Backstreet Café has hardly changed in nearly thirty years—and we love it for that. While most unchanging relics of bygone food trends are left in the dust by kitchens craning their necks ever further towards molecular biology, unlikely fusions, and uncharted territory, this lovely River Oaks restaurant contents itself with being a haven of reliability. The one area where it refreshes itself, thankfully, is in its beverage program, which is earnest, experienced, and enthusiastic. You can here discover unmarketed wine-producing regions, as well as the unsung older styles of unfortunately overhyped regions—all astutely paired with your meal. Cocktails are carefully made and traverse the classic and creative (bet you wouldn’t expect to find excellent German beers in bottle, either).

There’s a surprising, fetching assortment of vegetarian dishes involving roasted and grilled preps of mostly seasonal vegetables, served with hearty and well-executed grains. Fish is also cooked and plated judiciously. Some classic Euro plates are solid, like butternut squash ravioli with sage brown butter, or mussels with chorizo. We bring visitors for the straight-ahead Southern stuff, like fried-green-tomato salad with blue cheese and pecans; crispy bacon-wrapped quail with jalapeño cheese grits; or spicy grilled shrimp over stone-ground cheese grits. We also recommend the delicious hashes and Benedicts at brunch, which, in the gracious garden with a brandy milk, is one of Houston’s finest Sunday past times.