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Best Vegetarian Indian Buffet

Bombay Sweets & Pure Vegetarian Restaurant

In the Indian community, Bombay Sweets is known for its huge candy case and elaborate selection of chaat, the popular Bombay snacks made with crunchy stuff that tastes like breakfast cereal. For everyone else, the buffet is the main attraction. Try the awesome chickpea curry called chana masala and the spicy fire-roasted eggplant stew called bengan bhurta. Lots of other dishes rotate in and out of the lineup. Don't miss the velvety miniature stuffed eggplant fried in chickpea batter and served in a spicy tomato ginger sauce when it's available or the kadhi pakora, with crusty graham flour dumplings that look like chunks of meat floating in a yogurt-based yellow curry. In truth you can hardly go wrong with any of the featured dishes.

Best Vietnamese Restaurant

A Dong

This is no tourist joint, so don't expect anybody to explain things in English for you. But if you're looking for exotic Vietnamese specialties, you can't beat A Dong. Muc rang muoi, hot fried cuttlefish over a cold watercress salad, is the No. 1 thing to order here. "Summer delight," a tossed salad of pork, shrimp and jellyfish over salad, is another standout. The rock and roll beef (bo luc lac) is pretty good, and so is the curried goat (ca ri de). If you go for the goat, get the one listed under house specialties: This presentation features the tasty goat curry in a small bowl, served with rice and a baguette on the side. Who knew French bread would taste so good dunked in goat curry?

Best Service

Tony's

Oh, come on. You knew it was still Tony's, right? The Post Oak institution is the white-glove, cork-waving place to dine if you want to really be waited on. And it's not just about being surrounded by help -- it's the feeling that you're somebody. If Cheers is the place where everybody knows your name, then Tony's is the place where everyone is someone special. It doesn't matter if you're a bricklayer or a captain of industry -- you always get superb treatment. It's the philosophy that made Texas famous: If you can afford the prices, you deserve the service.

Best Afghani Restaurant

Kabul Restaurant

According to the sign in the window of this no-frills grill on Hillcroft, Kabul serves such traditional Afghani foods as tekka kebab, shami kebab and the ever-popular qaduiy pulow. But don't worry about the weird names: Everything ends up being highly spiced ground lamb or ground beef shaped onto kebabs and grilled. The green chutney is made with jalapeños and tastes just like Tabasco's green sauce. Another relish made with tomatoes, onions and cilantro might as well be called pico de gallo. You get rice mixed with carrots and currants and a velvety eggplant stew on the side, along with hot crusty Afghani "slipper bread" -- all for incredibly low prices.

Best Brazilian Restaurant

Emporio Brazilian Café

Most Americans seem to think that Brazilians are all cowboys, like the gaucho waiters at Fogo de Chão. But if you want to experience the African-inspired home cooking that represents Brazil's true cuisine, you have to go a little farther down Westheimer. Emporio Brazilian Café is a homey affair. The modest, 18-table restaurant is equipped with folding chairs and a minimum of decorations. This is where Houston's Brazilian community gathers to eat comida caseira, or Brazilian home cooking. The food manages to taste homemade partly because the Emporio kitchen concentrates on just a few regional classics each day. Feijoada is served on Saturday; Friday is the day for bacalhau, a dried cod dish. And the rich shrimp stew called bobó de camarão is the Wednesday special. You can feed an entire family here for the $50 you pay per person at Fogo de Chão, and the food is much more interesting.

Best Barbecue Restaurant

Thelma's Bar-B-Que

Thelma's might best be described as a joint. It's a joint, however, that serves terrific barbecue. When brisket is cooked to perfection, the outside is black and a little charred. Underneath the char should be a thin layer of pinkish-red meat. The meat should have a deep, smoky flavor, but it should not overpower. It should be slightly moist, never dry. You should be able to pull it apart easily with a fork, and yet it should hold together when you pick up a piece and eat it with your fingers. That's how it is at Thelma's. Then there's the sauce. Every barbecue cook has his -- or in this case, her -- own special recipe. The best ones, like Thelma, never tell you exactly what's in it.

Best Burger Joint

Adrian's Burger Bar

How can a Fifth Ward hole-in-the-wall with a burned-out TV and a bunch of falling-apart chrome dinettes be considered the city's best burger joint? Tradition. Adrian Cooper may run this place, but it isn't really his hamburger -- it's his grandmother's. Vivian Wilson started serving it at Vivian's Lounge on Market Street 40 years ago. Today, the menu on the wall lists a mushroom burger, a bacon burger and a mushroom-bacon combination called an Adrian's burger. Each one is a hand-formed patty made from a solid pound of fresh ground beef. The first time you go to Adrian's Burger Bar, you'll see a pot-holed parking lot, a shabby dining room and a business that appears to be on its last legs. But after a burger or two, you'll start to see a third-generation restaurant tradition thriving against all odds in the city's most historic black neighborhood.

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