What sets apart this Casa Bakery & Restaurant are not the overwhelming number of online reviews, but the history of a woman who just so happened to take charge of a restaurant after what she thought was a closing door in her life.
This Mexican restaurant sits near Hogan and Fulton Street, less than a mile from the UHD (University of Houston Downtown) campus. While it is, perhaps, overlooked, Casa Bakery & Restaurant makes up for it through its food, comfort, and hospitality.
I had the pleasure to sit down with the woman in charge, Austreberta Cordova, better known as Berta to those around her. I quickly found out how much work and dedication she has poured into this restaurant.
There is a lot of planning behind managing a restaurant and making sure operations are run smoothly. Despite all the distinct roles she plays — whether going for a morning restock of sugar, training new cooks, or dealing with bookkeeping the finances — Berta likes to credit her mother and childhood upbringing with her love of cooking. She mentions how it is never a lot of work to her as it is something she enjoys doing. However, everything else that comes with it, such as paying the bills, hiring staff, and keeping up with costs during economic difficulties, can be hard to navigate.
At times, Berta finds herself struggling to separate the restaurant from everything else going on in her life, such as church, home, and having a small side business creating artisanal gelatin. We often hear the term work-life balance, and although the restaurant takes up so much of her time, she still has multiple outlets to keep her grounded. Although she has her hands full, when the restaurant is slow or there is downtime, she takes up knitting to relax.
Berta emphasizes that if you enjoy something so much, then you cannot get tired of it. Burnt out and overworked, Berta closed the doors of a former restaurant back in 2012 and stepped away from the industry until last year in 2023 when her husband decided to rent out the current Casa Bakery & Restaurant from the previous owner under a five-year contract. While she is uncertain whether they will sell or renew the lease, Berta says with an obvious sense of relief that she remains open to either direction.
The food Berta creates at Casa Bakery & Restaurant is representative of different states in Mexico. Options include well-known dishes like quesadillas, tortas, and tacos. Berta, who is from San Luis Potosí, brings her influence to lesser-known plates like enchiladas potosinas (which I had) and enchiladas rioverdenses. I cannot forget about the caldos, menudos, and, of course, the mole. The latter is made in-house and authentically with 20+ ingredients and a long cooking process that Berta emphasizes “you don’t want to rush.”
So how does a small, intimate restaurant like Berta’s give back to the community? During both the Derecho storm and Hurricane Beryl, Casa Bakery & Restaurant kept the lights on and the doors open. They were fortunate enough to not lose power as many other businesses around them did. Berta recalls how she didn’t have power at home and decided to go to the restaurant with her daughter and grandsons to have a meal together and enjoy the air-conditioned space. This trickled down to other people who had the same idea. Even though Casa Bakery & Restaurant was short-staffed, Berta was in the kitchen making food for everyone as customers patiently waited, sipping on their coffees and conversing with each other. It was clear that Casa Bakery & Restaurant brought people together through food. Seeing how busy they were, Berta also learned how to prepare for the next time something similar occurs. She noted how to better prepare certain foods and have a limited menu so that customers don’t have to wait too long for their meals next time. You can tell how much passion and dedication Berta has for serving others.
“Is this the path chosen for you?” I ask. Berta nods warmly, “The restaurant chose me. I didn’t choose it.”
As we enter the cooler season and find ways to keep warm, Casa Bakery & Restaurant has its bases covered. Tamales, hot chocolate, and champurrado (warm Mexican atole beverage) come into play. Fall and winter also bring more customers, for a mix of reasons, whether they want to keep warm or find a cozy place to spend time with friends and family. After opening at 6 a.m., the restaurant is often busy in the mornings as it is a convenient place for workers to stop by to have some coffee and either sit down to have breakfast or take some pan dulce to go.
Located so close to the UHD campus and North of Downtown Houston, Casa Bakery & Restaurant is small but ever-present in blending their culture with caring for their community.
I look forward to what the future has in store not just for Casa Bakery & Restaurant but for Berta as well. I’ll also make sure to get some tamales when the timing is right as I do not want to miss out.