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Tag: favorite

  • Best Of Houston® 2025: Best Brunch – Heights – Houston Press

    Overview:

    We choose this year’s winner of the Best Heights Brunch.

    Best Brunch – Heights: Squable

    Squable doesn’t shout about its brunch, but it doesn’t have to — the food speaks for itself. The menu runs from a cloudlike Dutch baby with maple butter to beef-fat tater tots topped with salmon roe. Fried chicken gets a spicy lemon-pepper kick, the confit egg yolk carbonara is rich and savory, and the French cheeseburger might be the best in town. Pair it with a green chile Bloody Mary or a Casablanca Carajillo and settle in. Brunch runs Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

    632 West 19th

    832-834-7362

    squabletime.com

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

    Houston Press

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  • ‘The Studio’ breaks record for comedy Emmys as ‘Adolescence’ and ‘Severance’ also score big wins

    “The Studio” made Emmy history Sunday night with its 12th trophy as the AppleTV+ movie-business romp became the winningest comedy series ever in a season.“Studio” co-creator Seth Rogen won for acting, directing and writing. Along with nine wins claimed at last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys, it broke a record set last year by “The Bear” with 11.“I could not wrap my head around this happening,” said Rogen after winning best comedy actor at the beginning of the CBS telecast. “I’ve never won anything in my life.”Rogen shared the directing Emmy with longtime collaborator and “Studio” co-creator Evan Goldberg, shared the writing Emmy with Goldberg and others. He’ll get his fourth if “The Studio” wins best comedy. The show rode blockbuster buzz into the Emmys for its breakout first season.Netflix’s acclaimed “Adolescence,” the story of a 13-year-old in Britain accused of a killing, won four Emmys in the limited series categories. Owen Cooper, who played the teen, became the youngest Emmy winner in more than 40 years with a win for best supporting actor.Cooper said in his acceptance that he was “nothing three years ago.”“It’s just so surreal,” Cooper said. “Honestly, when I started these drama classes a couple years back, I didn’t expect to be even in the United States, never mind here. So I think tonight proves that if you, if you listen and you focus and you step out your comfort zone, you can achieve anything in life.”Best supporting actress went to Erin Doherty, who played a therapist opposite Cooper in a riveting episode that like all four “Adolescence” episodes was filmed in a single shot.Cristin Milioti won best actress in a limited series for “The Penguin.” It was the first win of the night for the HBO series from the Batman universe after it won eight at the Creative Arts ceremony.Britt Lower and Tramell Tillman each won their first Emmy for “Severance,” the Apple TV+ Orwellian workplace satire that is considered the favorite for best drama. Lower won best actress in a drama and Tillman won best supporting actor in a drama.“My first acting coach was tough, y’all,” Tillman, wearing an all-white tuxedo, said from the stage. “But all great mothers are.”He looked out to his mother in the audience and told her, “You were there for me where no one else was, and no one else would show up.”His win had been widely expected but Lower’s was a surprise in a category where Kathy Bates was considered a heavy favorite, for “Matlock.”Jean Smart won best actress in a comedy for “Hacks” for the fourth time, at 73 extending her own record for the oldest woman ever to win the category.Every acting winner other than Smart was a first timer.A night of surprise winnersSmart’s castmate and constant scene partner Hannah Einbinder, who had also been nominated for all four seasons but unlike Smart had never won, took best supporting actress in a comedy.She said she had become committed to a bit where “it was cooler to lose.”“But this is cool too!” she shouted, then ended her speech by cursing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and saying “Free Palestine!”Katherine LaNasa won best supporting actress in a drama for the “The Pitt,” a surprise in a category where most expected one of the three nominees from “The White Lotus” to win.“I am so proud and honored,” LaNasa, looking emotional and shocked, said.In perhaps the biggest upset in a night full of them, Jeff Hiller won best supporting actor in a comedy for “Somebody Somewhere,” over Ike Barinholtz of “The Studio” and others.How the 2025 Emmys openedStephen Colbert was the first person to take the stage to present the award during the CBS telecast at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles despite the recent controversial cancellation of his show by the network. He was greeted by a rousing and lengthy standing ovation.“While I have your attention, is anyone hiring?” Colbert said.In an unusual show order, host Nate Bargatze delivered his opening monologue only after the first award was handed out.The show opened with a sketch where “Saturday Night Live” stars Mikey Day, Bowen Yang and James Austin Johnson joined Bargatze, who played television inventor Philo T. Farnsworth opining on what the future of TV will be like.Bargatze-as-Farnsworth mentions that there will be a Black Entertainment Television. When asked if there will be a network for white people, he replied, “Why, CBS of course.”

    “The Studio” made Emmy history Sunday night with its 12th trophy, becoming the winningest comedy series ever in a season.

    With victories for comedy acting, directing and writing Seth Rogen’s Apple TV+ movie-business romp eclipses the record of 11 set last year by “The Bear.”

    “The Studio” came into the night with nine Emmys from last weekend’s Creative Arts ceremony, making it a virtual lock to break the record. And it could keep adding to its total before the evening’s done.

    It was the third straight year the record was broken. Last year, “The Bear” – whose dramatic presence in the comedy category irked some competitors – broke its own record of 10 set the year before.

    “I could not wrap my head around this happening,” said Rogen after his win for best comedy actor, the first award of the night. “I’ve never won anything in my life.”

    Rogen shared the directing Emmy with his longtime collaborator and “Studio” co-creator Evan Goldberg, and he can still win two more before the night’s done.

    Britt Lower and Tramell Tillman took trophies for “Severance.” Lower won best actress in a drama for “Severance” and Tillman won best supporting actor in a drama. It was the first career Emmy for each.

    “My first acting coach was tough, y’all,” Tillman, wearing an all-white tuxedo, said from the stage. “But all great mothers are.”

    He looked out to his mother in the audience and told her, “You were there for me where no one else was, and no one else would show up.”

    His win had been widely expected but Lower’s was a surprise in a category where Kathy Bates was considered a heavy favorite, for “Matlock.”

    A night of surprise winners

    Jean Smart won best actress in a comedy for “Hacks” for the fourth time, at 73 extending her own record for the oldest woman ever to win the category.

    Her castmate and constant scene partner Hannah Einbinder, who had also been nominated for all four seasons but unlike Smart had never won, took best supporting actress in a comedy.

    She said she had become committed to a bit where “it was cooler to lose.”

    “But this is cool too!” she shouted, then ended her speech by cursing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and saying “Free Palestine!”

    Katherine LaNasa won best supporting actress in a drama for the “The Pitt,” a surprise in a category where most expected one of the three nominees from “The White Lotus” to win.

    “I am so proud and honored,” LaNasa, looking emotional and shocked, said.

    In perhaps the biggest upset in a night full of them, Jeff Hiller won best supporting actor in a comedy for “Somebody Somewhere,” over Ike Barinholtz of “The Studio” and others.

    How the 2025 Emmys opened

    Stephen Colbert was the first person to take the stage to present the award during the CBS telecast at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles despite the recent controversial cancellation of his show by the network. He was greeted by a rousing and lengthy standing ovation.

    “While I have your attention, is anyone hiring?” Colbert said.

    In an unusual show order, host Nate Bargatze delivered his opening monologue only after the first award was handed out.

    The show opened with a sketch where “Saturday Night Live” stars Mikey Day, Bowen Yang and James Austin Johnson joined Bargatze, who played television inventor Philo T. Farnsworth opining on what the future of TV will be like.

    Bargatze-as-Farnsworth mentions that there will be a Black Entertainment Television. When asked if there will be a network for white people, he replied, “Why, CBS of course.”

    Apple TV+ is poised to have a breakout Emmy year with the two most nominated shows, “Severance” and “The Studio,” which are the favorites to win the two biggest awards.

    What to expect from the 2025 Emmy Awards

    “The Studio,” with co-creator Rogen starring as the new head of a movie studio, came into the evening the top comedy nominee with 23 and blockbuster buzz for its breakout first season.

    “Severance,” the Orwellian office drama about people who surgically split their psyches into workplace “innies” and home “outies,” was the top overall nominee with 27 nominations for its second season. It won six at the Creative Arts ceremony and now stands at eight.

    Along with best drama — which would be a first for Apple — star Adam Scott could win his first Emmy, for best actor.

    Its top competition for best drama could be “The Pitt,” HBO’s acclaimed drama about one shift in the life of an emergency room.

    Its star Noah Wyle could be both the sentimental favorite and the actual favorite for best actor. He was nominated five times without a win for playing a young doctor on “ER” in the 1990s, and now could finally take his trophy for what is in many ways a reprise of the role.

    Later in the show, could give “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” the Emmy for best talk series for the first time as a sort of protest vote and tribute to its host.

    Many perceived the end of the show as punishment of Colbert and placation of President Donald Trump after Colbert was harshly critical of a legal settlement between the president and Paramount, which needed administration approval for a sale to Skydance Media. Executives called the decision strictly financial.

    How to watch and stream the Emmys and its red carpet

    The Emmys are airing live on CBS at 8 p.m. Eastern and 5 p.m. Pacific time.

    Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers may stream the show live. Standard Paramount+ subscribers can stream it Monday through Sept. 21.

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  • A DePaul Favorite Exits After 50 Years and Four More Restaurant Closures

    A DePaul Favorite Exits After 50 Years and Four More Restaurant Closures

    Chicago has reached the point in its annual cycle when locals suddenly recall that a four-season framework simply does not apply to this city — a place where one can identify as many as a dozen seasons in each calendar year. Temperatures are up and down; a sunny, temperate day might be immediately followed by dreary rain. It’s hard for restaurants to lure customers out of their homes when the weather is so unpredictable, exacerbating the already razor-thin margins of many local restaurants.

    Below, Eater is cataloging both temporary and permanent restaurant closures in Chicago. If you know of a restaurant, bar, or another closed food establishment, please email chicago@eater.com. We will continue to update this post.

    For winter closures, go here.

    April 2

    Kenwood: Fast-casual Chinese restaurant De Rice Asian Cuisine permanently closed in January at 918 E. 47th Street after nearly three decades in business, according to the Hyde Park Herald. Owner Francis Lee, a Hong Kong native who immigrated to Chicago in 1989, originally opened the restaurant on the city’s North Side before relocating in 2003 to work closer to his two sons, then students at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. Chicago restaurateur Racquel Fields (14 Parish Restaurant & Rhum Bar, Dawn) is slated to take over the space, but her plans are not yet public.

    Lakeview: CRMD, an Ohio-based chain of ice cream shops that wraps its sweet treats in bubbly egg waffles, has closed its sole Chicago outpost after more than a year and a half at 2951 N. Broadway. In late March, an eye-eyed Lakeview resident spotted workers moving equipment out of the space in the wee hours of the morning. The brand has two remaining locations, both in Ohio. CRMD had taken over for Bobtail Ice Cream back in 2018.

    Lincoln Park: Neighborhood sandwich shop Branko’s, a staple among DePaul University students and faculty, is closed after nearly half a century at 1118 W. Fullerton Avenue, according to Block Club Chicago. Founded in 1976 by late Yugoslavian immigrant spouses Branko Jordanovski and Jelica Jordanovska, Branko’s opted to focus on serving sandwiches that appealed to college students like Italian beef but wove in a strain of Balkan culinary culture with pickled banana peppers, tomatoes, and herbs from the family’s backyard garden. Other favorites included Balkan bean stew, gyros, and pizza puffs. Gordana Jordanovska, one of the founders’ daughters, took over the shop after her parents deaths in the early 2020s. Jordanovska tells reporters that she still hopes to keep the Branko’s name alive and is looking for a business partner to help find a path forward.

    Arlington Heights: Suburban Thai restaurant Bangkok Cafe is permanently closed at 17 N. Vail Avenue after 30 years of business, according to the Daily Herald. Owner Kim Cho, who opened the restaurant in 1994 with her six sisters, tells reporters that the closure resulted from both a downturn in dine-in business following the early years of the pandemic and a series of health issues in her family, including the death of one of her sisters, who was Bangkok Cafe’s head chef. Village officials are reportedly reviewing a proposal for a microbrewery that aims to move into the space.

    Evanston: Jennifer’s Edibles, an all-day suburban restaurant featuring American and Jamaican dishes, is permanently closed after seven years at 1623 Simpson Street in Evanston, owner Jennifer Eason announced on Facebook. Eason tells Evanston Round Table that the logistical and financial stresses of running the restaurant weighed on her for some time, so she decided not to renew her lease on the space. She’s since moved on to work in the kitchen at nearby barbecue hit Soul & Smoke, which aims to launch dine-in service this summer at its flagship location in Evanston.

    Naomi Waxman

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  • Polygon’s favorite (romantic) ships of 2023

    Polygon’s favorite (romantic) ships of 2023

    The year 2023 gave fans a standout year in sizzling romance. Baldur’s Gate 3 allowed players to fall in love — and then make love — with its sexy and eclectic band of misfits. The Resident Evil 4 remake gave Leon Kennedy a head-to-toe makeover and turned him into a bona fide internet babygirl. Outside of games, longtime fan favorite Satoru Gojo made his long-awaited reappearance in the Jujutsu Kaisen anime.

    I love it all, but sometimes the source material isn’t enough. It never hurts to add a bit of extra spice to the stories. We simply want characters to kiss each other! Sometimes… it’s just a little more fun to ship.

    Whether it’s a steamy slow-burn fanfic or sharing perfectly edited clips of characters online, shipping characters helps build out our favorite worlds in exciting ways. Ships and all that romance provide the fuel to ignite the roaring engine of fandom. So with that, we’ve decided to round up our favorite ships and romantic pairings from 2023.

    Shadowheart and Lae’zel from Baldur’s Gate 3

    Image: Larian Studios via Polygon

    If I had a nickel for every sprawling RPG with romanceable options that had a super-duper compelling sapphic enemies-to-lovers ship that was so good that I couldn’t find it in my heart to come in between the pairing with my player character, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird it happened twice.

    Anyway, Shadowheart and Lae’zel from Baldur’s Gate 3 have earned a place in my shipper’s heart right next to Miranda Lawson and Jack from Mass Effect. They have such a delicious chemistry, the sort of antagonism that comes from actually being in super similar positions but refusing to acknowledge that, because that would mean acknowledging one’s own faults and shortcomings. Also, I love a spicy knife-to-the-throat scene!!!!!! —Petrana Radulovic

    Zelda and Link from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

    Link, kneeling by Zelda, back in the present day after having defeated the Demon King Ganondorf in his dragon form

    Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

    Justice for Link and Prince Sidon shippers!!!!! Nintendo really did the Prince Sidon and Link romance dirty this year when it released Tears of the Kingdom. Apparently Sidon is not only straight, but engaged to some lady named Yona? Link didn’t even ride Sidon AT ALL. Boo! Regardless, I actually do love this game for the way it portrays such a beautiful and unending love between Link and Zelda. It was the first time that I felt like I truly understood Zelink shippers, and why I would now count myself among them. —Ana Diaz

    Leon and Luis from Resident Evil 4

    Leon looks over gently at Luis as he lights his cigarette. Maybe there’s love in his eyes.

    Image: Capcom via Polygon

    Most people playing Resident Evil 4 — either the original 2005 game or the recent remake — ship its dreamboat protagonist Leon S. Kennedy with either the looks-barely-legal-but-she’s-20-something-actually Ashley Graham or the mysterious femme fatale Ada Wong. These two women conform to the typical Madonna/whore dichotomy, and what’s more boring than that? Furthermore, Leon always seems so awkward as a person that I always saw him as a semi-closeted queer guy who swipes through Grindr on the DL. (OK, back in 2005 it was Craigslist and not Grindr, but you’re following nonetheless.) For all those reasons, I see Leon’s true love in RE4 as Luis, the flamboyant Spanish babe who even gets a few more lines of dialogue in the remake. The only problem with their relationship becoming more serious (because I can only assume they’ve hooked up) is that they won’t have enough room for each of their respective hair products in any ordinary-sized bathroom. —Maddy Myers

    Janine and Gregory from Abbott Elementary

    Janine and Gregory stand outside a bar in Abbott Elementary. They look deeply into each others eyes as they talk to each other.

    Image: ABC

    It’s no secret that Janine and Gregory are meant for each other in Abbott Elementary. Sure, this ship is predictable and maybe not that exciting! But also consider this: Both characters fucking rule.

    They’ve long been my endgame, like so many other sitcom couples — the same way we all knew Nick and Jesse were fated in New Girl, and that Chidi and Eleanor would end up together in every life in The Good Place. Since those shows ended their runs, I’d waited for another slow-burn romance to come onto the scene. Abbott’s slow burn is refreshing because it doesn’t rely on pure hijinx or plot contrivances to keep its leads apart. Janine and Gregory are both full of heart, carrying around so much (matching) baggage, and trying their best to show up for their students every day. They’re just so profoundly awkward that they struggle to read each other’s signals, and yet they keep trying — because their relationship is built on a bedrock of friendship and trust.

    This friendship also means they are excellent scene partners, whose conversations go from flirty banter to serious and consequential very fluidly. Gregory helps pull Janine back from her naive improvement projects, while she helps him gain confidence. I think often of the scene where Janine gently calls out Gregory’s office-supply store decorative classroom posters. Gregory then shares all of the drawings his students make of him; viewers realize he has no idea how beloved he is. Janine — who already knows this — helps him see it, and maybe he starts to believe it a little himself. —Nicole Clark

    Literally all of the Owl House ships (Luz and Amity, Hunter and Willow, Eda and Raine)

    An image of Eda and Raine from Owl House looking at each other. They’re standing facing each other as they grip the other’s hand and are smiling.

    Image: Disney

    I simply cannot pick one! Am I in the mood for a rivals-to-friends-to-lovers where a mean girl goes from being rude to being in love with the plucky hero? Or for a prickly guy who’s secretly super soft and a soft girl who’s secretly a badass, who are both outcasts in their own way but find solace in one another? Or a decades-long friends-to-lovers-to-exes-to-estranged-acquaintances-to-reconciled-allies, all while mutually pining for one another after their relationship fell apart all those years ago? The Owl House kept us fed. —PR

    Bronya and Seele from Honkai: Star Rail

    An image of Bronya and Seele talking in Honkai: Star Rail. Seele is is looking over at Bronya as she speaks.

    Image: Hoyoverse via Polygon

    I haven’t even played the other Honkai games, but apparently Seele and Bronya are lesbians in every universe. I literally adore these two. One is a tough punk leader of an underground grassroots organization that helps the poor, and the other is a world ruler who was originally raised to be ignorant of the cruelty of the state. It’s a match made in heaven! —AD

    Haymitch Abernathy and Effie Trinket from The Hunger Games

    Haymitch Abernathy and Effie Trinket from The Hunger Games sit close to each other. Their faces are so close they could kiss!

    Image: Lionsgate

    After I saw The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, I went on a bit of a Hunger Games bender and reread the original trilogy. And let me tell you, reading these books as an adult makes you zero in on Haymitch as the hottest character. The movie trilogy had already seeded some Effie and Haymitch in my mind, but my reread made me want to write a fic from Haymitch and Effie’s point of view, where everything is mostly the same except they’ve been secretly hooking up the whole time. —PR

    The player and Rusty from Armored Core 6

    A close-up shot of Rusty’s Steel Haze AC from Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon

    Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco

    You simply gotta respect a ship for which almost every single piece of it is something that’s been invented wholesale by the fans. Rusty and the player character in Armored Core 6 have chemistry, don’t get me wrong — but you never even see this character’s face in the game! In the mercenary hellscape of AC6’s post-apocalyptic, corporate-controlled gig economy, though, any friendly voice in your ear is enough to make you fall in love. Every single piece of fan art I’ve seen of Rusty depicts him as gorgeous. But who cares about his literal physical form! No player actually needed that, turns out, in order to believe that Rusty believes in us. —MM

    Geto and Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen

    An image of Saturo Gojo and Suguru Geto standing in a school gym in Jujutsu Kaisen season 2. The two look relaxed and happy hanging out with eachother.

    Image: Mappa/Crunchyroll

    Do you ever love your bro so much that you let it radicalize you into hating the entire human race? No? Well, this is kind-of sort-of not really what happens with SatoSugu, a popular pairing that matches the infamous Satoru Gojo with Suguru Geto in the anime and manga Jujutsu Kaisen. Their love story is one of a teenage bond gone wrong. I’m still sad they broke up, but hey, at least the Mappa is great at delivering us hot characters. —AD

    Keefe and Kelvin from The Righteous Gemstones

    Tony Cavalero, Adam Devine stand by a wall, looking at each other, ready to kiss in The Righteous Gemstones.

    Photo: Jake Giles Netter/HBO

    The best ships sneak up on you, and none more so than Kelvin and Keefe on The Righteous Gemstones. Every character on this show is such a weirdo, not only because the Gemstone family is rich (yeah, rich people are weird, I said it), but because the family business is televangelism. Kelvin is one of the three adult siblings vying to inherit his family’s megachurch mantle, but he’s so far in the closet that he had my gaydar readings going haywire for the whole first season. Super-closeted Christian adults are like this in real life, and it’s not that funny, although The Righteous Gemstones manages to make it funny, and even heartwarming as Kelvin’s reliance on his ex-Satanist BFF Keefe grows stronger and stranger. Will God forgive them? According to me, an agnostic: Yes!! —MM

    Kaveh and Alhaitham from Genshin Impact

    Kaveh and Alhaitham standing and having a conversation in a library in the game Genshin Impact. Kaveh looks frustrated as he throws his hands up as he talks to Alhaitham.

    Image: Hoyoverse via Polygon

    Sometimes the best ship is one that feels the most real. This is why I love Alhaitham and Kaveh from Genshin Impact. Together, the two act like an old bickering couple. Kaveh will make snide remarks about the decor and Alhaitham will groan like an old bear. It’s not exactly steamy or hot, but it feels stupidly domestic and entirely possible. It’s basically canon, right? —AD

    Ana Diaz

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  • Favorite Things From 2023, and a 2024 Look Ahead

    Favorite Things From 2023, and a 2024 Look Ahead

    Juliet and Amanda return for their ACTUAL last episode of 2023! The two discuss their favorite things and moments from 2023, including the Beckham docuseries and WAG culture (1:55); “the summer of women,” giving shout-outs to Greta Gerwig, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and more women later on (4:45); Lauren Sánchez’s Vogue profile; and Jeff Bezos’s future clock (8:37). Plus, a GILDED AGE SPOILER at 9:34! Then, the women discuss what they are looking forward to in 2024, including a plethora of books (14:57); a few movies, including Challengers and Civil War (21:46); the 2024 Summer Olympics and, more importantly, the celebrities that will be there (23:33); and more!

    Hosts: Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins
    Producer: Jade Whaley

    Subscribe: Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Stitcher

    Juliet Litman

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