Dishes & Drinks >>

• Best Orange Juice
  El Charro Taqueria No. 1
  Well, hell. The alarm failed you again; the sun's already long up, importing sweat through the panes and overpowering the asthmatic window unit, and somehow -- hard to remember exactly -- you're hungover. Again. You can tell even before you rise from the pillows that actual food retention is not... More >>
• Best Salsa
  La Bamba Meat Market
  Sit back with a Mexican Coke and enjoy four tacos for the price of three (that's 75 cents each!). And be sure to slather them all with La Bamba's fabulous homemade salsa. Cooking onions and tomatoes with chiles de árbol makes the dark red sauce. Chile de árbol is a favorite dried... More >>
• Best Beer Selection
  The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium
  Few Best of Houston categories are as clear-cut as this. Just count the taps. The newly opened Flying Saucer, in the newly renamed St. Germain building (it's known to real Houstonians as the H.S. Kress building), has 85 draft beer taps flowing. If nothing looks good on tap, there are also 130... More >>
• Best Bloody Mary
  Four Seasons Hotel
  So it's a chichi hotel -- the Four Seasons still makes a mean Bloody, equally adept at killing a hangover as slaking a fierce thirst on a hot day. The house vodka, though a little too carefully measured for our taste, is Smirnoff -- not some generic brand. Made from a homemade mix and served in... More >>
• Best Chicken Salad Sandwich
  Brasil, 2604 Dunlavy, (713)528-1993
  "You eat there?" most people ask. Yes, we eat there. Most people go to Brasil for coffee or Hawaiian Punch-like hibiscus tea, but we always order the same thing: the spicy chicken salad sandwich. Most chicken salad sandwiches are little more than shredded, mashed-up chicken mixed with... More >>
• Best Steamed Dumplings
  Lai Lai Dumpling House
  Darkened windows prevent you from seeing inside this tiny storefront restaurant next to the Diho Market in the "new" Chinatown. You might even think it's closed. But open the door and you'll discover a hidden treasure. All dumplings are handmade to order, so it takes a little time. While fried... More >>
• Best Drive-thru Java
  Starbucks
  It's a wonder traffic doesn't grind to a halt as the luxury SUV crowd does a double-take at the competing Starbucks stores at the corners of West Gray at Shepherd. After all, they just need their mid-afternoon java jolt -- not another decision to make. We'll make it easy for them. While... More >>
• Best Non-Cold Boiled Shrimp
  Blue Agave
  These days the Blue Agave, with its tight T-shirted waitresses, feels a bit like a high-class Hooters. But that doesn't diminish our fondness for the restaurant's cornflake-fried shrimp "pina" that's much better than its name. Adding to the improbability of this dish are the chunks of pineapple... More >>
• Best Enchilada
  Irma's Southwest Grill
  Irma Galvan, the venerable Tex-Mex diva of the Warehouse District, has dished up a mean enchilada for years. Now, her son, Louis Galvan, is betting on the ballpark to score points for his own downtown enterprise, Irma's Southwest Grill. Sure, the grill part of the name specializes in such fancy... More >>
• Best Soup
  El Rey Taqueria
  You probably wouldn't know it to look at it, but this tiny Cuban/Mexican restaurant with a drive-thru offers up the best chicken tortilla soup in the city. Walk inside, though, and you'll see the chickens rotating on the old-fashioned rotisserie, some of which, we're certain, are the base of the... More >>
• Best Licuado
  Banana flavor, Nuo Leon
  On those days when Houston's summer refuses to end, when your eyes hurt from too much sunlight and your pores are clogged with sweat, when plastic objects melt on your dashboard, when you see squirrels spread-eagle on the ground, panting, and the neighborhood cats droop nearby, too languid to... More >>
• Best Muffuletta
  Murphy's Deli
  Who says you have to go to New Orleans to get a good muffuletta? Murphy's Deli, with 18 locations to choose from, gives the Big Easy a run for its money with its hefty, heavy-on-the-meat-and-cheese rendition. Hot hickory-smoked ham, Genoa salami and provolone cheese are stacked inside a huge... More >>
• Best Mussels
  Cafe Montrose
  Mussel ecstasy reigns at this warm Belgian bistro, with diners endlessly spooning tastes of their steamed mussels into their companions' mouths like priests giving communion. The reaction is always the same -- thoughtful mastication followed by an energetic nod of delight. Once your own black... More >>
• Best Oysters
  Fung's Kitchen
  While many will argue that the only good oyster is a raw oyster, we believe that the oysters in garlic sauce at Fung's Kitchen will cause anyone to reconsider that position. Large (usually huge) oysters on the half shell are steamed just enough to bring out their maximum, well, oysterness, and... More >>
• Best Sandwich
  Urban Foods
  Urban Foods, a friendly deli/gourmet food store in the Rice Lofts, makes one of the best sandwiches we've ever tasted. Here's the blueprint (as Ken Hoffman might say): house-smoked salmon, sliced hard-boiled eggs, slightly bitter arugula and a sprightly, creamy dill spread. We suggest you have... More >>
• Best Appetizer
  Nachos cubanos, El Meson Restaurant
  Some of life's most dynamic beauty exists in its contrasts: the famous yin/yang, the complementary push/pull, the popular in/out. And these mouthwatering morsels of Caribbean glory are no different. The crunchy blue corn chip plays off the slathering of soft black beans that covers it. The thick... More >>
• Best Bread
  Whole Foods Market
  Rosemary-and-olive-oil focaccia was the bread special the last time we stopped by Whole Foods on Kirby. The flat, crunchy Italian bread dripping with olive oil didn't make it out of the parking lot in one piece. Day in and day out, Whole Foods stocks excellent European artisanal breads. The... More >>
• Best Tamales (2 Comments)
  Berryhill Baja Grill
  One of the last of Houston's old-time tamale men was an American Indian named Walter Berryhill. Dressed in a white jacket and top hat, Berryhill sold tamales from his pushcart in River Oaks. He rigged the cart with a propane burner in order to comply with health department regulations and kept... More >>
• Best Drive-thru Food
  Chicken tortas, Taqueria Fiesta Guadalajara,
  First, you need to take into account the logistics of eating while driving. For the record, a car with a standard transmission is not the most desirable drive-thru vehicle, unless you have someone in the passenger seat to help out. Shifting gears complicates unwrapping and eating your dinner,... More >>
• Best Crabs
  Kim Son, 2001 Jefferson, (713)222-2461
  After five years of satisfying customers with his famous black-pepper crabs ($11.95), Kim Son owner Tan La became concerned that the restaurant's most spectacular menu item was becoming passé. So he sent his mother back to Vietnam to find another crab recipe. She returned with one for... More >>
• Best French Fries
  Cafe Annie
  Great french fries are probably the last thing that come to mind when thinking about Cafe Annie (something we do a great deal), but since one of the keys to a great restaurant is the details, it should come as absolutely no surprise that its fries are first-rate. They are, in fact, the fries of... More >>
• Best Burger
  Market Square Bar & Grill
  The burgers at this downtown watering hole are the real deal: a half-pound handmade patty of 80 percent lean ground chuck that is never frozen and never more than two days old. The most popular burger at Market Square is the blue-cheese burger, but the restaurant also offers a bacon... More >>
• Best Mariscos
  Pico's Mexican Restaurant
  If you don't know what al mojo de ajo means, ask before you order. Loosely translated, it means Godzilla portions of garlic. But there must be a lot of garlic lovers out there, because Pico's camarones al mojo de ajo ($14.99) is one of the restaurant's most popular dishes. Six jumbo shrimp are... More >>
• Best Nachos
  Italian nachos, Ciro's Italian Grill
  If you ask the owner of Ciro's Italian Grill, Ciro Lampasas, how the delightful Italian nachos came into thankful existence, he'll tell you it's what you get when an Italian restaurant owner and his Mexican kitchen manager cross culinary wits. This appetizing amalgam of ingredients is one of the... More >>
• Best Pasta
  Josephine's Ristorante
  As much as we love the pasta explosion of the past 20 years (lighter sauces, Asian pastas, Cajun pastas, pan-cross cultural pastas, you know the rest), sometimes it's nice to eat the kind of pasta that reminds us why we loved it so much in the first place, and for that, we recommend the chicken... More >>
• Best Shish Kebab
  Cafe East
  The "East" in this spiffy, clean little restaurant, housed in a former fast-food outlet, does not refer to its location in Houston (it's actually on the far west side of the city), but to the Russian word for east, vostok. In Russia, east is a shorthand term for the Moslem regions of the former... More >>
• Best Beignets
  Crescent City Beignets
  Shuffling your tray down the line at Crescent City Beignets amid the Lamar High students, you can't help feeling like you're eating breakfast in the high school cafeteria. You also can't help wondering whether these beignets are going to be as good as the ones you get in New Orleans. And then... More >>
• Best Catfish
  Goode Co. Seafood
  The twisted, splintery logs stacked in a pile behind Goode Co. Seafood right next to the barbecue pits are a good omen. Just in case anyone was worried, there will be mesquite-smoked catfish tonight. In a day and age where catfish just isn't considered any way but coated with flour or cornmeal... More >>
• Best Steak Dinner for Two for 20 Bucks
  PJ's Sports Bar
  Finding a cheap steak dinner can be dicey -- if the price is right, the meal usually isn't. Small tough cuts of meat that have been sitting under a warming light for an hour or so ain't a bargain, no matter how inexpensive they might be. PJ's Sports Bar, on West Gray between Taft and Montrose,... More >>
• Best Club Sandwich
  Express Deli
  'Tis a monstrous thing, this double-decker piled high and sliced in substantial halves, not those traditional quarters. That single diagonal cut, though, is as far as Express Deli, the all-purpose lunch counter-grocery on the ground floor of Houston House apartments, strays toward the... More >>
• Best Curried Goat
  Sheshahnen
  The $5.99 lunch buffet at this Pakistani hangout is an incredible bargain. The zesty curried goat features the softest goat meat you've ever eaten. Pakistani curry is spicy and much more exciting than most Indian versions. There also are plenty of chicken, beef and vegetable dishes on the buffet... More >>
• Best Fried Chicken
  Frenchy's Chicken
  Time, an endless river, rolls along, as does the channelized stream of Brays Bayou, a few blocks south of Frenchy's Chicken. But this family-run operation just keeps on keepin' on. Opened in 1969 by Louisiana native Frenchy Cruzot, this small 99 percent takeout spot (a few metal tables are set... More >>
• Best Iced Tea
  Kaldi Cafe
  Iced tea is a gracious beverage. It hints of endless refills and an infinity of time, and it's the right thing to drink at funky, laid-back Kaldi Cafe, where no one is ever in a hurry. Kaldi offers tea drinkers a nifty selection of flavors du jour -- ginger-peach, say, or herbal mint -- and... More >>
• Best Martini
  The Twister, The Remington Grill
  In our ardent quest for Houston's best martini, we asked several bartenders to define the drink. Of course, each gave us a different answer -- and all were correct. While there are some definite guidelines, a single definition does not exist. A generation ago, a martini was as cut-and-dry as its... More >>
• Best New York Deli Sandwich
  Kahn's Deli
  Weighing in at slightly less than a pound, the Reuben ($6.99) at Kahn's Deli is a delicious way to exercise jaw muscles. It's a jungle of pungent sauerkraut, piles of corned beef and a thick layer of melted Swiss cheese that makes one wonder if any human can open their mouth wide enough to get a... More >>
• Best Poor Boy
  La Tapatia Taqueria Mexican Cafe
  La Tapatia Taqueria's poor boys are practically an entire Mexican meal between two fresh buns. Along with a belt-bustingly generous serving of one of 12 meats or a veggie, the sandwich is smeared with refried beans and sour cream. It also includes slippery avocado slices (which sometimes escape... More >>
• Best Drive-thru Drink
  Frozen lemonade, Bambolino's
  1. Houston is a car city. 2. Houston is hot. 3. Driving in the heat makes you crave big cold drinks. Which is why you should drive to Bambolino's. Without leaving your car, you can buy a semifrozen lemonade for a piddling $1.29. At 32 ounces, the large serving is sufficiently big. And it's... More >>
• Best Bar Food
  Pizza at Kenneally's
  Pizza? At an Irish bar? We didn't think that made sense either. We were expecting DiGiorno or something far more frozen. But this homemade pizza is the best we've ever tasted. They've made it fresh every day for the past 11 years, and they almost always sell every slice they make. It's hot and... More >>
• Best Chicken-Fried Steak
  Treebeards
  Normally Texans do not associate chicken-fried steak with a Cajun restaurant. Granted, the one served up at Treebeards -- best known for its red beans and rice -- is not the typical battered piece of meat smothered in a white cream gravy. Instead, this is chicken-fried like your grandmother used... More >>
• Best Margarita
  Cafe Adobe
  Life is complicated enough. Don't let your liquor be that way. Unhappily, Houston has hundreds of bars and restaurants trying to hook consumers with ever-evolving concoctions. By all means, let them audition. Encourage them to pour all kinds of fruity and frothy mixtures to be zapped into life... More >>
• Best Drive-thru Drink
  Frozen lemonade, Bambolino's
  1. Houston is a car city. 2. Houston is hot. 3. Driving in the heat makes you crave big cold drinks. Which is why you should drive to Bambolino's. Without leaving your car, you can buy a semifrozen lemonade for a piddling $1.29. At 32 ounces, the large serving is sufficiently big. And it's... More >>
• Best Cold Boiled Shrimp
  Captain Benny's Half Shell Oyster Bars
  Some people refer to journalists as bottom-feeders. Well, as long as there are crustaceans like the ones served up at the Captain's around, we will consider ourselves in good company. Since the restaurant is best known for its oysters on the half shell, the cold boiled shrimp sometimes get... More >>
• Best Dim Sum (1 Comment)
  Ocean Palace
  Being new, big and shiny, Ocean Palace has a few obvious advantages over its competitors: a ballroom-size dining room with 100 tables, a pond in front of the restaurant garnished with lily pads, and substantial hype that keeps people waiting every Sunday morning for a table -- for good reason.... More >>
• Best Fried Rice
  Chinese Cafe
  At most Chinese restaurants, fear the "special" fried rice. Rumored to be made of day-old rice and whatever leftover meat and vegetable bits fall from the cutting board, the only thing special about the rice is that it's drowned in soy sauce, creating a super-salty and greasy meal. But not at... More >>
• Best Garlic Beef
  The Golden Room
  Almost everything at this Thai/Chinese restaurant is good. One strange bonus is that the place is almost always empty. The walls are red with gold trim and funky Chinese artifacts; the waitstaff smiles and doesn't say much. The garlic beef is the best food we've ever tasted in our entire lives.... More >>
• Best Lemonade
  Barnaby's Cafe
  Some things you just can't get year-round in other parts of the country. Take lemonade: It's a seasonal refreshment up north, and even then, it's usually made with the powdered stuff in a can. That's not the case in Houston, or at Barnaby's Cafe. Every morning they squeeze their own lemons and... More >>
• Best Mashed Potatoes
  Vallone's Steaks, Fish & Chops
  Once you get over the fact that they look like a failed attempt at guacamole -- made with the bright green avocado paste, no less -- you'll realize that the poblano pepper mashed potatoes at Vallone's are some spectacular spuds. Sure, the bright color is not found in nature, and the creamy... More >>