual bent and often comment on sociopolitical topics. Best bets: Susan Giles' take on tourist architecture; Erica Bohm's haunting space imagery; naughty but nuanced nudes by Adam Gondek; Missy Weimer's critique of the American economy; and Gustavo Díaz's view of a global utopia rendered in acrylic. Up now: charged sculpture by collaborators Fernando Pareja and Leidy Chavez, alongside Díaz's latest and haunting portraits by Marcelo Grosman (through December 21). Catherine D. Anspon SHAU LIN HON PHOEBE ROURKE–GHABRIEL J. Landa, 2412 Rice Blvd., 713.807.1644; jsilverdesigns.com