Ruggles Cafe Bakery

After letting these photos languish on my computer for a good two weeks, I finally decided that enough was enough. Even though I’ve got pages upon pages of funky linguistic symbols to type out and plenty of philosophy exams to yank my hair over, I cannot go any longer without telling you guys about this delicious foodie field trip on which I embarked.

Situated in Rice Village (one of my favorite areas of Houston) and nestled just beyond the neighborhood’s canopy of oak trees, Ruggles Café Bakery is a place that I have frequented many times before. The decidedly bustling street that its located on is packed to the gills with countless other shops and restaurants, with ample people watching to pass the time. The balance between everyday, healthy dishes and splurgy specialties available on their menu make for plenty of opportunities to sample new things and enjoy old favorites.

This particular time was a quick stop for takeout, but I still thought it was a trip that you guys would enjoy seeing. To start off, I made the uncharacteristic choice to go with a sandwich, which if you’ve ever seen me around any sort of chicken, tuna, egg, or potato salad, you would know is a very strange occurrence.

You would also probably reconsider our friendship to begin with.

Anyway, my choice was a surprisingly simple pairing of grilled chicken, ranch dressing, lettuce, tomato, mozzarella cheese, and applewood smoked bacon. Sandwiching these yummy fillings together was an amazing jalapeño-cheese bun that did wonders with absorbing all the juicy juiciness from the chicken, ranch, and tomato, making the bread all the more deliciously addictive. Sweet potato fries on the side and I was one happy camper.

Besides my order, I also made sure to commandeer the dishes of my famished family members for a quick snap or two.

The beleaguered protests I endured for you kids, you will never know.

There was this lovely Reuben sandwich, complete with sauerkraut and thousand island dressing. By all objective accounts, it was very good. Personally, I wasn’t a big fan, but that’s just because the taste of sauerkraut makes me want to huddle in a corner with my Snuggie and a sack full of Altoids.

This Fusilli with Shrimp was a hit for everyone, thanks to its delicious lemon cream sauce, which managed to make the pasta taste beautifully creamy and cheesy while also giving the shrimp a great punch of bright flavor.

Pulled pork sandwich, which was pretty good. Honestly, even as I type this I cannot help but be distracted by the pile of sweet potato fries resting next to it.

I seriously cannot properly articulate to you how obsessed I have been with sweet potatoes as of late.

Ah ha! I may not have opted for salad samplers, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t make it into the takeout bag. This quartet of blurry photos includes fruit salad, oh-my-gosh-how-is-this-so-creamy chicken salad, tuna salad, and Israeli couscous salad. Not pictured is a delicious potato salad as well.

Finally, I have truly saved the best for last. The crumbly, chocolate-filled delicacy that you see below is called a Snowball cookie. While waiting for the order inside Ruggles, among a huge array of noms gracing the dessert case, I clamped my gaze on a pile of these Snowball cookies and immediately added them to our order. Along with chocolate chunks, these cookies also have what I believe are chopped pecans. With a dry, crunchy exterior that brings to mind a Mexican wedding cookie and a thick, doughy interior that is almost too delicious to be true, these cookies are a dessert that will definitely keep me coming back.

I think between the close-up photos and the geeky gushing you can see that I quite enjoyed the food from Ruggles. If you ever find yourself wandering around Rice Village and feeling a bit peckish, I would definitely recommend you to give Ruggles a try.

And then bring me a big bag of Snowball cookies as a thank you.