Inside My Table #64 | Restaurant listings
Brunch Time
Brunch! Do we get questions about brunch! We have devoted these listings to weekend brunch a couple times, most recently in Issue No. 52. By now you know the obvious places — Rainbow Lodge, Goode Co. Taqueria, Benjy’s, Jalapenos, Barnaby’s, La Strada, Katz’s, Mama’s Cafe, Raven Grill, Tila’s, Buffalo Grille, Merida, Fountainview Cafe, the over-the-top hotels (e.g. the St. Regis, Four Seasons, Lancaster, Omni) and the mother of all brunch restaurants, Brennan’s. Here are more other places to consider.
BABA YEGA, 2607 Grant St. at Missouri, 713-522-0042. There’s construction going on in the Baba Yega world, but we doubt it will impair your enjoyment at this Montrose classic with the otherworldly garden. Brunch buffet often includes poached salmon, omelets, waffles, chicken and veggies, all very light on sauce and oil. Vegetarian-friendly.
BANK JEAN-GEORGES, 220 Main St. at Congress in the Hotel Icon, 713-224-4266. If Sunday morning finds you downtown, you can enjoy one of the best dining-out deals we’ve recently heard off: a two-course brunch at the chichi Bank for $25. Course one choices include assorted breakfast meats, ribbons of tuna with avocado and ginger dressing, or the steamed shrimp salad; course two is just as lovely, including gruyere omelet, eggs Benedict, grilled filet with eggs or charred-corn ravioli.
BISTRO LE CEP, 11112 Westheimer at Wilcrest, 713-783-3985. Joe Mannke’s Bistro Le Cep now serves brunch on both Saturday and Sunday. (Saturday is quieter, and you can drop in without a reservation.) The two-page menu lists traditional breakfast foods, such as eggs, blintzes, French toast, etc., on the left, but we found the right-hand page of more interest. Offerings include bouillabaisse salad, liver and onions, grilled pork chop charcutiere and the oddly appealing chopped sirloin steak topped with gorgonzola.
DHARMA CAFE, 1302 Nance St. in the Warehouse District, 713-222-6996. There are only a handful of tables at this cozy little spot, where one fan describes the ambiance as “sacred and sincere.” Think Big Sur, and you might have a feeling for the funky setting with its shelf of poetry by Allen Ginsberg and books on Buddhism. The brunch menu — sort of West Coast with a French flair — includes amazing homemade scones, pancakes and waffles. Excellent mimosas.
HARRY’S, 318 Tuam at Bagby, 713-528-0198. Breakfast is served every day at Harry’s, on the weekends 7 am to 2 pm. We like the classic American-diner setting as well as a menu that allows customers to choose exactly what they want. After all, how many restaurants let you order a single pancake? Decent omelets, grits and blueberry pancakes, too.
HUGO’S, 1602 Westheimer at Mandell, 713-524-7744. Tracy Vaught and Hugo Ortega offer Sunday brunch 11 am to 3 pm, and it’s a great way to sample the menu. Brunch offerings include cochinita pibil (pork cooked in banana leaves), ceviche, chilaquiles topped with a fried egg, tamales, costillas de res en salsa verde (beef short ribs in green sauce) and an egg station. Cost is $25 per adult, $10 per child.
KIM SON, 12750 Highway 59 at The Fountains Center, Stafford, 281-242-3500. Some would argue that Kim Son serves the best dim sum in Houston, and this is a marvelous way to kick off a Saturday or Sunday. All the steamed dumplings, buns and lotus-leaf bundles are here, as well as fun noodles, congee, and the pan-fried and deep-fried dumplings.
MIA BELLA, 2006 Lexington near Shepherd, 713-523-2428. It’s lovely to sit on the patio here outside the adjacent Saffron while sipping a bottomless mimosa or bellini. Brunch is served 11 am to 3 pm, and the menu includes egg dishes (e.g. eggs florentine, eggs prosciutto), buttermilk pancakes, smoked salmon and a create-your-own-omelet-calzone-or-crepe station.
RIO RANCH, 9999 Westheimer at Briarpark in the Westchase Hilton, 713-952-5000. Comfortable ranch house setting and an appealing buffet (with omelet and waffle stations) make this a top-notch brunching spot on the west side of town. We’ve long been a fan of the limestone-and-cedar interior, but it’s the food — fresh fruit, breakfast meats, cheesy-potatoes, hot cinnamon buns — that made us semi-regulars.
SHADE, 250 West 19th St. near Yale, 713-863-7500. Claire Smith (_My Table_’s 2004 Restaurateur of the Year) and chef Jeb Stuart offer the much-lauded Shade waffle with eggs, apple-smoked bacon and berries. Magazine staffers also recommend a composed salad of chicken, stilton and green apple, fried green tomato and bacon sandwich, a Mediterranean sampler plate and grilled sirloin steak sandwich on sourdough with watercress and grilled red onions.
SPANISH FLOWERS, 4701 N. Main at Airline, 713-869-1706. The renovation is nearly complete at this Heights favorite, now celebrating a quarter century in business. We love to sit outside on the patio among the flowering plants for a Mexican breakfast of enchiladas or tacos — not that you should neglect the egg selections. As always, entrees come with a cup of complimentary soup. Freshly made tortillas arrive regularly at your table, too.
THE INN AT DOS BRISAS, 10000 Champion Dr., Washington, 979-277-7750. Reservations are required for brunch at this new inn, which just opened on 350 acres of rolling hills near Chappell Hill. Chef Carl Stephen Rynecki offers a brunch-tasting menu that might include challah French toast, seared Alaskan diver scallops, sauté of lobster claw with potato cake and grilled beef tenderloin. Expect to pay about $45 per person.
