NICK’S LOCAL EATS
[left to right] MICHAEL KUSUMA, SEBASTIAN KUSUMA
SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET
NOT YOUR ORDINARY BREAKFAST/LUNCH SPOT story by Nick Rama photos by Nick Rama & Michael Kusuma Looking for an alternative to chain breakfast place in and around Spring, TX? Well look no further, because Sunny Side of the Street has a great well-rounded menu. Sunnyside of the Street, located on FM 2920 near Rhodes Rd, is clean and bright and one of the only places I will get a breakfast appetizer. Yes, a breakfast appetizer called a grilled muffin (more explanation on that later). The grilled muffin is one of the many original menu items Sunny Side has to offer. “Future Classics” like a Blueberry Custard Baked French Toast Custard-baked Italian bread, filled with cream cheese, served with blueberry compote & crème Anglaise, or a Smoked Salmon Benedict. This amazing dish consists of poached eggs served on toasted butter croissant with smoked salmon, grilled tomato & Hollandaise sauce. If breakfast is not your thing, how about a Korean BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich, which is pork shoulder, spicy Korean BBQ Sauce, Korean cabbage slaw, pickled pepper on toasted brioche bun. Or you might prefer a Cheddar-crusted Croque Monsieur, made with Canadian bacon & Gruyere on Texas toasts with a Mornay sauce, covered with melted cheddar cheese. If you’d like, you can live on
the wild side and opt for a sunny side egg on top; aka the Croque Madame. One look at this menu and I knew this was not your average breakfast/lunch place. Family owned and run by Chef Michael Kusuma and his brother Sebastian and started by them along with their uncle Tony Kusuma, who was the chef at a bed and breakfast in Maine. These three came together and created a great menu with something for just about everyone. Even my little one loves their pancakes, French toast and bacon. My personal favorite is their Eggs Benedict, which is served on a toasted croissant instead of the traditional English muffin. The nice thick piece of ham is grilled, the poached eggs and hollandaise sauce are absolute perfection every time. I always have to add a side of the home fried potatoes, which are so good. My other favorite is the house made corned beef hash, which just has a fantastic texture and is on point when the over easy eggs mix in to the potato hash and tender grilled corned beef. Some white toast to scoop it up is all you need! The differences between chain breakfast places and Sunny Side of the Street, besides
the wonderful food, is that you don’t feel rushed there. The restaurant is not as noisy as other places, so I feel relaxed and can enjoy my meal at my own pace. Sunny Side is a far cry from “cookie cutter” and once you have your first bite you will be able to tell the difference in the good quality ingredients and especially the taste. I caught up with Chef Michael for a Q & A about him and the restaurant. How long have you been open now and what are your hours of operation? We are in our third year now. We opened the doors on April 9th, 2013. We are currently are open from 7am to 2pm When designing our menu, we knew that we would like to have the traditional comfort breakfast dishes that people are familiar with, and would also like to include some items for those who are more adventurous and like to try new things. So now we have a set of our beloved breakfast items paired with several items that we change on a seasonal basis. It works because people can always expect certain things when they come in and dine with
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us, and there are also two or three dishes that are changing to keep it interesting. What are your hours and do you serve breakfast and lunch all day? We serve breakfast all day and we start serving lunch at 11. Do you make many of your menu items in house? What are some of those items? Absolutely. When possible, we always like to make things in house, that way we know exactly what goes in it. We make all the pancake, waffle, and French toast batters, buttermilk biscuits, sausage gravy, corned beef hash. We also make all of the sauces: hollandaise, mornay, basil pesto, crème anglaise, fruit sauces, mango salsa, etc. On your menu you have “Future Classics”, what is that? We like to try new stuff and experiment with foods. I think all chefs are like that. So in our menu, we have all the traditional breakfast items that people love, from pancakes, waf-
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