Houston’s Best New Brunches — Restaurants That Are Upping Their Weekend Game: From Breakfast Pizza to a Bloody Mary Bar, These Spots Go All In

Everyone’s working for the weekend, which should include a long late-morning meal with boozy cocktails. Whether you’re catching up over migas, a breakfast pizza, or bananas foster French toast, or battling a hangover with a hair of the dog cocktail, the restaurants below hit the spot. From new menus at three Tex-Mex spots — one new restaurant and two long-time restaurant staples new to the brunch game — to a newly open foodie haven from a James Beard Award-winning chef and a cookbook author, we have you covered.

Here are Houston’s best new brunches:

Los Tios

4840 Beechnut

For 40 years Los Tios has been attracting a devoted crowd that appreciates its authentic, homemade Tex-Mex cuisine. The restaurant’s first-ever brunch menu comes with the expected huevos rancheros, chilaquiles and migas, an assortment of signature dishes such as the Desayuno Tex Mex plate with two cheese enchiladas topped with a fried egg, and a few unique items like the El Taco Grande, an open-faced taco loaded with potato, egg, beans, cheese and beef fajitas.

Coffee is by Houston roasting company RightSide Roasters and morning cocktails are classic, including a Tequila Sunrise. (Saturdays and Sundays, 8 am to 2 pm.)

Keep an eye out for brunch at the other Los Tios locations also, including: 14006 Memorial, 3308 Highway 6 South and 9527 Westheimer (starting later this fall).

Weights + Measures

2808 Caroline

Set in a 1950s industrial warehouse, Weights + Measures is a restaurant, lounge and bakery all rolled into one. The updated midday roster at the modern and bright Midtown spot includes chocolate chip pancakes and chilaquiles, a former daily special that lands a spot on the permanent menu. The towering dish features braised Wagyu short rib, ancho chile mole, refried black beans, queso fresco and fresh chiles, all piled between six layers of tortillas and topped with a fried egg.

Yes, you can still get perennial favorite, the Morning Cracked Egg Pizza with pancetta and basil.

The drinks to get here are the Morning Wood Cocktail made with rum, Pimms No.1, pineapple juice, orgeat and lemon juice, and Rosie’s Ranch Water with tequila, hibiscus, lime and Topo Chico. (Saturdays and Sundays, 8 am to 3 pm.)

Superica

1801 North Shepherd

From chef Ford Fry (State of Grace), this newly opened, modish Tex-Mex restaurant in The Heights puts an upscale spin on Texas favorites and reinterpreted classics. The food executed at Superica’s Atlanta locale is so buzzy already that crowds regularly line up for hours to get a taste.

At brunch, standouts include huevos rancheros with two eggs, beans, avocado, bacon, ranchero sauce and a house-made tortilla, large-as-your-plate hot cakes with whipped butter and buttermilk syrup, and pork tamales and eggs with cheese and chili gravy. Spiked juices, agua frescas, and horchata, plus Topo Chico and Mexican coke are also available. (Saturdays and Sundays, 10 am to 3 pm.)

International Smoke

800 Sorella

At International Smoke, a recently-launched restaurant attached to the Hotel Sorella, James Beard Award-winning chef Michael Mina and cookbook author (and NBA wife) Ayesha Curry create unusual brunch items you don’t see everywhere else. Try the red curry cornbread, Blue crab cakes with Thai red curry, smoked pork ribs available in three flavors: American barbecue, al pastor and Korean-sesame gochujang, or the Whole Hog Kahlua Barbecue.

Tender pit-roasted pork comes in a tortilla or Hawaiian bread roll with your choice of toppings like pineapple salsa.

At the Fuego’s Bloody Mary Bar, customize your drink with pickled vegetables, candied bacon, fresh anchovies and more. If you don’t live near CityCentre, this is a great place to start for an afternoon of exploring the mixed-use development with 20 retailers. (Sundays, 11 am to 2:30 pm.)

Spanish Village

4720 Almeda

Museum District staple Spanish Village, which has managed to keep its loyal following coming in for Tex-Mex since the early 1950s, introduces its inaugural brunch menu with dishes from strawberry rolls to tres leches French toast to puffy tacos. Two crispy shells are filled with scrambled eggs and your choice of chicken or beef fajita meat, all topped with queso.

Kickstart your morning with eye-opening cocktail, It’s Not Too Early to Party. Organic cold brew is mixed with house-made horchata and Kahlua. (Sundays, 10 am. to 2 pm.)

Fig and Olive

5115 Westheimer

The Houston outpost of restaurant chain Fig and Olive is set inside The Galleria shopping center. The chic spot attracts a fashion-conscious crowd that appreciates the quality Mediterranean menu, showcasing unique olive oils. At brunch, start with the burrata served with a trio of squash: butternut, kabocha and roasted delicata, along with l’orange vinaigrette and fresh chives, then dig into the caviar and smoked salmon poached eggs or wild mushroom rigatoni. (Saturdays and Sundays, 10 am to 4 pm).

McCormick and Schmick’s

Multiple locations

During brunch at upscale seafood and steakhouse chain McCormick and Schmick’s, take advantage of $3 mimosas and $3 bloody Marys. To eat, go for the Eggs Purgatory with grilled ciabatta bread, smoked salmon frittata, or lump crab stuffed shrimp. For something sweeter, there’s bananas foster French toast. (Saturdays and Sundays, 11 am to 3 pm.)

Batanga

908 Congress

Enjoy Latin American tapas at the downtown’s Batanga, housed in a historic space that dates back to the 1800s. At brunch, small plates of grilled octopus served with a tomato-based vinaigrette, potatoes and smoked paprika, and of braised beef cheeks with scalloped potatoes, Parmesan, béchamel and spiced chicharrones, are standouts. Go big with the $27 Brunch Beast.

The shareable breakfast platter comes with barbacoa, scrambled eggs, Argentinian sausage, tortillas and salsa roja. Mimosas and sangria are $3 each, and on Sundays (only), you can save 50 percent on select bottles of wine. (Saturdays and Sundays, 11 am to 3 p.m.)