A Little Bit About Us ...

Housed in a cozy '30s-era house, Backstreet Café affords several intimate dining areas. The downstairs dining room features a large marble-top bar, intimate banquette seating and views of both the front and back patio areas. Upstairs, the restaurant has two dining rooms for brunch, lunch and dinner seating and private functions. The formerly screened-in porch is now fully enclosed is a wonderful room for everyday dining and private functions, separated from the main upstairs dining room by French doors. Both rooms feature eggplant-colored marble-faced fireplaces and offer diners a view of the front and back patios from the from the breezy crank-out casement windows.

One of Backstreet's most popular attractions is the legendary backyard. More often than not, diners opt to eat on the New Orleans-style patio under the spreading camphor tree in the midst of flowering shrubbery. Recent renovations include the Solarium on the west side, vine-covered, handcrafted trellised arbors and dramatic yet nondistracting lighting for evening dining. The patio is also heated in cooler months.

The restaurant is available for parties of all sizes and descriptions, or the catering staff can create the perfect off-site party at private homes or business. Diners can choose from a variety of suggested menus or work with the chef to create a menu especially for their function.

"Backstreet Café has come a long way since we opened in 1983," says owner Tracy Vaught. "We were primarily known as a 'watering hole' that served burgers, sandwiches and soups. But today, our kitchen and menu rival any restaurant in the city."

Vaught, now an experienced veteran in the restaurant field, owns three of Houston's most popular restaurants - Backstreet Café, Prego and Hugo's.

Click here for more on Backstreet's history.

Backstreet's "New American Bistro" fare highlights freshness and originality with a wide assortment of ingredients, from Asian noodles and Indian tandoori techniques to Native American grains and fresh seasonal vegetables – but all with a strong "American accent."

Awards & Accolades

• Tracy Vaught ~ Restaurateur of the year & Ruben Ortega ~ Pastry Chef of the Year
  2003 Houston Culinary Awards ~ My Table Magazine
• Best Wine Program/Bistro, Cooking for Wine, and Cooking with Wine - Mountain/Southwest ~ Santé Magazine’s 2002 Wine & Spirits Hospitality & Cooking Awards
• Hugo Ortega ~ Chef of the Year ~2002 Houston Culinary Awards ~ My Table Magazine
• Wine Spectator Award Of Excellence ~ 2001, 2002 & 2003
• One of Houston’s Top 10 Wine Lists ~ 2000 & 2001~ My Table Magazine
• Hugo Ortega – one of Houston’s Top Chefs, Inside Houston Magazine
• Hugo Ortega – Up-and-Coming-Chef-of-the-Year for 2000, My Table Magazine’s annual
  Houston Culinary Awards
• Hugo Ortega and Backstreet Cafe - two-time guest chef at the prestigious James Beard
  House in New York
• Houston’s Perennial Best Patio – Houston Press, My Table, Citysearch.com, et al.
• “A couple of the dishes rate as classics, among them pecan-crusted chicken in a red-bell-pepper sauce with mashed potatoes and spinach”- Texas Monthly
• “The patio draws crowds at Houston’s favorite alfresco restaurant …the food is…consistently upscale” – Texas Monthly
• “Chef Hugo Ortega… has a knack for perfecting gourmet staples…. Backstreet’s courtyard is the ideal place to enjoy the consummate urban dining experience.”
  - Houston Intown Magazine
• Backstreet Café’s tandoori chicken sandwich partakes of a mysterious chemistry that makes it more than another layered bread assemblage…it’s a sandwich bulls-eye”
  - Houston Press
• “Backstreet Café is that great Houston rarity, an al fresco spot with a view…”
  - Houston Press
• “In Houston, where restaurants come and go practically with the monthly waxing and waning of the moon, staying in business 15 years is pretty impressive”  - MSN Sidewalk
• “Backstreet Café…. it’s so enchanting we doubt if there is a nicer place to eat in Houston”
  -Houston Press
• “This charming River Oaks home-turned-bistro…features exquisite New American cuisine…under the direction of executive Chef Hugo Ortega” – WHERE Magazine
• “The atmosphere is casual, but the menu is anything but carefree…a midday appetizer of Smoked Corn Crab Cakes in citrus buerre blanc had me reaching for the bread basket to tidy the plate of the last drops of sauce” – Southern Living ~ Top Restaurants
• “There are Backstreet dishes I crave even when the weather’s foul, sauces so inviting I eat them with a spoon.”
  – Alison Cook, Houston Press
• “One of the precious few Houston dessert trays worth looking at” –
  Alison Cook, Houston Press
• “Ruben Ortega’s gorgeous and ornate (creations) are a continuing source of wonderment” –
  Alison Cook, Houston Press
• “I was knocked out by the menu of Hugo and Ruben Ortega”
  – Betty Fussell, ‘Crazy for Corn’
• “Innovative, flavorful dishes…”
  The Houston Chronicle
• “Ruben Ortega is amazing, he’s an artist…I think he’s going to be one of our leading pastry chefs ….”
  – Eddy Van Damme, HCC pastry chef instructor
• “…the Creole-mustard red wine reduction and authentically bitter collard greens that augment the grilled
  pork chops are deliciously assertive…”– Houston Business Journal
• “Backstreet Café’s Fabulous Vegetable Platter is, well, fabulous”
  – Houston Business Journal
• “The desserts…are an extra special treat” – Chocolatier Magazine
• “The patio draws crowds at Houston’s favorite alfresco restaurant” – Texas Monthly
• “Witness the spectacular cold appetizer platter.  This spread… had us fork-wrestling for the final bits” – Texas Monthly
• Houston Chronicle Best of 99’ - Backstreet Café’s  - Brown sugar, cinnamon and cream flavor Sweet Potato Gratin