The Best Mother's Day Brunches

Procrastinator's Guide to Mother's Day brunch: Top dining-out options mom will love

Taking mom out for Mother's Day? According to the National Restaurant Association, over 80 million American adults are expected to do just that. However, just like mom, not all Mother's Day menus are created equal. Here are some of our favorites:

AMERICAN

BISTRO ALEX
Highlights: Bistro Alex at CityCentre will feature a three-course, prix-fixe menu this Mother's Day — plus live jazz by Henry Darragh. Hum along to the music as you dine on items like strawberry salad, cornflakes-crusted chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits, grilled steak migas, and strawberry shortcake. Bloody Mary’s and mimosas are just $3 each.
Available: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cost per person: Prix-fixe menu is$32
Reservations: 713-827-3545

CULLEN'S AMERICAN GRILL
Highlights: If a raw seafood bar, breakfast station and an array of desserts aren't enough to make mom swoon, there's also a carving station. For that extra special touch, chocolates and fresh flowers can be delivered to your table by special arrangement.
Available: The brunch buffet is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with last seating at 4 p.m. Dinner service starts at 5 p.m. with the full menu available.
Cost per person: Brunch is$49.95 per adult, and children under 12 are $14.95.
Reservations: 281-991-2000

LINE & LARIAT
Highlights: You had me at free mimosas, and also buttermilk fried chicken and gruyere mac n cheese, poached Scottish salmon, and roast beef sirloin. But Hotel Icon’s Line & Lariat isn't stopping there, brunch also features waffle and omelet stations, assorted pastries and desserts, and a cold station with items like a raw oyster bar and gulf shrimp remoulade.
Available: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cost per person: $58 for adults, $25 for children ages 6 to 11, free for children ages 5 and under
Reservations: 832-667-4470

TRINITI RESTAURANT + BAR
Highlights: This hot spot's Mother's Day brunch menu, four-course and prix-fixe, offers delectable items such as corn and lobster bisque, monkey bread french toast, frittatas (an Italian dish made with fried beaten eggs), Guinea hen, and pistachio Genoise (a rich and delicate Italian sponge cake).
Available: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cost per person: Brunch menu is $65
Reservations: 713-527-9090

LUCILLE'S
Highlights: Lucille's a la carte brunch includes such Southern favorites as chili biscuits, pork belly and waffles, fried green tomatoes, oxtail skillet, shrimp and grits. Enjoy Bottomless mimosas or sangria for $15 per person.
Available: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cost per person: Varies
Reservations: 713-568-2505

RDG + BAR ANNIE
Highlights: So many choices on the a la carte menu, including bacon-wrapped quail, bbq gulf crab meat, scrambled egg crepes with house smoked salmon and creamy avocado salsa, and, for dessert, chocolate bread pudding, pecan pie and fresh berry cobbler.
Available: Brunch is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dinner from 5 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Cost per person: Varies
Reservations: 713-840-1111

TREVISIO
Highlights: This Texas Medical Center favorite features gigantic cold and hot buffet tables featuring smoked salmon, antipasti, cinnamon raisin French toast, Romano-crusted chicken and butternut squash risotto as well as an omelet station, roast tenderloin carving station and huge dessert table.
Available: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cost per person: $45 for adults; $16 per child 7 and above
Reservations: 713-749-0400

CAJUN/CREOLE

BRENNAN'S OF HOUSTON
Highlights: Show mom some southern hospitality at Brennan’s. Turtle soup au sherry, Gulf Coast seafood cakes & eggs, pecan-crusted mahi mahi, Breaux Bridge crawfish omelette, and Brennan's white chocolate bread pudding are all options on the Texas Creole, three-course, prix-fixe menu.
Available: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cost per person: $55 per adult and $15.95 per child
Reservations: 713-522-9711

FRENCH

L’OLIVIER RESTAURANT + BAR
Highlights: Pamper Mom this Mother’s Day with brunch at L’Olivier. On the four-course, prix-fixe menu: Butternut squash panzoti, crab cake Benedict, chicken crepes, and chocolate mousse.
Available: 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cost per person: $55
Reservations: 713-360-6313

PHILIPPE RESTAURANT + LOUNGE
Highlights: You can't go wrong taking mom to Philippe where savory brunch menu highlights include chorizo scrambled eggs for $15 and eggs Benedict with bacon or smoked salmon plus hollandaise for $16. A second menu of Chef Specials offers a roasted half lobster with crab bisque, crab meat, asparagus and arugula salad for $25 and surf and turf with braised beef short ribs, prawns a la plancha and soft potato pancakes for $36. The $9 Fraisier tart is one of several dessert options.
Available: The brunch special is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the Chef Special is from 3 p.m to 8 p.m. The regular dinner menu is available all day.
Cost per person: Varies
Reservations: 713-439-1000

INTERNATIONAL

ROYAL SONESTA HOTEL
Highlights: Mother’s Day at the Royal Sonesta Hotel is triple the fun with complimentary mimosas, live music and a special brunch menu. Enjoy fare like chilled melon gazpacho, Peruvian ceviche copa, tuna tartar on wasabi seaweed, cinnamon raisin pecan brioche French toast with blueberry compote, lobster ravioli with cognac butter sauce, tomato-crusted barramundi fillet, and crème brulee to order.
Available: 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Cost per person: $55 for adults, $45 for seniors (65+), $25 for children ages 5 to 12, and free for children under 5.
Reservations: 713-627-7600

KIRAN'S
Highlights: The Indian-Latin brunch includes a migas and waffle station, an eclectic mix of entrees ranging from free-range chili tamales to chicken tika masala and desserts including tres leches, mango mousse and brioche bread pudding. The brunch also includes bottomless mimosas.
Available: 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Cost per person: $55 per person; $25 under 12
Reservations: 713-960-8472

PESCA WORLD SEAFOOD
Highlights: Two prix-fixe menus include shrimp bisque, paella and flourless chocolate cake (brunch) and empandas de carne, crab cakes Benedict and Venezuela-style flan (breakfast). There is also an a la carte menu.
Available: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cost per person: $25 per person prix-fixe breakfast, $35 per person prix-fixe brunch. A la carte varies.
Reservations: 713-522-1330

JAPANESE/ASIAN

RA SUSHI
Highlights: Keep mom happy all day with a happy hour that goes from morning till close and offers a selection of more than 35 sushi, appetizer, and tapas items ranging from $2.25 to $7.25. For $3 to $7, choose from a variety of beer, wine, sake, and signature cocktails like Sake Sangria.
Available: 11 a.m. to close at both Houston locations
Cost per person: Varies
Reservations: RA Sushi does not accept reservations. For more information, call 713-621-5800 (Highland Village) or 713-331-2792 (CityCentre).

STRAITS ASIAN BISTRO
Highlights: It's hard to pass on the Mother's Day specials at this upscale Singaporean restaurant at CityCentre. Divine dishes ranging from $10 to $28 include ahi tuna ceviche, blue crabmeat and mango spring roll and Asian pesto-seared sea scallops with Chinese pork belly sticky rice and spicy red jalapeno curry sauce.
Available: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Cost per person: Varies
Reservations: 713-365-9922

LATIN

LATIN BITES
Highlights: Start your brunch off right with a Rocoto Porton Bloody Mary, then try items like Venezuelan cachapas (a traditional Venezuelan dish made from corn) and arepas (bread made of corn). Your mom and your wallet will enjoy the complimentary dessert of mil hojas (meaning “a thousand layers”) pastry.
Available: Brunch is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The regular menu is available from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Cost per person: Varies
Reservations: 713-229-8369

STEAKHOUSE

DEL FRISCO’S DOUBLE EAGLE STEAK HOUSE
Highlights: Banana and mascarpone stuffed French toast for $18 and steak & eggs for $26 are two of the items on Del Frisco’s festive Mother's Day brunch menu. There's also a choice of $10 kid-friendly plates like crispy chicken fingers, French toast and mini cheeseburgers.
Available: Brunch is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The regular dinner menu is available from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Cost per person: Varies
Reservations: 713-355-2600

Philippe Restaurant + Lounge

Mother's Day dining May 2013 Philippe-Upstairs dining room

Photo by Jack Thompson

Philippe Restaurant + Lounge

unspecified

he finished the job

Houston chef Tristen Epps dishes on his Top Chef victory — and what's next

Photo by David Moir/Bravo

Kristen Kish, Tristen Epps, Gail Simmons, and Tom Colicchio.

Houston has played a leading role in America’s culinary scene, but the city has never been home to a Top Chef winner — until last night. In the final episode of season 22, chef Tristen Epps earned the title and a $250,000 cash prize.

Epps secured his victory by remaining true to the Afro-Caribbean cuisine that helped him secured an impressive four Elimination Challenge wins and $35,000 in additional prize money from two Quickfire wins and as a member of the team that won the show’s signature Restaurant Wars challenge. His four-course menu took a panel of celebrity judges on a journey that also referenced the finale location of Milan, Italy.

In particular, Epps wowed the panel with his second course — Chicken “Durango” with injera shrimp toast and shellfish jus — that referenced both the Ethiopian chicken stew doro wat and the Italian dish pollo durango, a sly nod to the history of imperialism between the two countries. He finished his savory offerings with Oxtail Milanese Crepinette with Carolina Gold rice grits, curry butter, and bone marrow gremolata, which earned praised from the panel.

“Historically, we’ve been underserved oxtail,” Top Chef alum and James Beard Award winner Gregory Gourdet said during the episode. “Tristen took the time to pull it, create that beautiful, huge, maybe too big, portion of oxtail. And cover it with that gremolata. He did not forget the bone marrow. That’s very, very smart.”

Throughout Top Chef’s run, Epps has been holding a series of pop-ups devoted to everything from hot dogs to steakhouses. Now, he can turn his attention to Buboy, a tasting menu concept that will celebrate the Afro-Caribbean cuisine he championed throughout his time on the show.

CultureMap caught up with Epps on Friday morning for a brief chat about his victory and what’s next.

CultureMap: What do you remember from the day you cooked that final dinner?
Tristen Epps: It was an extreme amount of focus. A lot of writing in my notebook. I didn’t want to laugh. I didn’t want to cry or do anything except finish the job, regardless of whatever the outcome would have been. I remember wanting to call my mom. I really wanted to talk things out so I could calm myself down and stay within my focus. Once I got into cooking, I felt so much at ease. It’s my happy place. It’s my serenity.

CM: How did you feel when you saw Gregory Gourdet on the panel? Did you feel like you had an advocate in the room?
TE: I’ve cooked with gregory before, a long time ago. It was really fun. I loved what he was doing.

I felt like I had kind of an advocate. I was worried my food wold be too spicy or too overpowering [for the European chefs]. Seeing Gregory was really good, especially with what I was doing.

CM: Other chefs, including Gregory Gourdet and Houston chef Dawn Burrell, have done well on the show with Afro-Caribbean cuisine but they didn’t win. How important was it to you to finish the job and use those flavors to win the title?
TE: To me that was super important. There’s adventurous people who make phenomenal food. They’ll go once because it’s interesting, bu they’re usually skeptical. When you don’t nail it, they say, that’s why I go to the regular places that are familiar.

Finishing the job was really important to me. People have come up short on this. I wanted to get this right for everyone who’s made that step forward and created the ladder.

CM: What have your last 12 hours been like since the episode aired? Have any celebrities reached out to you?
TE: A lot of calls, a lot of good luck. A lot of everything. It’s been amazing.

A lot of past Top Chef winners reached out to me, giving me a lot of support and telling me what they did after they won.

[ESPN football commentator] Mina Kimes did, which was really cool.

CM: What are your plans for the prize money?
TE: It’s going to go to Buboy. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, it can go a little faster.

CM: You’ve been holding a series of pop-ups that range from tasting menus to hot dogs? What’s next?
TE: Part of getting the restaurant open has been introducing myself to all of Houston. These pop-ups represent my interests and my fun. They’re the things that Buboy is going to represent. It can be fun, it can be a conversation, it can be educational, it can push the limits of cuisines we know. It’s an expression of culture in whatever way I see fit that day.

The hot dog concept will probably be a separate venture, but who’s to say there’s not a hot dog at the end of that meal?

Photo by David Moir/Bravo

Kristen Kish, Tristen Epps, Gail Simmons, and Tom Colicchio.

chefs interview q&a top chef tristen epps