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Beyond Downtown • Food & Drink • Living

Indulge Your Palette at Brasserie

by ShelRoth  •  December 3, 2021

Common Bond’s flagship restaurant offers something for everyone.

Common Bond has long been one of Houston’s most beloved bakeries, calling patrons from near and far to their original Montrose location for weekday lunches and weekend brunches. They’re known for their gorgeous cakes and melt-in-your mouth croissants, but their latest expansion takes the Common Bond experience to a whole new level.

Enter: Common Bond Brasserie & Bakery.
Their new flagship location, a 5,000 square-foot space at street level inside the sleek Bank of America Tower, is truly a feast for the eyes. The interior is filled with velvet textures in their signature jewel-toned palette—emerald and magenta—creating a decadent atmosphere, lavish in every aspect. But don’t be fooled by the richness of the decor, Common Bond Brasserie is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between—offering dishes at all price points, including a rather affordable dinner menu that’s unique to this location.

Unlike any of their other locations, the Downtown flagship is part bakery and part sophisticated full-service dining restaurant, serving up French classics like coq a vin and steak frites, as well as southern staples like biscuits and gravy and shrimp and grits. In true Houston fashion, the dinner menu includes two seafood tower options, feeding anywhere from two to four people.

We love a dinner menu with sharable sides, and truth be told, we had every single one. From their classic crispy brussels sprouts to the unique chicken fried cauliflower, there’s a side for everyone at the table to enjoy. In fact, we recommend a tapas-style dinner, ordering each side and sharing among one another. Because choosing between baked ricotta gnudi and spinach and artichoke pot pie just isn’t possible.

Dinner at the Brasserie is an experience and is the perfect spot before a show in the Theater District, for date night, or an early dinner with coworkers.

The rumblings of a Downtown location first popped up in early 2020. As the world changed, so did Common Bond’s plan for the Brasserie. The location hosted several pop-ups at the counter space toward the end of 2020 but held off on opening for full-service until this past September.

“It was worth the wait,” says George Joseph, CEO of Common Bond. “We are thrilled to open our first and only full-service concept and begin connecting with the residents, tourists and businesses in Downtown Houston. We hope that it becomes a gathering place for the residents, theatergoers and commuters alike.”

GRAB & GO
Adjacent to the Brasserie is Common Bond’s grab and go counter and coffee bar, which serves up a number of caffeinated drinks throughout the day. Here you’ll find all of their pastries, displayed beautifully behind a glass counter, as well as several of their standard lunch plates packaged for easy pickup. We’ve become frequent patrons of this counter space, picking up their spicy chicken bánh mi salad and a brown butter chocolate chip cookie while on the run.

CAKES & MORE
We can’t imagine Common Bond without their beautiful array of cakes, macarons and fresh-baked bread, all of which are available at the Downtown location. Swing by on a weekday morning and you’ll find their cases stocked with treats for any occasion—looking for an office birthday cake? Common Bond has you covered. A mid-day macaron? Check. Pastry chef David Berg is truly one of Common Bond’s greatest assets and we’re thankful his works of art are now within reach of our neighborhood. One of the most unique offerings has to be the Opera Cake—a sponge cake layered with espresso buttercream and chocolate ganache—created as a “pick me up” for patrons of the opera, or more relatable, for those long workdays where you need an extra kick of caffeine.

WINE, YES
The Brasserie’s wine selection is one of the most unique we’ve come across in our neck of the woods. Here you’ll find a variety of incredible wines from across the globe, at price points usually reserved at a premium. The reason? An eight-bottle wine preservation and dispenser system. Patrons can taste wines from labels like Caymus, Duckhorn, Kosta Browne and DuMOL, in 1-, 3- or 5-ounce pours, dispensed from a nomadic wine system that stores each wine at the proper temperature using nitrogen. Another worthy mention—the frose machine, which will undoubtedly be our favorite summer afternoon treat (frose Fridays, anyone?!).