Round Top Goes Global For a True Designer Dinner: Major Talents Take Over The Halles

It was not your regular Sunday night supper in Round Top. No down-home food here, as The Halles looked East, far East in fact for its inaugural Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner.

Adding energy to this spring at The Halles — PaperCity’s mini version of Texas Design Week in the country — acclaimed AD 100 home-decor talents architect Bobby McAlpine and designer Suzanne Kasler, both in from Atlanta, headlined this evening as guests of honor at The Halles, in advance of their talks and book signings the next day.

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Suzanne Kasler, Bobby McAlpine at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Linda Plant, Bobby McAlpine at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Jose Veliz, Annie Miranda-Sommer, Kasey Massey & Mayor Mark Massey at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

With Benjamin Moore, McAlpine, and Kasler on the bill (she, also a Benjamin Moore design ambassador), a bevy of brands stepped up as Texas Proud sponsors: Linda Plant Realtor, ELLIO Fine Art, Elegant Additions and Thorntree.

The Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner also saluted the Colors of Round Top, a concept created by Houston designer Mary Lambrakos in 2021, who was in the design-focused crowd.

A Fare Extraordinaire returned to create its signature showtime dinner, this time manifesting a French-Vietnamese culinary outlook. Cocktail hour fueled by Grey Goose Vodka flowed into the three-course seated-dinner menu designed by A Fare Extraordinaire executive chef Ryan Bouillet: first-course ahi tuna tartare segued into miso-glazed black cod, with the dessert-course finale chocolate-ginger mandarin cake, each dish accompanied by wine pairings. The epicurean food was served amidst a beautiful tablescape devised by AFE, with flowers that bowed to the bucolic beauty of Texas from Houston’s Maxit Flower Design. Singer/songwriter Kristina Murray, in from Nashville — known for her recent album Southern Ambrosia — performed.

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A Fare Extraordinaire curated The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner. (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Anticipating guests’ arrival at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Awaiting the sumptuous French-Vietnamese feast prepared by A Fare Extraordinaire at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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The bucolic scene at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner. Yigal Ozeri’s canvas from ELLIO Fine Art. (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

An unexpected touch, which paid ode to the global notes of this dinner was the Houston-based dance troupe Lee’s Golden Dragon, which performed a traditional Chinese lion dance, an art form that dates back 2,000 years.

See cinematic moments from the Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner here. Videography by Brian Nguyen, enMotion films.

Adding a visual component, Texas Proud sponsor ELLIO Fine Art curated a show from its stable on view throughout The Halles with works spanning Texas to United States and European talents including painters Yigal Ozeri, LaMonté French, Bruce Brainard, Eric Peters, Leslie Parke and Joan Steinman, and sculpture from Tara Conley, John Christensen, James Perry, Ender Martos and Jeffery Brosk. Houston sculptor Tara Conley — who’s done projects in Round Top for The Farm at Wellville — was in the crowd, to converse with collectors about her lyrical permutations in steel.

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Good fortune arrives in Round Top, courtesy Lee’s Golden Dragon at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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JanMarie Yancovich, Jose Veliz, Annie Miranda-Sommer with lions at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Carren Wayland, Melissa Roberts, Linda Plant at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Catherine D. Anspon, DUAL admire a fierce feline at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

The final flourish of this night was also about doing good. A portion of ticket proceeds went to the nonprofit Fayette Community Foundation, which supports local arts, culture, social welfare, mental health, conservation and scholarship in  the Round Top area and surrounding communities of this unique and charming part of rural Texas. 

And the takeaways in the coveted goody box that each guest received as a parting gift: selections from MyDrinkBomb, a Grey Goose Vodka mini bottle, Mon Cheri Macarons, a bag of Vietnamese specialty VNILLA Philanthropic Coffee, perfectly paired with individually boxed Vietnamese Coffee cupcakes from Crave, all which made for a sweet adieu.

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Grey Goose Vodka fueled the cocktail hour at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner. (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Goody box for the lucky guests at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Crave cupcakes made for a sweet finale at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

RT Seen: Round Top’s first couple, Mayor Mark Massey and Kasey Massey; team Benjamin Moore including Jose Veliz in from the New York area who heads ADR for the iconic paint company, Houston-headquartered Annie Miranda-Sommer, and Dallas-based JanMarie Yancovich; Realtor Linda Plant, seen chatting with Bobby McAlpine; in from Dallas Zoe Bonnette, who’s getting to be a Round Top regular along with Doniphan Moore, Tanner Moussa, and Michelle Moussa; OKA’s Brenda Houston and Aran Winterbottom; Halles exhibitor, lady of minerals Verona Disdier of Pierre Verona; ELLIO Fine Art’s Trish Matute, Brian Freeze, Harwood Taylor, and Abigale Rigamonti; a cache of designers and the design-minded including Casa Branca’s Andrew Uihlein and Georgia McElveen, Catherine Giuffre with Emily Carrere (showing at Marburger), Megan Hotze, Austin-based Melinda and John Thomas James, and in from East Hampton, Chesie Breen; and Houston talent, DUAL, who live-painted the fuselage of a plane for show-goers at The Halles, presented by Reeves Art + Design gallery, Houston.

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Melissa Roberts, Carren Wayland, Chesie Breen at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Andrew Uihlein & Georgia McElveen at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Juan Vazquez, Jenna McPhail, Dennis Brackeen at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Artist Tara Conley, ELLIO Fine Art’s Harwood Taylor, Trish Matute, Abigale Rigamonti, and Brian Freeze at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Michelle Moussa, Zoe Bonnette at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Amy Martin, Raven Labatt at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Abigale Rigamonti makes a new friend at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner. (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Emily Carrere, Catherine Giuffre at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Bambi A’Lynn Bratton & David Bratton at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Tanner Moussa, Chesie Breen, Doniphan Moore at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Adriana Estrada, Verona Disdier at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Eloisa Flores, Brooke Drake at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Holland Geibel, Zuzi Calk, Ben Kastleman at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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John Thomas James & Melinda James at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Kathryn Smith, Mary Lambrakos, Christina Sacco at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Mary Patton, Sal Montes at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Megan Hotze, Mary Lambrakos at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Sissy Lappin, Susan Boss at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Kristin Mullen, Grace Randall, Kate Menefee, Janelle Patton, Ali Ames at The Halles Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)

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Dancing with the lions at the Benjamin Moore Designer Dinner (Photo by Jordan Geibel)