The Charms of Becca Cason Thrash’s Spring Luncheon

“Why is Becca (Cason Thrash) having a luncheon in a furniture store,” my friend asked only hours before the doors opened at Moxie on West Alabama. “Au contraire, mon amie,” as Hercule Poirot might have replied.

This is not Ikea. Think French. Think antiques. Think much more.

The opulent home design palace is beyond anyone’s imagination and to even consider declining an invitation would be folly. Not to mention social folly on this day when an uber chic clutch of ladies gathered for the mere pleasure of huddling in the chicest of company in the most imaginative of settings.

Room after room of the recently re-imagined emporium provided conversation, entertainment and a certain amount of lust as the ladies wandered through room after room, exclaiming over the 19th century Chinese cloisonné Fu dogs, 18th century French antiques and on and on.

With John and Becca Cason Thrash still among those displaced by Hurricane Harvey, the ever-creative Becca divined holding a luncheon for lady friends in the rich and layered surrounds of Moxie. The room, papered in palazzo scenes from the pages of Cabana magazine (the room had been constructed just weeks before for an event with Cabana founder Martina Mondadori Sartogo for Texas Design Week), set with dining tables and the extensive and colorful Cason Thrash collection of china, crystal and flatware and her own lavish tabletop creations and you had a midday fête fit for Houston royalty.

Among the ladies descending from Range Rovers, Porches, Mercedes and the occasional Bentley were Patricia Griffith of Patricia Peckinpaugh jewelry; beauty virtuoso Janet Gurwitch; and John Daugherty’s Laura Sweeney,  the city’s number one in residential real estate sales by volume. It was a pride of influential femmes.

Few among them could be more accomplished than the hostess, who has raised millions of dollars both at home and abroad, in particular more than $15 million for the Louvre. In fact, on this sad day when the roof of Paris’ famed Notre Dame cathedral collapsed in flames, Becca allowed that she had been in discussions with Notre Dame majordomos for more than a year on the possibility of her heading a fundraiser for the 800-year-old Gothic masterwork. Who knows where that stands today, though French president Emmanuel Macron has already declared that the cathedral will be rebuilt — within five years.

Cafe Annie provided the perfect ladies luncheon fare of grilled chicken paillard topped with Mexican-influenced salad and served with cheese straws. For dessert, chef Robert Del Grande, himself, made the to-die-for butter sugar cookies that were accompanied by See’s toffee-ettes. Et bien sûr, the champagne and white wine flowed.

Congenial proprietor Dennis Brackeen had never before considered opening his fantastic emporium for private parties. But, hmmmmm, there might be a possibility, if the price is right.

Lunching ladies: Karen Pulaski, Francine Ballard, Valerie Fuller, Ann Wolf, Phoebe Tudor, Vesta Frommer, Meg Goodman, Joan Schnitzer, Joanne King Herring, Sara Dodd, Greggory Burk, Diane Lokey Farb, Leslie Robinson, Duyen Nguyen, Laura Greenberg, Courtney Fertitta,  Sabiha Rehmatulla, Mia Smith, and Katherine Phelps.