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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 the pickiest of eaters. Try the egg, potato and green chile, the egg and spicy chorizo or the egg and green bean tacos, topped with a tasty red salsa that lets the cilantro and onion really shine through. At $1.75 a pop, they're a deal too.

Best Brunch

Dharma Cafe

Jeff Balke

Dharma Cafe is a homey oasis smack-dab in the rundown industrial area along Houston Avenue that makes up the nexus of Downtown and the Heights. Get away from the hectic noise and the stiletto-heels scene that dominate many high-end Sunday brunch spots and pull up a chair in this unassuming cafe with photos of Beat poets such as Jack Kerouac and his sidekick Neal Cassady scattered on the walls. The buffet is all-you-can-eat and includes traditional items such as waffles made in an antique waffle iron, blueberry or banana pancakes, sausage gravy and eggs made to order. But like the joint itself, this buffet marches to its own beat, also offering homemade fettuccini, moist and tender salmon and pork loin served with a sweet Sunday morning apple glaze. The fresh blueberry scones are arguably the best on the planet. And at only $17, this brunch buffet will cure any barely legal hangover.

Best Burger

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 and Tuesday and when the grill cook doesn't show up. So call before you make the trek (about an hour from Houston). The burgers are mountainous — each patty appears to be around two-thirds of a pound. (You'll want a double-meat, double-cheese.) A crunchy wedge of iceberg and two tomato slices come under the burger in the "upside down" configuration with a modest sprinkling of chopped onions and a couple of pickle slices. The white-bread bun is toasted and spread with yellow mustard and Miracle Whip salad dressing. Some burger lovers I know bring their own Hellmann's mayonnaise to replace the offending MW. But it's a tiny blemish in the otherwise perfect burger.

Best Burger Joint

Lankford Grocery and Market

When Guy Fieri and his Food Network show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives visited Eydie Prior on his trip to Houston, he confirmed what many Houstonians already knew — Lankford Grocery is a treasure. Eydie's parents started the place as a convenience store in 1939, but it was the hamburgers that brought in the crowds. And so they took out the store shelves and put in some tables. The smoking section is on a former driveway where two picnic tables are adorned with orange marigolds growing out of coffee cans. The garage door is still there. Today, Lankford Grocery's rural vibe is one of the last remnants of the historic Freedmen's Town neighborhood. The row houses have mostly been leveled and replaced with towering town houses. Every couple of months, Eydie goes on a decorating binge and decks the place out with a seasonal theme.

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 color and a bit of punch, rests a thin slice or two of roasted red pepper. It's a true classic with just a hint of daring that makes this salad a must for any palate.

Best Chain Restaurant

Laurenzo's El Tiempo Cantina

Jeff Balke

It's all about the ambience, fajitas and margaritas at this famous Houston Tex-Mex institution. The restaurants are dark and homey, with inviting bars that exude that relaxing cantina feel. Start off with a serving of queso and chorizo and then order up a heaping plate of fajitas, piled high with strips of filet and lobster, with a decadent butter sauce on the side to go along with El Tiempo's famous red and green salsas. Then wash it all down with a potent margarita that'll make any drinker thankful he's 21 or older.

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 you still have to admit that $2.50 is awfully cheap for a sandwich this good. Think about it — Subway and Quiznos are advertising $5 sandwiches like that's some unbelievably cheap price, while at Alpha Bakery you get the same size sandwich on a crunchy Vietnamese French bread roll that's baked on the premises, spread with butter and pâté and stuffed with roasted pork, shredded carrots, cukes, cilantro and jalapeño for half of the price of the sandwich chain product. You can't get a sweetened coconut rice dessert at Subway, either.

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 memorable entries as the French baby belletoile triple cream brie, the Venetian piave vecchio and the Minorcan mahon reserva, all of which go well with any of the rich and fruity wines available here. They're served with slices of French bread and honey, the perfect counterpoint to some of the sharper cheeses. The cured meats include German speck, Spanish jamon serrano and Italian salami.

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 lettuce, tomato, pickles, mayo, mustard, red onions, two strips of bacon and an ample amount of American cheese. Variations include the Rio jalapeño burger (add pickled peppers), the BBQ blues burger (with barbecue sauce) and the Tex-Mex burger (with salsa). Since the burgers are to-go only, you need to have a plan for where you are going to eat them.

Best Chinese Restaurant

Chinese Halal Cuisine

Chinese Uyghurs in the far western Xinjiang province were much in the news this year. So we are venturing beyond the usual Hong Kong, Hunan and Sichuan recommendations in favor of Chinese Halal Cuisine on Bellaire. Uyghur fare, with its strong cumin aromas and extensive use of lamb, borrows from the Muslim recipes of neighboring Mongolia, Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The halal version of Chinese food has become enormously popular on the Indian subcontinent. In fact, the Indian and Pakistani version of halal Chinese food is better known in most of the world than the Chinese original. Chinese Halal Cuisine on Bellaire is the first authentically Chinese halal restaurant in Houston. Try the black fungus salad and the Xin Jiang Special Lamb. Try the lamb hearts, livers and kidneys, if you dare — the Chinese version of halal food is a little wilder than the version from Bombay we are used to getting in Houston.

Best Of Houston®

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