If there’s one good thing that came from Hurricane Harvey, it’s that Houston Restaurant Weeks has been extended through September for some restaurants. Now is the time the food bank needs us! So for that, we BRUNCH!
PSA: Here’s how you do HRW like a boss.
Harold’s
Harold’s brunch is 10/10, but for brunch, it’s REALLY a steal. Get a sangria pitcher (white or red) or a mimosa carafe. The gumbo is AMAZING and comes with potato salad. Also the beignets are good too! For your second course, the Big Nasty Biscuit is an absolute treat, but I went with the Big Damn Breakfast and SPOILER it was huge.
Tony Mandola’s
Tony Mandola’s is a delightful little spot I had no clue I lived five minutes away from. The first course was salmon bagel bites for me, which was the perfect amount. My roommate got the nutella donut bites, which were absolute scrumptious. For round two, I got the donut breakfast sandwich things. It was literally a donut sliced in half with so much meat in it: Egg, ham, bacon, two sausage patties. TIMES TWO. Plus delicious potatoes. My cholesterol is higher for it, but worth it? (I literally made three meals out of this.)
La Table
I’ve been to La Table before, but never to eat a meal. It’s an adorable place for an event or a little happy hour. Turns out, it’s also good for a picture-perfect brunch. The HRW menu is pretty limited. I don’t like avocado, but the avocado cucumber salad looked scrumptious even to me. Also it was a shit ton of avocado, so they do not skimp… I got the gazpacho (cold soup) and the coolest thing about it is they gave me this little bowl of stuff and I was panicked, like “wtf did I just order?! the world’s smallest salad?!” then they poured the tomato “soup” in. I couldn’t get over the cold part. Felt like I was eating salsa without chips or I desperately needed to microwave my soup. Hard pass.
For the main course, we went with the Frenchest things this French restaurant could offer: Eggs Benedict and French Toast. The Eggs Benedict were honestly amazing. I loved that the ham was all sliced up, made it easier to eat. The French Toast was amazing but the syrup was too sweet, so I kind of wished I hadn’t poured it all over. In general, avocado salad aside, I thought the portions were kinda sucky small, but with HRW and the two courses, I was sufficiently well fed!
Bonus: Ouisie’s Table
PSA: We went to Ouisie’s Table a couple years back, but praised be, the Houston staple is still on the HRW radar. A couple of our favorites are still on the menu: The Eggs Benedict (a classic) made the cut this year as did the AMAZING crab cakes. That should be your first course, without a doubt.
Honorable mentions