There’s nothing that excites me more than when one of my favorite spots rolls out a new menu offering their guests Brunch. Brunch happens to be my favorite meal of the day in addition to breakfast, lunch, my 3 pm snack, dinner and dessert.
Bovine & Barley – Downtown Houston’s go to beer stop, has just added brunch to their list of awesome things. I visited for a private Advisory board meeting where our group was treated to a couple of customer favorites.
Everything came out so fast we quickly had to make room for the HUGE servings of Stuffed French Toast ($10). Pecan crusted Texas toast, stuffed with cream cheese and fresh strawberry filling, accompanied with fresh sliced strawberries and candied jalapeño a.k.a “hashtag” bacon…doesn’t it look like hashtag! Let’s just start by saying that this is anything but your momma’s plain jane french toast. The pecan crusted toast was like fluffy pillows of carb filled goodness. I originally thought it was just cream cheese but when I bit into it and tasted the ooey-goey strawberry filling and fresh strawberries I was in diabetes heaven. The bacon was simply icing on the cake. Crispy, crunchy perfection. I had no idea it was jalepeno bacon, possibly because I kept mixing it in with the strawberry filling and powered sugar. My fingers were sticky…
Any beer snob will tell you that Bovine & Barley is a craft beer lovers paradise which is why I assume most of their brunch items are in the form of sandwiches. The bread is necessary to soak up all the fun. Certainly the only reason for something as delicious as the Bovine Cheese Melt ($9). Katsu fried cheese sticks with chopped brisket inside, sandwiched between two pieces of crispy, buttery Texas toast and cheddar cheese. Chef Wong then had the nerve to top it with a fried egg (he really does the most!).
To make this dish even more brunch worthy, this little lady is accompanied with house made tomato soup. Perfect for the winter weather. I saw the soup but honestly, with all these other mouth watering menu choices it was the last thing I was trying to fight the others for! I will have to back for my own helping.
In addition to the giant onion rings that are literally the size of my head we tried their Quesadilla Waffle ($6). Melted Swiss and cheddar cheese in three layers of tortillas that are waffle pressed and topped off with Parmesan cheese and cilantro accompanied with a strawberry salsa. It was a total combo of savory and sweet. I would have never thought to pair strawberries with cheese or meat for that matter but it worked.
If you haven’t visited what are you waiting on?
The downtown craft beer spot serves brunch every Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 3 pm.
