Yeasted dough-bun stuffed with sweet fillings (cream cheese, fruit, poppy seed) or savoury klobasniky (sausage and jalapeño). The Texas-Czech immigrant breakfast turned highway staple.
Czech immigrants from Moravia settled the Texas Hill Country and Brazos Valley in the 1850s through 1880s. Their koláč (round festive bun with fruit) became the kolache. The savoury sausage-filled klobasniky is a later Texas invention, often attributed to the Czech-American Vrazel family in West, Texas in the 1950s. Through the 1980s the kolache spread along Interstate 10 and Highway 290 as a roadside-cafe staple. In Houston, Hruska's (1962, Ellinger), Weikel's Bakery (La Grange) and the Czech Stop chain turn into the commute. The pure-sweet Czech original and the Texas-Czech savoury sausage roll now coexist.
3 editor picks for Kolache in Houston, ranked by editorial score. All Houston signature dishes · Kolache across every city.
Koffeteria ★ 4.6
1110 Hutchins St, Houston, TX 77003
Koffeteria in Houston is Vanarin Kuch's EaDo pastry shop on Hutchins Street, with the beef pho kolache, the Hot Cheeto croissant and a 2024 Houston Pastry Chef of the Year nod.
Three Brothers Bakery ★ 4.5
4036 S Braeswood Blvd, Houston, TX 77025
Three Brothers Bakery in Houston is the Braeswood Boulevard Jewish bakery from the Jucker family (Polish Holocaust survivors), since 1949 in Houston with challah and pecan cake.
Kolache Shoppe ★ 4.3
3945 Richmond Ave, Houston, TX 77027
Kolache Shoppe in Houston is the Greenway Plaza Czech-Texan bakery on Richmond Avenue, with sausage-cheese klobasniky, apricot kolaches and a weekend line out the door.