"Over the weekend, Midtown Houston gained a chic new pastry destination in Café Poêtes, a brand new coffee shop and eatery inspired by the poets of 19th century France. Located at the corner of West Gray and Cushing, owner Karine Favre-Massartic cites Baudelaire and Victor Hugos as influences for Café Poêtes. Favre-Massartic bought the land, and built her ideal cafe from the ground up. The architecture is all about the 19th century and romanticism, she explains of the space’s white facade, accented by custom French Serlian windows, a miniature homage to “The Orangerie” de Bagatelle in Paris, which was built in 1835. Though the menu offers typical French cafe fare such as quiche and croque monsieur, Favre-Massartic is particularly proud of her sweet and savory eclairs. Crafted with shiny ganache and embellishments such as gold flakes, the Instagram-worthy pastries come in flavors like dark chocolate. salted caramel, and “magnum,” a milk chocolate mousse with peanuts. She plans to introduce flavors like rose and lychee, vanilla and pistachio in the near future. The savory eclairs — a pastry that’s new to Houston — are also exciting. Made with choux pastry cut in half, and filled like a sandwich, there’s a pho eclair, inspired by the Vietnamese beef noodle soup, which is filled with brisket and pickled vegetables. There’s also a salmon and artichoke eclair; a tomato and mozzarella eclair; and a chicken and herb eclair. Café Poêtes is located at 122 W Gray St. and is open Tuesday through Saturday, 8am to 5pm, Sunday, 1 p.m. to 8 p.m., and is closed Monday." - Mai Pham
