Backstreet Cafe

A girlfriend of mine was leaving town so I decided to take her to Backstreet Cafe for one of her "last meal" here in Houston. Like always, this place serves an amazing brunch! Their brunch drink menu consists of fresh fruit sangrias and also flavored mimosas. You can order it by the glass, half pitcher, or a full pitcher. The half pitcher costs about $20... so it does get a bit pricy, but its worth it!

We shared the Wild Berry Mimosa and the drink was infused with strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, and fresh lime juice. The drink was garnished with fresh slices of strawberries and whole blackberries in your champagne glass. Absolutely a delightful and refreshing drink! I've also tried their Watermelon Mimosa before and that was also refreshing as well.

Another concept I like about this place is how they serve you a "muffin & scone" platter while you're waiting for your food or just waiting for your guest to arrive. This platter usually consists of one chocolate muffin, one blueberry muffin, one banana-nut muffin, and 2 scones. Last year, they also served a sun-dried tomato muffin (which was yummy), but I haven't seen it lately.

Recently, I've tried two brunch entrees here. I first had the Smoked Chicken and Potato Hash. This dish was flavorful! The entree came with stripped chicken breasts cooked with bell peppers and onion, two poached eggs (however you like them cooked), 4 slices of avocado, two HUGE homemade tortillas, and topped with tomatillo sauce. The tomatillo sauce was definitely spicy (and sooooo good!). Their tortilla was so big, I had to tear it into smaller pieces to wrap the chicken in it. Overall, this entree was absolutely delish (but a bit on the heavy side).

The second entree I tried was the Brioche French Toast. Talk about yummy! You get 3 gianormous pieces of french toast with caramel sauce on the bottom of the plate and topped with fresh berries. Each piece of toast is basically two brioche bread infused together with slices of bananas. Now, the only complaint I have is, there should be more bananas! Other than that, this dish is pretty awesome. Again, a bit heavy since it is brioche (even though the bread is soooo fluffy and soft!), but french toast is only fabulous when its made with brioche bread.

What's unique about Backstreet Cafe is, it's literally located on a backstreet of Shepard. There's no parking except for valet (and sometimes the valet person would ask if you'd like your car vacuumed and such for $20). Service here is usually pretty good. They are very attention-detail oriented and will come top off your mimosas regularly (which makes you lose count of how much you've been drinking after a while...). So if you haven't been out here, you should definitely put this place as a "must try".