There’s at least one food treats shop in East Aldine where you can avoid the annual autumn invasion of pumpkin spice-flavored food.
At the new Trendy Spot Nutrition Café, just about every other possible flavor is available for healthy drinks, waffles, crepes, doughnuts and refreshing teas and coffee.
The small and spotlessly clean café, at 2345 Aldine Mail Route Rd., is where proprietor Ruth Mazate offers healthy but tempting treats, earning an especially brisk business at breakfast time.
A native of Guatamela, Mazate and her husband Enrique Sanchas lived in Miami before moving to the Houston area about 10 years ago. He works for a tree-trimming company while they also have a Trendy Spot Nutrition location on Little York Road.
“When we moved here, I did not think that Texans were eating very healthy,” Mazate said about her motive for starting the new business. “In Miami, I think people eat a little bit healthier than in Houston. And, it’s very important. I want to feel healthy.”
Mazate and her husband have three daughters, and sometimes the girls help out in the café on weekends. Her oldest daughter attends the Lone Star College East Center, and her younger daughters are in middle and grade school.
They have been promoting their new shop by passing out colorful flyers in the parking lots of businesses with a health-conscious clientele.
“We think it’s good to go to the parking lot at LA Fitness,” Mazate said.
Yet her store’s nutritious food options just might be as economical as a Red Bull and flaming hot Cheetos that some high school students grab at nearby convenience stores, she added with a laugh.
The “healthy shake” options, all containing protein powder, range from cappuccino and vanilla bean to maybe more flavors than “the little creamery in Brenham.” Customers can choose from menta pistachio, blueberry muffin, banana split, strawberry cheesecake, lemon pie, s’mores, and birthday cake.
Her gluten-free protein crepes, bowls, waffles, and doughnuts can be topped with coconut, Oreo, rainbow or chocolate sprinkles, or almonds and pecans.
Mazate also offers anti-oxidant, Vitamin C-packed teas, in more varieties than Netflix has movies. The tea flavors include, but are not limited to, Pink Panther, Miami Vice, Captain America, Tiger King and Bob Marley to Skittles, Gummy Bear and Sour Patch. There’s also a simple Sunrise, Cherry Lemonade, and Cucumber Lemonade.
Mazate said her favorite energy drink is the chai tea, with mandarin. “But my favorite item is the Pralines and Cream shake,” she said.
Trendy Spot Nutrition is open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. Call 713-875-9352 for more details and see more on the Trendy Spot Nutrition page on Facebook.
— by Annne Marie Kilday