A couple weeks ago, Jose and I were up late one night and he spotted a commercial on TV for the Houston Zoo’s Feast with the Beasts, a big fall fundraising event that they started in 2006. This year’s event was on Friday night. We had never heard of it but it looked like fun, so even though the tickets were a bit pricey, we decided to check it out and scooped up a couple tickets.
Turns out, Feast with the Beasts was awesome! I don’t think I’ve ever been to the Houston Zoo — if I have, it was at least a decade ago — so that in itself was fun. As soon as we walked in, we were handed our two drink tickets for use at the bar, and fifty different restaurants from all over Houston were set up in tents handing out samples of some of their best food. We certainly didn’t make it to all fifty tents, but the ones we had were quite tasty. My favorites were seafood risotto from Crapitto’s Cucina Italiana, butternut squash risotto and a cream puff from Masraff’s, and beef and mushroom empenadas from America’s — but really everything was good. Even though we were eating bite-sized portions, I was stuffed after an hour.
While we were eating, we also got to wander around the zoo and check out some of the animals. I loved the elephants, but we also got to watch both a komodo dragon and a lion enjoy their dinner (for each, dinner was a whole turkey). Around 9:30, the restaurant tents started packing up and we headed over to the stage. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was the entertainment for the evening. I used to listen to them years ago, and it was fun to hear them live. They were great.
All in all, it was a SUPER fun evening and we will definitely be going again next year.
I must apologize in advance because the photos are CRAPPY with a capital C, thanks to a combination of my point and shoot and the darkness.
The baby elephant was very entertaining as the trainers took him through his tricks.
The komodo dragon was HUGE.
Tents were set up all around the zoo.
Yum, turkey dinner.
The weirdest food item of the night — cupcakes with maple icing and a piece of BACON.
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy on the stage!
I heard the commercial on the radio for the event and it sounded like fun, but then I forgot to go on-line to get more info. Glad you both had fun! I used to love Big Bad Voodoo Daddy back in my swing dancing days. 🙂
Cool – glad you had fun. Perhaps I’ll try to go next year.
Totally sounds fun. I want to go next year now..
How come I never heard of this before? It looks awesome!
Jen — I know! And Jose only saw it on a random late-night commercial!
You guys will have to come next year for sure.