LUG Newsletter: Edition 4 | August 8, 2025
Houston Astros Car Show / Q-Club Gen 2 / Grand Cayman Cookout
Welcome to this week’s edition of the LUG Newsletter. I throw a first pitch with a major luxury car show at the home of the Houston Astros; play nine holes with one golf club that becomes eight clubs; and interview a collection of some of the most successful and groundbreaking chefs in America – all stories you’ll only find here.
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LUG NUTS
August brings the automotive world the annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance with the world’s elite vehicles parked on the hallowed ground of Pebble Beach Golf Links. Rumors persist that Rolls-Royce has something special planned for the Best in Show Competition based on the 100th anniversary of the automaker’s legendary Phantom.
Malbon, one of the golf apparel’s world edgier players partnered with LIV Golf to unveil an inaugural limited-edition capsule collection, debuting at LIV Golf Dallas.
If you want to check in on my other, less luxurious journalistic work, enjoy my interview as a guest on The John Phillips Show on KABC AM in Los Angeles as we discuss saving a political party – but not before sneaking in a little pro wrestling talk. I can’t be serious the entire time. That’s why I created LUG!
Byrd Golf – maker of stylish accessories for men and women – recently announced their Grateful Dead collection. They offer a set of five ball markers perfect for hippies.
The Ford Bronco is celebrating its 60th birthday this year (though it took a hiatus in the mid-90s for some reason). Fans of the mid-size SUV should keep an eye out for a new 60th anniversary package built for the most ruffled off-roading.
Wilderness, a luxury tour operator out of Africa, just announced the December opening of the Sanctuary at Bisate in Rwanda – a luxury wellness experience in the wild with a heated, salt-water indoor lap pool, steam room, ice bath, meditation pods and yoga space.
CARS: “All-Stars Car Show” with the Houston Astros at Daikin Park
There are cities across the country known for their elite car shows. The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California is probably the king amongst that crowd, but you’ll find contenders in Amelia Island, Palm Beach, La Jolla, Long Island and wherever else the rarest and most expensive cars go to hide.
The Houston Astros led their massive hometown into the car show realm this month with the “All-Stars Car Show,” and LUG got an exclusive look. Hosted at the Astros’ HQ of Daikin Park, Houston’s top collectors showed off more than 380 cars to more than 14,000 automotive enthusiasts from around Texas and, in some cases, from across the country.
For the uninitiated, these sort of shows feature more than mere supercars. They look for hypercars. The given automakers (both major and small batch companies) produce halo cars – the rarest, top of the line machines featuring the absolute top performance and highest achievements of engineering. A good number of those made their way to oil country.
Some of this era’s top hypercars on display in Houston included the Ferrari F40, Ferrari Daytona SP3, Porsche 918 Spyder and the Pagani Utopia. The latter made its U.S. debut at this Houston event.
Amongst the classic vehicles of years past on display, gearheads got a look at the Ferrari Monza SP1 and SP2, the McLaren Elva, the Aston Martin Speedster and the Aston Martin Stirling Moss.
While it’s the life’s blood of automobile lovers to behold the kind of special builds car spectaculars like the All-Stars Car Show unveil, the most important outcome of the event was a portion of proceeds went to the Astros Foundation. The $10,000 donated will support the organization’s youth baseball and softball leagues, military outreach, homeless programs, childhood cancer awareness efforts and domestic violence prevention.
GOLF: Breaking Down the Q Club Gen 2
It’s been golf travel’s Holy Grail for decades – clubs you can pack in a suitcase so you don’t have to check your entire golf bag. Designers tried sets that use a single shaft and interchangeable club heads – like any tool box’s socket set. You can find similar designs that fit in backpacks and duffle bags. They all hit the same problems of two “-ity(s)” – playability and durability. None of them were built to last.
Engaged in the pursuit to save you from having to LUG an entire set of clubs everywhere you travel, Q Golf introduced its first design more than a year ago. The Q Club (not to be confused with Aston Martin’s showroom of the same name on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan) was a single club with an extended grip and a rotating, adjustable head that clicked into multiple lofts.
From flat for a putter to hard over for a sand wedge, with a hybrid/rescue for driving and an 8/9iron for approaches available in between, the Q Club worked well for an afternoon on the short course or a stomp around your local muni where the entire bag wasn’t necessary for enjoyment’s sake.
Still, with its full length shaft, the original Q Club defiantly refused to fit in a travel bag. Its creators fixed that with the Q Club Gen 2 – the same concept, but with a specially designed connector in the middle of its redesigned shaft. Now, with a brief lefty-loosey, the Gen 2 separates into neat halves, allowing you to take it with you in everything from full-size LUGgage to a carry-on bag.
Switching between lofts during a round of golf is easy enough with a simple push and turn of the club head. Once you get a hold of the extended grip and adjust the length of the club simply by choking up or down, you can indeed play a full, fun round of golf with the Gen 2.
It’s not recommended for a serious round of golf in which you’re shooting to break a personal record or playing a difficult course with genuine championship length. Q Club makes a convenient golf club for recreational rounds.
With playability confirmed out on the course, the only remaining issue is durability. It’s early days yet for the Gen 2, so time will tell through more rounds on how well it holds up year to year. The build quality is strong with a stainless steel head, a DuraLock design and a Grade 5 titanium shaft.
I tossed mine in my Pelican case, and it follows me around the world – and that’s the point of the Q Club Gen 2.
TRAVEL: World’s Top Chefs Look to the Future at the Grand Cayman Cookout
Whether it’s a mom and pop diner in Manhattan, Kansas or a Michelin-starred Midtown hotspot, there are few businesses as challenging as running a restaurant. At a star-studded event in the Caribbean, celebrity chefs behind some of the world’s most successful and influential dining destinations gathered to celebrate their cuisine and discuss the experiences of maintaining a successful kitchen.
Hosted by the Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman, the Grand Cayman Cookout is a festive gathering of elite chefs, mixologists and sommeliers founded and organized by Chef Eric Ripert of New York’s Le Bernadin. The event gathers other celebrities from the gourmand world to offer cooking demonstrations, wine and spirits tastings and a final closing showcase of culinary masterpieces.
In addition to Ripert, attendees had the chance to enjoy the skills of master chefs such as restauranteur José Andrés; Kuame Onwuachi of New York’s Tatiana ; Enrique Olivera from Pujol in Mexico City; James Kent of Saga in New York’s Financial District; Pano Karatassos from KYMA in Atlanta; and pastry master Antonio Bachou.
The event offered a rare opportunity to explore the wisdom and experience of these top tier chefs as they considered the condition of the modern restaurant industry.
LUG: Starting with this event’s founder, what led you to found the Grand Cayman Cookout?
Chef Eric Ripert: I was drawn to the natural beauty of the Cayman Islands and the amazing local ingredients and cuisine there. When the Cookout started, it was very small. The idea of a food and wine festival came one night some two decades ago over champagne at the hotel while chatting about how beautiful the island was in January and how quiet the hotel was after the holidays.
When it first started in 2007, it was a very small three-day affair. It was just Anthony Bourdain, myself, José Andrés and two or three other chefs — and that was it. Just a couple of events and a couple of dinners. Today, that has grown quite a bit and there's a lot of talent.
There are so many varied styles and personalities of chefs in attendance. Coming from your world and your work, what did you learn or take away from the other professionals? Do you think the pros at your level often look to each other for inspiration, or is the environment more competitive?
Chef Ripert: We learn from each other. We all come from different backgrounds and have learned from different mentors throughout our careers. Therefore, we naturally learn from and teach each other. There’s no competition. It’s about being together, having a good time and learning.
Chef Olivera: To travel is to open the mind, and I’m always inspired by the unique forms of thinking and the sharing of different experiences. It’s important to spend time with people from other parts of the world, and I think that one of the best characteristics of this industry is the generosity of those who practice within it.
Chef Andrés: Every year it feels like a Mount Rushmore of amazing chefs and sommeliers. I always make sure to join as many culinary events and wine seminars as I can where I always learn something new. But, it’s also about the time we spend cooking for each other for early morning breakfasts and late night meals. One year, after all the events had finished, I built a big fire and made a paella for Eric and all our friends. It was the best paella in the history of mankind. You’ll have to take my word for it.
Chef Kent: I think events like this are always incredible. They bring chefs that normally don't work together out of their kitchens and allow them to learn from each other. I don't think anyone is guarded. Everyone is really supportive, and we all work together to make the events successful.
Chef Onwuachi: I think the attention to detail – even though we were cooking for so many people – was inspiring. It’s always cool to see people that are larger than life putting their heads down and getting the work done.
Chef Bachou: I think that creativity and inspiration come from getting to know different cultures, places, and people, but above all inspiration can come from the admiration we have for other chefs and the passion with which everyone makes this profession an art.
Chef Karatassos: Cayman Cookout attracts enormous talent, and it is an honor to cook side by side with all of them. Some were icons growing up, such as Daniel Boulud, Emeril Agasi and Jose Andreas – and still are today. Others are peers of mine that have done tremendous work, such as Clare Smyth of Core or James Kent, owner of multiple restaurants in NYC. The takeaway is simple: Bring your best because everyone else is, and the number one priority is to cook your very best and take special care of the guests.
Of course, Cayman Cookout has a long standing relationship with chefs such as Philippe Haddad or Bernard Guillas, who have participated in more than 10 Cookouts each and helped to usher in new chefs. I cooked in food and wine events across the country, such as Aspen, Telluride, Kapalua and South Beach. While they are all amazing events, nothing captures the spirit of Cayman Cookout with the camaraderie of the chefs.
Whether a venue focuses on cuisine, cocktails or wine, what do you think the future looks like for fine dining in the culinary world?
Chef Ripert: Fine Dining is in a very good position, especially to promote sustainability. We pay small farmers the right price for excellent products that are grown or raised with sustainable practices. We also support artisans that are creating tableware, glassware and other aspects of the fine dining experience. We are very optimistic.
Chef Olivera: The future is hard to predict. I recently had a conversation with Chef Andoni Luis Aduriz from Mugaritz, and we both agreed that since the future does not exist yet, we can only focus on the present. What matters here and now is pouring all our care into what we put on the table. This has never changed, and I doubt it ever will. What has changed in fine dining is that we focus less on pursuing the limelight and more on supporting the next generation of talent in our industry.
Chef Kent: There is always a time and place for people to celebrate their special moments and we'll be there to host. There are always headwinds and challenges, but we are nimble and creative people. We will figure out a way to excel.
Chef Onwuachi: I think more vast styles of cuisine will be given a seat at the table, or we will build our own table. I’m looking forward to seeing the tapestry of the world evolve in all levels of dining.
Chef Bachou: I believe that in the future, it will be wonderful as long as there is passion, discipline, effort and consistency – given that this is a demanding profession. Only those of us who have lived it fully know that how demanding it is, but, in the end, it is so rewarding to put the heart into each dish. A good table unites people and generates moments that remain engraved in our minds forever.
Chef Karatassos: It will never go away – that human spirit for chefs, restauranteurs and patrons to pursue culinary excellence and to explore the possibilities of creating incredible experiences for guests around the globe…To taste and experience flavors, techniques and service that blow them away. Fine dining will always have a place in this world, especially for those individuals or groups excited for culinary adventure.