Tired of telling your out-of-town friends and family that Houston is an international city? Then show them on this driving tour. Drive west on Richmond from Loop 610 to Hillcroft. Hang a left and show them all the halal Chinese restaurants, Persian kebab shops, Latino hip-hop clubs, Indo-Pakistani curry houses, Arabic hookah bars, Indian sari boutiques and travel agencies prominently displaying their deals on flights to Lahore, Cairo, Mumbai, Calcutta and Delhi along Hillcroft's Asian miracle mile. Then hang a right on Bellaire and take them through that Vietnamese/Chinese strip that extends seemingly a third of the way to San Antonio. Show them the old apartment complexes that have been redone as professional buildings, the street signs in Mandarin, the dim sum palaces, the karaoke bars and pho houses without number. Chances are, you won't hear too many cowboy cracks after all that.
Readers' choice: Kemah