It all started as a bistro.

The story of Houston's

American restaurant The Annie Cafe & Bar
The Annie Cafe & Bar (previously Cafe Annie) is a restaurant that serves

Texas-influenced American cuisine with a fresh take. The venue is ideal for a

business lunch, dinner, wine tasting, or cocktail party. After opening the Cafe

Annie bistro, Robert Del Grande became the city's culinary star. Learn more

about his contribution to American cuisine as well as the evolution of the

restaurant from its humble beginnings in 1980 to national acclaim at

houston1.one.

The fateful trip

One day, 26-year-old graduate student Robert Del Grande, who was studying
biochemistry at the University of California, Riverside, met his future wife,
student Mimi Kinsman, who was also a California native. After completing her
studies, Mimi relocated to Houston to work with her sister Candice and her
husband Lonnie Schiller. At the time, Lonnie ran an advertising and marketing
firm.

Candice and Lonnie spent a lot of time in Europe in the late 1970s. After
visiting Paris, they dreamed of opening their own French bistro. They
achieved that and named the establishment Cafe Annie.

In 1981, Robert came to Houston for a summer vacation to spend time with

Mimi. While helping out at the bistro, he developed an interest in cooking.

Robert read the groundbreaking book La Technique by French chef Jacques

Pepin and literally absorbed information from the cookbooks of Michelin-

starred chefs.

After some time, Del Grande returned to California to pursue a Ph. D. After 9

months, he had to decide what to do next. The man considered traveling to

Switzerland or Chicago to complete his studies in science but decided to stay

in Houston with his fiancé. A year later, he became one of the four co-owners

of Cafe Annie.

Robert and Mimi, 1984

A biochemist becoming a chef

The former chef of Cafe Annie Bistro resigned. In the course of looking for a

new employee, Robert put forward his candidacy. To do this, he had to learn a

lot. The man even met with British food journalist Diana Kennedy and read her

cookbooks about Mexican cuisine. She once said to Robert:

«Never look to Europe for what to do with an ancho chile».

Robert and American chef Julia Child, 1993

For notable food journalists and chefs who visited the city of Houston, the
restaurant has become a must-see stop. Culinary legends have visited the
restaurant, including restaurant critic Mimi Sheraton and one of the twentieth
century's most recognized chefs, Paul Bocuse.

In 1992, Del Grande was awarded the James Bird Foundation Award for Best
Chef in the Southwest. The next to be honored with this award was chef Chris
Shepherd in 2014.

The kitchen at Cafe Annie adhered to several key concepts. The first and
most crucial principle is to use only fresh ingredients. Paradoxically, the
French bistro served dishes that would not typically be found in France, with
origins in southwestern cuisine and Mexican influences.

Southwest cuisine movement

Around 1984, cookbook author Anne Lindsay Greer invited several Texas
chefs, including Del Grande, to host a dinner in Dallas and show the world a
unique perspective on Texas regional cuisine. During the first meeting at
dinner, modest dishes of this state were presented: enchiladas (a thin tortilla
made from cornmeal, in which the filling is wrapped), salsa sauce, smoked
meat with fried chicken, cookies with buttermilk, and peach pies.

All of this drew the attention of food travelers to Texas and Houston in
particular. Every major newspaper, from Bon Appétit to Gourmet, as well as
industry experts, not only spread the word but also awarded Del Grande
various awards.

From the mid-1980s to the 1990s, the food world covered the tradition of
southwestern cuisine, which is similar to Mexican cuisine but features larger
portions of meat, particularly pork and beef, and less usage of the brain and
other components. Del Grande became an active promoter of this cuisine.

Southwestern cuisine was only a trend at the time and only started attracting
its followers by marketing products and condiments in the southwestern
United States. Visitors wanted to sample southwestern flavors, while
restaurant critics wanted to cover the development of events. The movement
expanded, slowed, and eventually became mainstream.

The adjective "southwestern" is sometimes used for any food that contains
beans and corn, yet southwestern cuisine is far more complex. Inspired by the
centuries-old cuisine of the Navajo, Hopi and Pueblo peoples, as well as the
dishes of neighboring Mexico, it is as diverse as it is delicious.

Often it does include natural plant products, such as corn, beans, and
zucchini. One of the most defining elements that define southwestern cuisine
is its integration of chili peppers. The influence of Mexican cuisine, as well as
the amount of meat, adds to the variety.

Interestingly, Native American food is the source of many popular Ukrainian

goods, including potatoes, corn, tomatoes, and beans.

New location and name

In 1989, nine years after Cafe Annie was founded, four co-owners relocated it
from Westheimer to a larger space on Post Oak Boulevard. It was a venue for
significant occasions ranging from signing a major oil contract to celebrating a
wedding anniversary or birthday.

Following the relocation, most guests were drawn to the halls with tables. The
bar became an oasis to get away from all the noise. Later, Robert expanded
the bar menu to include items that can be eaten with one's hands, such as
burgers. While people in the hallways sat in their coats and ties, the bar was
slowly gaining its own atmosphere.

Subsequently, they had to move to a new location on Post Oak. Following the
relocation, the recognizable name Cafe Annie was replaced. It was first
substituted with "RDG + Bar Annie," where "RDG" represented the chef's
initials.

New owner
In 2019, Benjamin Berg's Houston-based restaurant group Berg Hospitality

Group acquired RDG + Cafe Annie, making Robert Del Grande a partner. The

restaurant's name was changed to "The Annie Cafe & Bar."

The Annie Cafe & Bar still serves Cafe Annie's distinctive dishes, including

enchiladas with mole sauce, tortilla soup with avocado seasoning and queso

cheese, quail wrapped in bacon with hot ranch sauce, wood-fired rabbit with

baked pepper and fennel, redfish on half a shell, and more.

After 2019, Del Grande continued to run the restaurant as a chef. He spent a

long time working with Ben Berg to transform Cafe Annie into the Annie Cafe

& Bar. The new restaurant contains some of Del Grande's classic dishes as

well as new flavors and recipes updated to meet the requirements of the

Instagram era.

Robert's most famous dishes include grilled rabbit, filet mignon with coffee

crust, Texas quail, and tortilla soup, while his specialties are game meat and

seafood.

In 2020, the duo opened a luxury retro evening club on Turner's premises,

which opened after the renovation of Cafe Annie. In 2022, Robert retired,
leaving behind a reputation as one of the "godfathers" of the Southwestern

cuisine movement. The chef resigned a few days before he and his wife Mimi

went to Austin to spend time with their daughter Tessa, who had given birth to

their first grandchild.