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Best Service

La Griglia

Dawn McGee
It should come as no surprise that a Vallone Group restaurant would claim the coveted prize of best service. Tony Vallone, the patriarch of Houston's most elite dining dynasty, has instilled this work ethic in all his progeny, who provide a horde of servers, from captains to busboys, to surround each table, doting on diners with the tender care of a grandmother. The trick, however, is to be at the customer's elbow when needed and to fade into the woodwork when not. At La Griglia, the pace is noticeably frantic at times, yet still accommodating, providing a welcome air of informality. And the willingness to please extends to the kitchen. After a patron pouted over the disappearance of the capellini-encrusted snapper, a line cook appeared at the table to confirm all the ingredients so that he could prepare it to specification. What arrived was even better than the original, crunchy on the outside, scrumptiously gooey on the inside. Come to think of it, you're not likely to get that kind of service from your grandmother.

Best Value

La Vista

The regulars lined up outside this tiny sidewalk cafe don't want the secret to get out, but too bad. La Vista is too good to keep quiet. Not only are aptly prepared modern American, Italian and even south-of-the-border dishes offered at a fraction of what they could be, but this is also a BYOB restaurant. Anyone who enjoys a bottle of wine with dinner knows what that can do to a bill's bottom line. Here, you bring your own bottle (or jug or six-pack, for that matter) and let the perky hostess do the corking honors. With that detail out of the way, you can focus on the important task of deciding whether to splurge on the house specialty -- grilled beef tenderloin in a port wine, apricot and cherry sauce -- or the grilled pork chops in a brandy broth towering atop mashed sweet potatoes. These dishes, the most expensive on the menu, are only $15. Most Italian entrées, like the luscious ravioli with a creamy tomato-vodka sauce, are under $10. With prices like these, two can dine for under $36.

Best Comfort Food

59 Diner

Dave Rosales
Solace and comfort can be found in the chicken pot pie from the 59 Diner, but be sure to bring a healthy appetite, since the serving is substantial. As you break through the crispy biscuit crust, allowing the steam to dissipate, you'll reach plenty of chunks of white chicken meat along with corn, peas and green beans, all in a thick, gelatinous clear sauce. For $6.59, you also get your choice of three side dishes, such as old-fashioned mashed potatoes with cream or brown gravy, corn bread dressing, mixed greens or black-eyed peas, just to mention a few.

Best Kids' Meal Toys

Mission Burritos

Day care has left you broke, but still you have your pride. You hate the fluorescent-lit, Formica-table fast-food experience. You don't want the kids to eat rubbery deep-fried poultry by-products. And please, no more of those offensive, licensed-character-du-jour Happy Meal toys. What you need is Mission Burritos on Alabama. Grab a table on the oak-shaded patio, and leave your adult dining companion to watch as the kids frolic in the grassy fenced yard. For the rugrats, order the kids' meal; it comes in an intelligently designed box that might look like a car or a raccoon; the prize will be something nifty, like a plastic frog or a fat piece of sidewalk chalk; and the food (say, a soft taco) will be reasonably attractive. For the grown-ups, order sangria. It makes child-rearing seem much easier.

Best Vegetarian Restaurant

Madras Pavilion

Unless they have chosen a vegetarian way of life, some people won't let anything green cross their lips. An easy way to see some of the magnificent things that can be done with vegetables is at the lunch buffet ($6.95 weekdays, $8.95 weekends) at Madras Pavilion. This vegetarian-only South Indian restaurant makes lentils lovable and beans bearable for even the die-hard meat-and-potatoes fan. Dishes change daily on the buffet but include such staples as basmati rice pulau, lentils in one form or other, various curries with potatoes, cauliflower and other veggies, a delicious paneer and chickpeas cooked in traditional spices. Favorite picks from the menu include a crispy, flaky samosa ($2.29) -- a kind of pastry pocket filled with a vegetable-potato mixture -- and various dosas ($5.99 to $6.99) which are thin, light crepes made from rice and lentil flour and filled with delectable ingredients, served with sambal, a spicy dipping sauce, and chutney.

Best Cuban Restaurant

Cafe Piquet

Photo by Houston Press Staff
Waiters with white shirts and black mustaches, wonderful photos and memorabilia of Cuba, and an air of quiet sophistication make Cafe Piquet the No. 1 choice for Cuban dining in Houston. The buttery black beans and gooey sweet bronze plantains are perfect, and the Cuban sandwiches are first-rate, but don't miss the hearty daily specials like picadillo, a ground-beef casserole, or ropas viejas, a slow-cooked meat dish whose name literally means "old clothes." You'll see well-dressed Cuban businesspeople here at lunchtime, Cuban families at dinner, and some beautiful Latina women who look like they stepped right off the set of a Spanish-language soap opera late at night. This is a wonderful place to stop by for a strong Cuban coffee and a slice of tres leches, the white cake that's soaked with sweetened condensed milk and goes with espresso the way peanut butter goes with jelly.

Best Japanese Restaurant

Kaneyama Japanese Restaurant

The difficult truth is this: Most native Japanese never, ever have a chance to dine in a truly great Japanese restaurant, of the sort one finds in Kyoto and a few other locations in Japan. The classic kai-seki-ryori dinner is an aesthetic experience that even the most decorated of Michelin three-star restaurants cannot equal. A proper tea ceremony dinner cannot be reproduced in the United States because the fresh local ingredients are not available, the setting is not available, and the chefs are not available. That said, this is where the local community of Japanese expatriates goes for some down-home chow. For most barbarians, this is as close to Japan as you're going to get without buying a JAL ticket.

Best Place to Indulge Anglophilia

The Black Labrador

Photo by Houston Press Staff
This redoubt of vintage Britannia is dead-on in every sense but two: The pub grub is not the slightest bit grubby, and the pints are cold. Shepherd's pie, beef Wellington, fish and chips, and West Highland cheese soup are but a few of the outstanding victuals. The steamed mussels would draw an appreciative "tallyho" from even the most discriminating Buckingham palate. On tap at the sprawling bar: Bass, Newcastle, Harp, Boddington's and Guinness, to name a few. Aged-wood beams run the length of the low ceiling. Old-time maps, whiskey signs and prints of beefeaters and Scottish clansmen gussy up the oatmeal-colored walls. Outside, the red phone booth and painted pub sign are giveaways that a fetching slice of the Mother Country lies within the ivy-covered facade. The servers certainly are fetching, but alas, their English tends to be of the Bayou City variety rather than the Queen's.

Best Vietnamese Restaurant

Nga's

Houston has the best Vietnamese restaurants in the country -- the problem is picking one. We like Nga's, a little unassuming joint with a friendly atmosphere and a hip clientele. There are all kinds of discoveries on this menu, but the waiter tells us the most popular thing to order is No. 123, do-it-yourself spring rolls. He brings you a mixed grill of skewers and meats on a bed of vermicelli. On another plate are lettuce and basil leaves and a pile of round rice papers. Don't worry if you can't figure out how to roll them up; the waiter will come over and give you a demonstration. The food here ranges from pretty good to spectacular. While the lunch special is always tempting because it's such a bargain, try the hacked duck with mint and dipping sauce sometime. Looking for a real change of pace? Try the parfait of shaved ice and sweet beans in syrup with grass jelly for dessert.

Best Sit-Down Breakfast

Goode Co. Texas Burgers & Taqueria

A weekend breakfast at Goode Co. is a manly meal, but the women like it, too. After all, some mornings call for some serious sustenance, and this place answers with its own call of the wild. Thrillseekers rustle up the Buck Fever, which is venison sausage and eggs. Also paired with the breakfast staple are catfish, quail, fajitas and pork chops. The Hunter's Delight drowns scrambled eggs in chili, while the migas and huevos con nopalitos (that's cactus, to you and me) offer a south-of-the-border wake-up call. For a real eye-opener, supplement these with fresh-squeezed orange juice or, better yet, a Bloody Mary. And rather than squeezing yourself into the tiny counter cafe, take this most important meal of the day on the patio, a tile terrace surrounded by wrought-iron fencing and adorned with a Mexican fountain. And for goodness' sake, don't worry about a bad hair day; just throw on a ball cap. This is a muy comfortable spot to gather with friends and family to enjoy goode food and goode company.

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