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    Best New Brunches

    Best new brunch spots: Eight restaurants that make the weekend extra special

    Eric Sandler
    Sep 23, 2015 | 10:20 am

    Summer has seen an incredible run of new restaurant openings, which also means diners have a host of new brunch options to try.

     

    Why suffer the aggravation of watching the 0-2 Texans at home or in a sports bar when you can meet friends for a bite and track fantasy stats on your phone instead? Besides, brunch means booze, and that makes the loses a little easier to handle.

     

    As always, no one is suggesting that brunch institutions like Hugo's or Brennan's are unworthy of your time. Instead, this roundup provides a few new options to consider. Our newcomers include one of downtown's hottest new arrivals, a new concept from a Woodlands-based restaurant and a recently opened Greek restaurant that's generating lots of buzz.

     

     Bovine & Barley
    The downtown craft beer spot has recently introduced brunch every Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 3 pm. The menu includes decadent fair like the "Croisaffle," which consists of bologna and cheddar cheese stuffed into a croissant that's then pressed into a waffle and topped with queso and strawberry pico.

     

    Similarly, B&B's French toast is pecan crusted, stuffed with cream cheese and strawberry filling and served with a side of candied jalapeno bacon. Wash it down with a michelada, Bloody Mary or a sparkling wine cocktail.

     

     Brick & Mortar Kitchen
    One need not be searching for a deal on a new living room set to enjoy this restaurant that's adjacent to the Gallery Furniture on the Grand Parkway. The "Texas-Southern refined" menu manifests itself in classics like barbecue shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles and a variation on the honey butter chicken biscuit that features fried chicken livers and a foie gras butter biscuit.

     

    Vegetarians have not been neglected thanks to tomato pie and a dish that combines fresh melon with Pure Luck Farms feta cheese and chile peppers. Pastry chef Efrain Roman's pastries are also worth saving room for.

     

     Ciao Bello
    Tony Vallone's casual Italian restaurant in Tanglewood is admittedly not new, but its brunch menu is. Ciao Bello seeks to build off the momentum of its participation in Houston Restaurant Weeks with a menu it's touting as "an even better deal" than what it offered during HRW.

     

    Choose two courses for $19 including corn pansotti or a meatball to start and classic eggs Benedict or chicken cannelloni as a main. Dessert is a $6 supplement, but the additional expense is offset by half price wines by the glass and $10 margherita and pepperoni pizzas.

     

     Fielding's Local Kitchen + Bar
    This restaurant in The Woodlands builds off sister concept Fielding Wood Grill's reputation as a brunch hotspot by incorporating that restaurant's signature Bloody Mary and mimosa flights.

     

    On the menu, the locally-sourced, Mediterranean-style dishes get obligatory brunch supplements like eggs Benedict, but also some more intriguing fare like breakfast pizza and blue crab salad served with a Vietnamese rice pancake.

     

     Helen
    This restaurant in Rice Village is winning raves from diners who are seeking out chef William Wright's creative blend of Greek and Texan foods. At brunch, the menus features a Greek Benedict of poached eggs, feta corn bread, Cypriot sausage and aygolemono hollandaise and semolina pancakes with grape molasses and concord bay leaf grape syrup, almonds, Greek yogurt and whipped cream.

     

    Co-owner Evan Turner has added wine cocktails to the mix like the Nemean Lion with secret ingredient Greek liqueur and Mavrodaphne (sweet red wine) and the Trojan Horse with lemon juice, pomegranate syrup and sparkling wine. Catch it Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 3 pm.

     

     La Grange
    While the Mexican coastal cantina in the former EJ's space can be absolutely packed on Friday and Saturday nights, it is considerably more relaxed at brunch. Broiled oysters, ceviche and the addicitive white queso are all shareable starters. Mains include migas, shrimp and grits and tres leches pancakes.

     

    The craft beer selection meets the standard set by sister concepts Cottonwood and Liberty Station, but it's hard to resist choosing from one of the two michelada options or a Bloody Mary.

     

     Peska
    ​At $45, the brunch menu at this upscale Galleria-area seafood is a definite splurge, but it delivers a lot of value. The market features buffet-style servings of jumbo shrimp, oysters, charcuterie and two kinds of ceviches. On the patio, chef Omar Pereney will be serving from a giant paella pan as well as black fideo pasta.

     

    Finish off with made to order items that include eggs Benedict, snapper-filled tamales and cochinita pibil. Don't worry about drinks: bottomless mimosas and sangria is included. Available Sunday from 11 am until 3:30 pm.

     

     Pour Society
    For those who want to follow the games, consider this new gastropub in the Gateway Memorial City development that sports 17 TVs. Pour Society mostly sticks to its lunch menu at brunch, but it does offer five additional dishes for those who must have eggs.

     

    Choices include a riff on English breakfast with andouille sausage and Yorkshire pudding and a chilaquiles frittata. Of course, the restaurant's 40 craft beer taps and full cocktail menu are available.

    Peska features a $45 menu that includes mimosas and sangria.

    Peska Seafood Culture Inteior
      
    Courtesy photo
    Peska features a $45 menu that includes mimosas and sangria.
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    welcome to paradise

    Veteran Houston bartender shakes up the Heights with new tropical bar

    Eric Sandler
    Jul 8, 2025 | 1:12 pm
    Berwick's Birds of Paradise bar exterior
    Photo by Eric Sandler
    Berwick's Birds of Paradise opened on July 4.

    The woman behind your favorite bartender’s favorite bar has quietly opened a new cocktail spot in the Heights. Called Berwick’s Birds of Paradise, it’s the latest project from Double Trouble owner Robin Berwick.

    Berwick tells CultureMap that she began looking for a new project about a year ago. Double Trouble, a coffee and cocktail bar that opened in late 2011, no longer required her full attention. She found an ideal space with the former La Coqueta at 2020 Studewood Street, a standalone building in a prime area of the Heights. Similar to Double Trouble, Berwick took inspiration from tropical destinations for BBOP's (pronounced “be bop”) drinks and design — with some additional flair from the only kind of bar she’s never worked at.

    “I might be embarrassed if you print this, but it’s the truth. I have bartended in just about every category of bar: restaurant bar, nightclub, dance club, strip club, dive bar, and Anvil and Poison Girl, the cocktail bars that people knew me from before Double Trouble,” she says.

    “The only place I didn’t work that I wanted to was a resort hotel bar. I never want to be responsible for running a hotel, but I wanted to open a bar that felt like it was once attached to a hotel.”

    Patrons will notice a screen printed portrait of a woman hanging on one of the bar’s walls. Berwick has decided that it depicts the mythical owner of the non-existent hotel that BBOP is attached to.

    “I don’t know her name, but she’s a little spooky and she’s blue. I just look at her and ask her what would she do,” Berwick says.

    Berwick worked with Jarred Pruitt and Eli Ashby at Houston builder Pruitt Structures to renovate the space with everything from new plumbing and HVAC systems to a vintage-inspired tile floor and an all-new ceiling treatment. The costs ran a little higher than expected, but Berwick cites her “fantastic investors” who raised the money required to build the bar she envisioned.

     Berwick's Birds of Paradise bar interior The building received a comprehensive renovation to become Berwick's Birds of Paraidse.Photo by Eric Sandler

    The cocktail menu takes a similarly tropical (not to be confused with tiki) theme. For example, the bar’s frozen cocktail is called La Bruha, after a nickname Berwick received from the tradesmen who helped renovate the bar. “It’s a riff on an El Diablo,” she explains, “Tequila, fresh lime juice, spicy ginger beer, habanero tincture, topped with a layer of elderberry liqueur. The ginger surprises people. It’s got a little punch to it.”

    Similarly, the Crocodile Tears Martini gets a little island flavor courtesy of Strange Water, a coconut water created by former Houstonian Yael Vengroff, and Grey Goose Citra vodka. “Everybody’s been saying it’s ‘dangerously drinkable,’” Berwick adds.

    BBOP’s tidy food menu is overseen by veteran Houston chef Jacob Pate, whose resume includes Coltivare, Good Dog Houston, and the recently-closed Savoir. Current offerings include chicken wings, a smash burger, and a Bikini Sandwich — similar to a Cubano, Pate gives the traditional Catalan-inspired pressed ham and cheese sandwich a Houston twist courtesy of muffaletta compound butter and tomato condiment.

    “On the horizon is a house made sausage dog that I’m excited about,” Pate writes in an email. “At Savoir, we had some fun butchery projects that I would like to build upon where it makes sense. Beyond that, the first priority is figuring out how it all fits in our small kitchen and having fun.”

    In addition to food and drinks, Berwick is working with Heights cigar bar Nice Ash to stock a humidor for BBOP. Patrons will be able to smoke a cigar on the bar’s patio. Because people will be smoking (among other reasons), BBOP is strictly 21-plus.

    The bar opened quietly on July 4. So far, its customers has been a mix of curious neighbors, Double Trouble regulars, and Berwick’s friends in the service industry. After spending so much time on renovations, she says she’s happy to focus on operating her bar.

    “I had been used to this high stress level, waiting for the bottom to drop out [during the renovations],” she says. “When the first guests came in, I relaxed. We know how to make drinks.”

    Currently, the bar is open Wednesday-Sunday from 4pm - midnight. Days of service and hours of operation will expand once additional employees have been hired.

    Berwick's Birds of Paradise bar exterior
      
    Photo by Eric Sandler
    Berwick's Birds of Paradise opened on July 4.
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