November Office Hours @ CRAVE Cupcakes

So THIS is what people (who wake up and leave their house) do in the early morning hours on a Saturday.
As the lone attending representative of the We’re Sleeping In, Because It’s an Effing Saturday Club — Spirits and Wine Division, I was thoroughly shocked and amazed at how early 9 AM is on a Saturday morning. Yeesh. The only thing that really kept me going was the promise of an Italian Cream cupcake and Earl Grey Tea.
Boy, were they worth the torture I went through to force myself out of bed on that exceptionally cold morning!
The cupcake was devoured in a matter of minutes. I certainly wasn’t uncouth in my eating of said cupcake, but I also wasn’t one of the DORKS eating my cupcake with a knife and fork. Dorks. If you were one of the people who ate theirs with plastic utensils, yes, I am referring to you. Yes! You… and you. And you and you and you. (I’d type out «you» ten plus times, but I think you get the idea.)
My tea was fantastic. Paper filter, yes, but it wasn’t as bad as most paper filter brands. Also, I left the bag in until my tea had the breadth of a coffee with two and a half shots of espresso. I was ready to bounce off the walls when I ventured out for late morning farmer’s market shopping.
Farrah, thanks for making this early morning kick start possible. Crave, thanks for the cupcake and carrying a nice brand of Earl Grey. Edgar, thanks for unknowingly running interception between me and the Zucchini muffin/​cupcake. It did look pretty awesome.

I am hilariously known as the «Cupcake Guy» (courtesy of the ROTD of the Uptown location) by most of my law firm, so of course the offer of a free cupcake and a chance to check out the new store would grab my attention so much so that I actually woke up early enough to make it in before the crowd dispersed on a bright and shiny Saturday morning.
Crave basically has the «we are gangsta’ and we know it» ego going for it. The see-​through-​glass in the store, the ability to see literally everything that is going on in the store is a testament to how awesome they are — and they want you to know it too when you mosey in off the street jonesing for your sixth sugar fix of the day.
Unlike the Uptown location where the line curves around the entire interior of the store, mostly precluding a sit-​down-​and-​eat situation from occurring in the store (you have to take it outside to the tables or get frosting on your short-​throw shifter as you eat huddled in your car) this one has a large table-​ish area to sit down and chill (the entire Unilocal group fit in the area — that’s how much bigger it is than at Uptown) plus in addition to the table there is a «bar area» so you can pretend like it’s not a pumpkin cupcake, instead its a bottle of scotch! No? Okay, my imagination is not that good at 9:45am either. And then there is the trash area where there is some pretty nice standing room if you want to just chill out and chug a bottle of Dr. Pepper or something. What? People do that.
The cupcakes are baller. This is the first time I went with a pumpkin — it is my favorite flavor of everything from coffee to candles, so it was just time to finally try it instead of going with the old ball and chain Red Velvet. The pumpkin was tasty, it was moist, the frosting was ten times better than it needed to be. To round out the cupcakes, coffee was not really wanted and the dude behind the counter [who based on the reviews, I am guessing is Brad] was cool enough to substitute anything they had in the refrigerator — including the mystical highly sought after Dublin Dr. Pepper. Okay … maybe not mystical, just six different shades of awesome and somewhat hard to obtain regularly.
I used to live right here *points* and I have spent a lot of time eating at the Chipotle next door, so this is a pretty awesome addition to an area I like and still spend a fair bit of time in.
Farrah did an awesome job setting this up and making everything run smoothly. Brad did an awesome job running a tight ship. It was a pretty awesome Saturday morning.
I need one more rap reference so here it goes: if you would permit Crave Cupcakes as a business entity to be seen as feminine (a form of synaesthesia making the word Crave appear as feminine) then the new location is the five star chick that Yo Gotti was rapping about.
You didn’t think it was possible to pair this much rap music pop culture references with elite gourmet cupcakes, did you? Well I did.

CRAVE, you sure know how to charm a lady. Not only do you smooth talk your way into my life via the sweet cupcake kisses on my lips — and late night visits into my dreams — but now, lattes.
The new West U location of CRAVE invited Unilocalers out to a small tasting, and who would of thought 20 Unilocalers would peel themselves out of bed at 9am just to taste cupcakes and cupcake lattes.
I’m a sucker for the red velvet, but I attempted a «healthier» route with the breakfast cupcake, the cranberry almond. Delish. (And yes, Gretchen, I ate my cupcake with my hands — no fork or knife, and certainly no napkin. I gotta lick that deliciousness off my fingers, yo.)
Best of all, for me, was my Cupcake Latte. Funny thing is that I first thought these would be latte-​flavored cupcakes. WRONG. They’re cupcake-​flavored lattes. There’s a difference, and I’m sold. They come in different flavors, and since I’m half-​Latin, I couldn’t resist the Dulce De Leche cupcake latte. To my surprise, it wasn’t as sweet as I thought it’d be — and I am not a huge sugar-​gal. I’m more into savory. The latte is actually sweetened with cupcake frosting and other flavorings, and considering CRAVE is known for their natural, made-​from-​scratch ingredients, I can only hope that this is healthier than mixing in your average sweetener (or at least I’m telling myself that.)
Thanks for the invite, CRAVE. Thanks to the chipper staff, thanks to all the fine folks who made it out in the a.m., and thanks to the new cupcake latte. Now you can have your (cup)cake and drink, it too. ;)

I am going for a solid five stars here because the employees are really brilliant. They are not just friendly and efficient but have that extra je né sais quoi, which undoubtedly filters down from the boss, Brad.
I really enjoyed the cupcake and the plain decaf latte was better than Starbucks, and I like Starbucks.

Who would have thought that a mob would appear at CRAVE’s latest incarnation at 9 AM on a Saturday? Okay, so «mob» is a bit of a scary term. Would it help if I said we were a «festive mob»?
Well, we were a festive mob of about 15 Unilocalers on a chilly November morning, eager to check out the fresh tasty cupcakes, new lattes, and reacquaint ourselves with old — ahem, veteran — Unilocalers and meet new members of the Houston tribe.
CRAVE owner, Brad, and his crackerjack team provided a warm welcome — they were definitely excited to see us and couldn’t be a nicer crew. The staff came by periodically to check on whether they could take away finished mugs or to ask if anyone was missing anything. Very hospitable and good client interaction.
Having chatted up Brad at the last CRAVE office hours event, I knew that this branch was in the making. It has more interior lobby space than the other Uptown location. The Uptown location has a bathroom and sidewalk tables — during our visit, there were no tables outside but it could have been because it was 9 AM. I like this location.
A number of Unilocalers opted to buy some items to take away, too.
Like a wily host, Brad put out a small tray of cupcakes and I eyed them for most of the event without touching. I had promised myself that I wouldn’t have anything as a test of self-​control. Well, I eventually succumbed to temptation and had what turned out to be a zucchini cupcake with frosting. A little sweet for my taste but the cake itself was very tasty. Note to self: CRAVE is evil but a tasty evil.
Kudos to our illustrious CM, Farrah A, for mixing the event ingredients and baking to perfection. Thanks for having us out and best wishes for the new location!

Dear Crave and Brad:
I love you.
The end.
Seriously, before my boyfriend goes bonkers, I am officially a changed woman. I’m with Edgar when he said «who would’ve thunk that 15 Unilocalers would show up on a chilly november morning at NINE AM? on a SATURDAY MORNING, either people had nothing better to do, or the CRAVE WAVE finally has gotten out among houston Unilocalers. I am going with the second. I had tried the Uptown location for a bribe to one of my clients, and funnily enough one of their tasty red velvet cupcakes just happened to go missing, so I had already tasted the red velvet. The coconut and sinfully delicious chocolate came later at a halloween party. That Saturday morning I tried the donut cupcake which is a bit too sweet for me at 9a.m., but a great concept, and the cupcake latte was excellent. I had the orange one, and it had a great hint of orange vanilla. Fantastic service, fantastic cupcakes, and a nice clean space. What more can you ask for?