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Best Chicken Soup

Tacos del Julio

Unlike a standard caldo de pollo or caldo xochitl, the caldo Tlalpeño at Tacos del Julio calls for the addition of a very important ingredient: chipotle chiles in adobo sauce. The dark red chiles come in a little plastic cup full of adobo, allowing you to flavor the broth as you see fit as stocky white squares of queso panela bob throughout the soup. The vegetables are similarly thick: ripe hunks of carrot, avocado and potato are barely covered by the broth in the bowl. Dosed with generous squirts of fresh lime, the caldo Tlalpeño is the kind of stuff that will fully reinvigorate you — and for less than $4.

Best Milk Shake

Avalon Diner

Photo by Houston Press Staff
There's nothing quite as satisfying as an old-fashioned milk shake made with real ice cream and served in a soda fountain glass with a metal mixing can on the side. At Avalon Diner, they've been doing it for years. Open since 1938, Avalon Diner is part of that dying breed of places that still boast a traditional soda fountain. Regular flavors like chocolate, vanilla and strawberry are always good, but you can also get banana, pineapple, butterscotch, Oreo cookie, mocha and Peppermint Patty. These cold and sweet confections are irresistible all year long.

Best Bang for the Buck

Oishii

In a city filled with swanky, upscale sushi restaurants serving up overpriced, Americanized fare, Oishii is a breath of fresh air. You won't find any pretentious decor, exotic cocktails or blaring techno music at the tiny restaurant just outside of Greenway Plaza; just warm, friendly service and traditional Japanese-style sushi. The happy hour — $1.25 domestics and $1 sushi Mondays through Fridays from 3 to 7 p.m. — is hard to beat, and the lunch menu is an all-out steal. But while the prices may be low, the quality is not. After all, "oishii" is Japanese for "delicious."

Best Cheap Seafood Restaurant

J & J Seafood Market

Jeff Balke
J & J is ostensibly a seafood market, with fresh flounder, red snapper, bass, shrimp and scallops on ice. More so, it bustles with eager customers lined up for the exceptional Gulf Coast-style fried fish, shrimp, and oyster dinners and combos. You get a choice of trout, drum, red, catfish or tilapia, and a large piece of it with three shrimp and french fries will cost $6.69. It doesn't stop there, with a menu of egg rolls, shrimp fried rice, gumbo, boudin balls and deep-fried everything else. You can watch the fresh fish being cleaned while you wait, and if you want to cook it yourself, there's a huge selection of any seafood seasoning that Texas and Louisiana have to offer. Reminds you why you live here.

Best Date Night Restaurant

Giacomo's Cibo e Vino

Everything about Giacomo's whispers romance, but not in that cheesy Harlequin sense. It's effortlessly and casually romantic, just as you'd want your date to be. Fairy lights twinkle in the canopy of the sweet little patio; the wine bar is dimly lit and well-stocked with Italian classics; the dining room is low-slung and moddish; and the small plates of elegant (and surprisingly inexpensive) food are meant to be shared, leading to plenty of Lady and the Tramp-style moments along the way as you both go for that last little chard-filled raviolo and lock eyes.

Best Mom and Pop Restaurant

Mel's Country Cafe

Dawn McGee
Mel's Country Cafe is a family-run establishment off the beaten path in Tomball that delivers on all the name implies. Diner tables fill the ranch house and add to the comfort factor when you step in. A 16-ounce chicken-fried steak anchors a menu that offers home-style victuals like greens, fried okra and catfish. The servers operate with a relaxed ease about them that you'd expect to find in the Tomball area. What could be homier than that?

Best Place to Take a Staycation

Caf� Mawal

Photo by Troy Fields
Dining at Café Mawal, you can pretend you're in the ancient country. Not only does it serve authentically Jordanian food — think grilled beef and chicken kebabs and light salads like fattoush — it also offers a unique dining experience inside its traditional Bedouin tent, made of goat hide and draped with traditional textiles. Take your meal and hookah into the tent, relaxing on the ground, and you just might think you're in Amman for the evening.

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