Israeli Michal Ravid-Avraham and her husband moved to Houston from Detroit. “Houston is a great place, but when we first moved here six years ago, I was a little disappointed at some of the food. I couldn’t find a good coffee and a real croissant,” she says. So she decided to open her own European-style bakery and coffee shop, Aroma Classique (3953 Richmond, 713-599-1119). “We use only organic coffee beans that are selected especially for us,” says Ravid-Avraham. “We bake everything on the premises — all of our bread, pastries and cookies.”
Ravid-Avraham says the Aroma All Day Power Breakfast — two eggs any style with a Mediterranean salad of mixed greens, cucumbers, tomatoes and olives — has been an instant bestseller. We tried the grilled halumi cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread. It was a wonderful discovery, not just for the gooey cheese but for the bread. The bread’s thin exterior was so crusty it was almost crispy, and its dense interior was like biting into cotton wool, it was so soft. It was the absolute perfect bread for sandwiches. The espresso was made with loving care, with every last drop of coffee essence slowly extracted from the richly flavored beans. A small rugelach, a Jewish pastry, was the perfect end to our meal at this exquisite little bakery.
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This article appears in Sep 16-22, 2010.