THREE DISHES TO TRY
BY SIERRA ROZEN
Camarónes Enchilados ($19.50)
El Cubano con chicharitas ($9.99)
Shrimp is served in a Creole sauce with white rice, black beans and the choice of one side.
PHOTOS BY SIERRA ROZEN COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
The Yuca Frita conMojo ($5.50)
DINING FEATURE
The traditional Cuban sandwich contains Swiss cheese, ham, pork, mustard and pickles and is served with a side of plantain chips.
Cafe Piquet Bellaire restaurant serves traditional Cuban food with a twist W hen people step into Cafe Piquet, co-owner Cristina Benitez said she wants to invoke the feeling of instantly being
Fried yuca is topped with a garlic sauce.
The restaurant focuses on serving traditional Cuban cuisine with a few added twists, such as the ribs it serves with di erent avorings. Being able to experiment is easy, Benitez said, because the restaurant still has its original chef. “We always were very focused on maintaining the traditional Cuban recipes that [my stepfather’s parents] always had,” she said. Being one of the few Cuban restaurants in the Houston area makes it easy for Cafe Piquet to stand out, Benitez said. It also draws in Cubans who are looking for a piece of home in Texas. Benitez said she hopes to make some structural changes to the restaurant in the future, including building out an area for private parties. She said she also hopes to make a few changes to the menu, though she wants to stay as authentic as possible. “Where we kind of see the restaurant going is a little bit of that mixing of what we have always had but bringing in something a little bit newer or creating something that’s got a little bit of a di erent twist,” Benitez said.
transported to Cuba. The warm neutral colors of the architecture and the pictures of historical buildings hanging on the walls help create the e ect. The Cuban ancestry runs deep for the family that runs the eatery. The restaurant started in the 1970s as Piquet Market, a grocery store for Cuban families in the Bellaire area and was run by Benitez’s stepfather’s parents, who were Cuban natives. After the market closed down, Benitez’s stepfather and mother took over and opened the restaurant in a di erent location in 1996. The owners moved into the current Bissonnet Street location in 2006. Benitez took over co-owning the restaurant with her mother in 2007 after her stepfather died. She said she has been able to connect with customers who have dined at all of the di erent locations. “We have people who’ve been with us for decades,” she said. “It’s actually really neat, and a lot of them you’ve actually seen the families grow.”
Cristina Benitez (left) co-owns the restaurant with her mother, Nelly Piquet.
Cafe Piquet 5757 Bissonnet St., Bellaire 713-664-1031 www.cafepiquet.net Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11 a.m.- 8 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.- 10 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
BELLAIRE BLVD.
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