Dishes & Drinks >>

• Best Enchiladas
  Los Dos Amigos
  Los Dos is tiny. There are a half a dozen tables covered in plastic tablecloths, several booths along the wall, and a six-seat Formica counter in the L-shaped dining room. Breakfast and lunch are booming. Breakfast tacos are 99 cents, and the breakfast specials are $3.25 until ten o'clock. But... More >>
• Best Breakfast Taco
  Laredo Taqueria
  It all kicks off early in the morning when the women behind the counter start hand-rolling the softest tortillas in town. You could stuff anything in these velvety creations and it would taste good. Luckily, though, there are more than enough simple yet delicious breakfast creations to sate even... More >>
• Best Vegetarian Dish (2 Comments)
  Brasil
  There was a time when the only thing fit for consumption at Brasil was the coffee. Thankfully, that time has passed. And while the service still has light-years to go before it's considered passable, the food, at least, is amazing. It's rare in Houston to find a menu that skillfully and subtly... More >>
• Best Cheese Plate
  Cova Hand-Selected Wines
  At Cova, if you order the tapas portion of the artisanal cheese plate, you get to pick four cheeses from a list of 12. If you order the raciones portion, you get four cheeses along with slices of cured meats. The cheeses, listed on the menu as either firm, semi-firm or soft, include such... More >>
• Best Risotto
  Ristorante Cavour
  There is an art to making the perfect risotto. Cook it too long, and the much-prized al dente texture disappears in a soft mass. Add too much stock, and the dish turns into a soup. Balancing the flavors of saffron, wine, onion and stock is a delicate task indeed — too much of any one will... More >>
• Best Dim Sum
  Fung's Kitchen
  At Fung's Kitchen, the dumplings are fresher, the seaweed is crunchier and you can get signature killed-to-order seafood items like scallops in their shells straight from the aquarium during dim sum service. You might do a double take when you walk in the door — if it looks like the... More >>
• Best Sushi
  Soma Sushi
  A beautifully chic restaurant filled with equally beautiful, chic people, Soma serves up some of the best and most interesting sushi in town. Located along the Washington Avenue corridor, Soma helped make the area "cool" again and inspired an ever-growing number of trendy eatery owners to set up... More >>
• Best Whiskey Cocktail
  Poison Girl—Whiskey Daisy
  There's something about ordering whiskey inside of Poison Girl that just feels right. It goes with the blood-red walls and the foreboding metal sheet that rolls down and covers the door and one window during the day, completely obscuring the place along the busy Westheimer thoroughfare. And they... More >>
• Best Gin Cocktail
  Tony Mandola's Gulf Coast Kitchen—Ramos Gin Fizz
  Although a Louisiana seafood restaurant in River Oaks might seem a strange place to house the best gin cocktail in Houston, that doesn't stop it from being true. Tony Mandola's is serious about its gin, from the house-infused jalapeño gin that's used to make the famous Cajun martinis to... More >>
• Best Rum Cocktail
  Boheme Cafe and Wine Bar— Mojito
  Perhaps it's a combination of the Spanish decor and slightly tropically tinged atmosphere of Boheme that makes rum the drink of choice here. Or perhaps it's just the killer mojitos the place turns out day after day to thirsty crowds of art lovers and assorted Montrose rogues. Whether freshly... More >>
• Best Drink Special
  t'afia
  Sure, you can get a drink special at any old bar in town. But only t'afia's drink specials are made with seasonal, organic produce and Texas wine. And only t'afia's drink specials come with complimentary appetizers from one of the best kitchens in the city. Tuesdays through Thursdays, you can... More >>
• Best Gelato (1 Comment)
  Trentino Gelato
  Marcelo Kreindel's greatest wish after moving to America from Argentina eight years ago was that he would once again be able to enjoy a gelato like he used to love at home. And four years ago, he decided to make that dream come true. Kreindel founded Trentino Gelato, which has steadily become... More >>
• Best BLT Sandwich
  Dacapo's Pastry Cafe
  A pastry cafe with the best BLT? Really? Yes, really. The folks at Dacapo's may specialize in sweets, but they certainly kick butt when it comes to savory sandwiches. Piled high on toasted whole wheat bread is the perfect slathering of mayo, lettuce, thick-cut sliced tomatoes and bacon so... More >>
• Best Chocolate Cake
  The Chocolate Bar
  There's a reason that The Chocolate Bar has a reputation as a chocoholic's heaven. From the dozens of flavors of chocolate ice cream to the endless choices of chocolate pies (and hot chocolate to put your grandma to shame), there's something here for everybody. As long as they like chocolate,... More >>
• Best Desserts
  Textile
  While the kitchen can be uneven at Textile, one thing here is always phenomenal: dessert. Under the direction of young pastry chef Plinio Sandalio, the whimsical and utterly beguiling desserts at Textile satisfy a range of palates, from the traditional (a bold chocolate torchon) to the... More >>
• Best Caesar Salad
  Mockingbird Bistro
  It looks so simple and elegant: several long leaves of romaine lettuce laid across the plate, coated, not slathered, with a tangy Caesar dressing made fresh just moments earlier. Grated cheese, potato croutons and black pepper round out this traditional dish. On top of it all, just to add some... More >>
• Best Macaroni and Cheese
  Beaver's Ice House
  It's difficult to pick a favorite from the small menu at Beaver's ever since Jonathan Jones took over as head chef, which is truly a sign of an extraordinary kitchen. But it's the unassuming macaroni and cheese which shines, and which makes every other macaroni and cheese dish in Houston tremble... More >>
• Best Beer Selection
  Petrol Station Coffeehouse
  Don't let the name fool you: The Petrol Station serves much more than just coffee. And although you can get a fine cuppa here, the beer selection is what makes the Petrol Station special. You won't find Bud Light, but you will find a limited yet remarkable selection of cask ales and locally... More >>
• Best Wine List
  Catalan Food & Wine Bar
  In Houston, a great wine list used to mean pages and pages of old French wines that started at a hundred dollars a bottle and went up to the stratosphere. Today, thanks to the popularity of wine bars, overpriced and overrated labels are out and unknown regions and obscure varietals are in.... More >>
• Best Locally Themed Shots
  Big Star Bar
  According to the Press's own clubs guide, "Chances are if you can clearly remember leaving Big Star at the end of the night, you didn't actually have a good time at Big Star." And chances are if you can't clearly remember leaving Big Star — or remember leaving at all — you may have... More >>
• Best Margarita (3 Comments)
  Bodega's Taco Shop
  An unlikely location on the ground floor of a medical building in the Museum District hasn't stopped the young Bodega's Taco Shop from making a splash in the already crowded Tex-Mex market. The food itself (think upscale Chipotle) is good, but people flock here for the dazzling array of... More >>
• Best Dumplings
  QQ Cuisine
  What QQ Cuisine (also called "Chinese Cuisine" on the signage out front) lacks in customer service — and it lacks in that area quite a bit — it more than makes up for in food. Often dismissed in the face of its more popular next-door neighbor, Fu Fu Cafe, QQ rewards those who brave... More >>
• Best Pho
  Pho One
  The name of the restaurant is a wordplay on owner Kim Oanh Vu's middle name. Vu comes from a famous pho family. Her father, Y Van Vu, opened one of the most famous noodle shops in Saigon in the 1960s — it was called Pho Tau Bay. In 1975, the year that Saigon fell, Y Van Vu and his six kids... More >>
• Best Empanadas
  The Original Marini's
  When Marini's first opened in Houston back in 1971, empanadas were pretty exotic and the restaurant had a cult following. Marini's got a lot of hippies hooked on the high-buzz tea called yerba mate. Today, the reincarnation of Marini's in the Carillon Shopping Center displays lots of photos and... More >>
• Best Tamales
  Hugo's
  The mushroom tamales at Hugo's are mind-blowing. Mushroom tamales may sound like an upscale spin on Mexican food, but they're actually very traditional. Hugo Ortega serves mushroom tamales as a side dish with lamb and makes another kind of mushroom tamal called a zacahuil for an appetizer. The... More >>
• Best Kebabs
  Phoenicia Specialty Foods
  At Phoenicia's grill counter, there are five varieties of fresh-cooked kabobs available. As an American, you will probably want to order the big beef cubes, lamb chunks or chicken pieces. But the best choice here is the nasty-looking, gray, ground-meat kabobs. The highly seasoned minced meat on... More >>
• Best Hot Dog
  Onion Creek
  Onion Creek specializes in cheap, no-frills comfort food without even having a fryer on site. From the best Frito pie in town to the excellent Freek Dog (that's a hot dog with a Frito pie on top), an afternoon on Onion Creek's sprawling wooden deck with a cold beer in one hand and a pile of... More >>
• Best Cobb Salad
  Daily Review Cafe
  It may not be the healthiest salad out there, but it's certainly one of the tastiest and most famous. As legend has it, the Cobb salad was created in 1937 at the Brown Derby in Hollywood when its owner Bob Cobb was hungry one night and tossed a pile of leftovers into a bowl. It was a combo of... More >>
• Best Torta
  Mexico's Deli Tortas & Tacos
  Tortas are hot, and Mexico's Deli on Dairy Ashford has the best tortas in Houston. That's because the proprietor once owned a popular chain of torta stands in Mexico City — he relocated to Houston when the peso bit the dust. Mexico's Deli offers more than 20 variations on the Mexican... More >>
• Best Milk Shake
  Cheeburger, Cheeburger
  Cheeburger, Cheeburger makes a big production out of its milk shakes. There are something like 75 flavors of ice cream, and every milk shake comes with two straws and a spoon. Get the large size and ask for the double chocolate flavor — malted. Then be prepared to have your milk shake... More >>
• Best Burger (7 Comments)
  105 Grocery & Deli
  The 105 Grocery & Deli is located about eight miles southwest of Navasota on Highway 105. Former names include "DK Gen Store, Café, Meat Market, Feed Store" and "B&J." Whatever it was called, the convenience store has been making burgers for decades. The grill is closed on Monday... More >>
• Best Oysters
  Magnolia Bar & Grill
  This is one of the few restaurants in town with a real dedicated oyster bar, as opposed to a bar that serves oysters. Check out the extensive collection of old-fashioned oyster plates hanging on the walls. Magnolia used to be owned by Jim Gossen of Louisiana Foods, the company that wholesales... More >>
• Best Crawfish
  Boiling Crab
  Owned by a former shrimp and crab fisherman from Seadrift, the Boiling Crab is the most popular crawfish restaurant in Houston and part of a new wave of Vietnamese-style crawfish restaurants that are popping up all over the Little Saigon neighborhood. The first location was opened in Southern... More >>
• Best Bloody Mary
  Cadillac Bar
  It's hard to beat the Bloody Marys at the Cadillac Bar on Shepherd — that's because you make them yourself. The Bloody Mary bar is set up during the Cadillac's elaborate Sunday Brunch buffet. The bartender pours some vodka over the rocks and hands you the glass; then you walk over to the... More >>
• Best Cheeseburger
  Stanton's Super Market
  Often overlooked as a burger mecca due to the lack of tables, this shabby convenience store serves the most impressive cheeseburger in town. It starts with a half-pound, hand-formed patty mounted on an oversized and well-toasted sesame seed bun. Go "all the way" and the adornments include... More >>
• Best Shrimp
  Segari's Restaurant
  The late Sam Segari was nuts about shrimp. His restaurant, Segari's, is run by his daughter now. But the shrimp dishes are still made with U-10s, the largest Gulf shrimp available. The cryptic code means "under ten to a pound" — the actual average size is close to a fifth of a pound each.... More >>
• Best Bread
  El Bolillo
  El Bolillo, the Mexican bakery across the street from Canino's on Airline, has got a lot of things going for it. Elaborately decorated cakes, sheet pans of tres leches, and coffee and hot churros for starters. Then there are the crunchy mini-baguettes called bolillos in two sizes, and the soft,... More >>
• Best Cheap Sandwich
  Alpha Bakery & Deli
  Okay, so the price of the banh mi thit, or Vietnamese sandwich, at Alpha Bakery in the Hong Kong City Mall has gone up drastically. Sandwiches were $1.85 each a couple of years ago with a "buy five, get one free" kicker. Now they are $2.50 each, and there's no more sixth-sandwich free deal. But... More >>
• Best Margarita
  Bodega's Taco Shop
  An unlikely location on the ground floor of a medical building in the Museum District hasn't stopped the young Bodega's Taco Shop from making a splash in the already crowded Tex-Mex market. The food itself (think upscale Chipotle) is good, but people flock here for the dazzling array of... More >>