The Room
Backstreet Cafe opened in 1983 — Tracy Vaught (Hugo Ortega's wife and business partner) building the room as a small American cafe in a converted 1930s house on South Shepherd. Forty-three years later the room is the longest-running dining room in River Oaks and the warmest neighbourhood-fine-dining address in the neighbourhood.
The dining room is unchanged from the 1980s renovation: hardwood floors, exposed-beam ceilings, framed photographs on the walls. The oak-shaded patio is the seat to request. The Houston Press has held Backstreet on its top-twenty list every year of operation. The Sunday brunch is one of River Oaks' most-considered weekend services.
The Food
The menu is modern American with a Texas-Hill-Country bench. The wood-grilled bavette, the seasonal Gulf snapper, the rotating pasta programme, and the wood-grilled lamb chop run as the menu's spine. The brunch programme runs an honest egg-and-bacon-and-grits American spread alongside specials that draw on Ortega's Mexican kitchen at Hugo's.
Wine programme is American with a small French bench. Cocktails run a serious classic-cocktail bench. Service is the warm, informed register a forty-three-year-old neighbourhood restaurant earns by attrition.
Best Occasion Fit
Birthday: Birthdays at Backstreet are warm, neighbourhood-American, oak-shaded affairs the room has hosted for four decades. The patio is the seat to request when the weather permits.
Proposal: The corner table on the wraparound oak-shaded patio, on a clear evening, with the staff knowing the moment is coming — Backstreet is one of Houston's most-discreet proposal venues.
First Date: The bar at Backstreet is one of River Oaks' most-enduring first-date seats. The classic-cocktail programme is the natural opener, the brunch-into-dinner format is honest, and the room's neighbourhood register reads as warm without becoming theatrical.