30 Essential Texas Restaurants

SOUTH TEXAS

Biga on the Banks
203 South Saint Mary's Street,
San Antonio, 210-225-0722
www.biga.com

Robb Walsh

Coldest days are often best at Gilhooley's, as the oysters are at their plumpest and the fire pits outside on the ramshackle patio are at their warmest.

Courtesy of Joe T. Garcia's

Although it's hard to imagine today when you're seated inside the enormous gardens and grounds of Joe T. Garcia's in Fort Worth, there was a time when the restaurant seated only 16 people instead of 1,000.

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More About

• Charles Kreuz
• Houston (Texas)
• Edmund Tijerina
• Meat
• Foods

Tijerina jokingly refers to chef/owner Bruce Auden as "the Susan Lucci of Beard nominations." With seven under his belt, Auden is clearly doing something right here at Biga on the Banks, which is by far the best spot to dine along San Antonio's touristy River Walk. That's because the stunning multistory restaurant serves legitimately dazzling food instead of overpriced tourist-trappy dishes. Auden's "blend of South Texas and Asian influences was groundbreaking at Charlie's 517 in Houston," recalls Tijerina, and "even after all these years, he still produces an excellent vision of South Texas on a plate."

Mi Tierra
218 Produce Row, San Antonio
210-225-1262
www.mitierracafe.com

Even if the market surrounding Mi Tierra is "a little sad," says Kearney, "once inside the doors, this 24-hour margarita-fueled spot is a merry place." Tijerina agrees, asking of the festive restaurant that's served patrons for over six decades: "Where else can you get huevos rancheros 24 hours a day?" Between the strolling bands of mariachis, Christmas lights blooming across the walls like creeping ivy, an aesthetic that can best be described as a piñata-and-papel-picado explosion and a full-service panaderia in front, Tijernia says: "This is the best example of the more-is-more ethos that is San Antonio."

Ray's Drive Inn
822 Southwest 19th Street,
San Antonio, 210-432-7171

"If you want to start an argument in San Antonio," says Tijerina, "just ask who does the best puffy tacos." Our food writers agreed that Ray's Drive Inn does the best turn on San Antonio's most popular native food — narrowly edging out Henry's Puffy Tacos — something sure to fan the flames of the ongoing feud between the two restaurants' followings. With its scruffy West Side setting in a deliciously retro drive-in and its neon-lit claim as the original home of the puffy taco — on the menu since 1966 — Ray's is "a piece of puro San Antonio," says Tijerina.

PANHANDLE PLAINS

The Big Texan Steak Ranch
7701 I-40 East, Amarillo
806-372-6000
www.bigtexan.com

The Big Texan is one of those terrifically larger-than-life restaurants that — like Mi Tierra — wave their "everything is bigger in Texas" flag with emphatic zeal. The yellow and blue exterior — fronted by a giant bull advertising its notorious 72-ounce steak — looks almost circus-like under the wide-open skies of Amarillo off the famous Route 66, and the atmosphere inside isn't all that different. If you can eat that steak — nicknamed "The Texas King" — and its sides in under an hour, the $72 meal is free. This decades-old challenge is why Kearney calls it "the spot where competition eating was born." If you're into voyeurism, you can even watch competitors take on the challenge daily on Webcams via The Big Texan's Web site.

Perini Ranch
3002 FM 89 #A, Buffalo Gap
325-572-3339
www.periniranch.com

There's something reassuring about a restaurant whose address is simply a bunch of numbers before and after a Farm Road designation. Perini Ranch is classic country at its best, as the rural address would indicate. And as its location on the cattle-dotted West Texas plains would suggest, Perini Ranch is best known for its beef. Its mesquite-smoked peppered beef tenderloin combines two of the state's best ingredients — Texas beef and mesquite wood — and the impressively authentic ranch setting in tiny Buffalo Gap gives the impression that dusty cowboys fresh off the trail will wander in for some fried catfish or chicken at any moment.

katharine.shilcutt@houstonpress.com

THE VOTERS

Bill Addison, Atlanta Magazine
(formerly at the Dallas Morning News)

Jodi Bart, Tasty Touring

Leslie Brenner, Dallas Morning News

Addie Broyles, Austin American-Statesman

Teresa Byrne-Dodge, My Table Magazine

John DeMers, Delicious Mischief

Teresa Gubbins, CultureMap Dallas

Syd Kearney, Houston Chronicle and 29-95.com

Bud Kennedy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

John Mariani, Esquire

Matthew Odam, Austin American-Statesman

Hanna Raskin, Seattle Weekly
(formerly at the Dallas Observer)

J.C. Reid, J.C. Reid, Texas and 29-95.com

Scott Reitz, Dallas Observer

Ron Ruggless, Nation's Restaurant News

Patricia Sharpe, Texas Monthly

Edmund Tijerina, San Antonio Express-News

Daniel Vaughn, Full Custom Gospel BBQ

Robb Walsh, Houstonian Magazine

Virginia B. Wood, Austin Chronicle

How They Voted

Voters were asked to choose the 30 Texas restaurants that they believed every Texan should eat at once before they die and that any visitor to the state should have on his or her hit list. The rules were loose, except for the following requirements: The restaurant must still be open and the general public should at least have a shot at being able to eat there (i.e., no members-only restaurants or private dining clubs). Voters were encouraged to consider restaurants across every price range, every cuisine and every part of the state. The results were entered into an Excel spreadsheet and tallied, with the restaurants listed above receiving — by far — the majority of the votes across the board. Geographical regions for the purposes of the list were aligned with the seven regions traditionally defined by the Texas Department of Transportation.

Watch the Eating...Our Words blog for much, much more on the 30 Essential Texas Restaurants.