Besides the fact that the orange building with hammered-tin ceiling and yellow-stucco interior is pretty retro in itself, the food at Maria Selma harks back to bygone times. Traditional enchilada dishes feature the meat and sauce on top of the tortillas, not rolled up inside. And the old-style Mexican flavors mingle in such soft tacos as carne asada con nopales (marinated beef steak with grilled cactus) and the tender pork loin in green mole. Comfort food doesn't get much better than the hearty caldo pollo and the pastor (pork) tortas made with thick telera bread. It's a Ret-Mex spin on soup and a sandwich.

Avalon Diner "Justly famous since 1938" isn't just a marketing phrase for this classic River Oaks joint, which has spawned two offspring. The food here is just like Mom's, and it will fill your tummy. Old-style drugstore hot dogs and hamburgers (the drippy kind) crowd the menu, along with thick club sandwiches, salads that are a meal on their own and Texas treats like Frito pies. Avalon also serves farm-fresh breakfasts -- heaping plates of eggs, toast and potatoes, or homemade biscuits smothered in cream gravy made with chunks of sausage. And don't forget the fountain drinks: The limeades and cherry Cokes complete the flashback to another, simpler time.

Tucked away in a corner of the Heights, this all-night Tex-Mex mix offers fantastic, affordable food to all walks of life. Wander in around 3 a.m. You'll see barhoppers getting that fatty high-protein burrito fix necessary to whittling away the effects of too many martinis. You'll find artists taking a break from their creative woes, seeking solace in perfectly spiced mole enchiladas. You'll find a table of police officers enjoying a moment to socialize with their comrades over coffee and sopaipillas. What we like most about the Flower are the freshly made tortillas. Anytime from four in the afternoon to four in the morn, a waiter will approach your table with the hot bread, fresh off the mechanized comal to accompany your meal. Spanish Flower will satisfy, whether it's an eye-opening breakfast or that last taste of heaven before stumbling off into dreamland.

The Russian Bear is actually two dining establishments in one. The front room is a charming little cafe with excellent Russian food -- a wonderful place to take the kids. But on the other side of the room divider, there's an exotic-looking nightclub with red velvet curtains, huge mirrors and crystal chandeliers that serves up dinner and Russian entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights. If you're a collector of bizarre dining experiences, don't miss the Russian Bear nightclub dinner. Make a reservation, gather six or eight of your strangest friends, and come prepared to party. When the folk dancers, the belly dancer and the singers are finished, the crowd takes over the dance floor for some swinging Slavic disco.

With close to 200 items on the menu, if you can't find something to eat here, there's something seriously wrong with you. It's the largest menu in town. Fortunately, they've organized the menu into logical sections; nevertheless, it will probably take you longer to decide what to eat than to eat it. There is so much to choose from that picking just a few items to highlight is almost a futile task. Favorite appetizers include the avocado egg rolls, Thai lettuce wraps and California guacamole and Brie melt. There are 11 different pizzas and 13 different pastas, the standouts being barbecue chicken pizza and Louisiana chicken pasta. The house specialities include a grilled tuna burger, orange chicken and chicken marsala, and the entrées range from seafood to steak to pork, in varieties too numerous to mention. With 34 different cheesecakes, it might take some parties a long time just to do dessert. The portions are big as well.

La Griglia No longer a Vallone enterprise (it's now part of Fertitta Land), La Griglia is still the extended-power-luncheon hot spot. Its funky decor never distracts from the patrons -- this is, after all, Houston's prime see-and-be-seen locale -- but the food ain't half bad, either. The bread basket, with those yummy pizza slices, and a glass of Merlot alone will see you into the first hour of your long lunch. The restaurant has excellent pasta dishes, margarita pizza and veal chops. But a long lunch doesn't have to be a heavy one: La Griglia does a great cobb salad, and the tomato tower, with wedges of fresh, luscious tomatoes layered with cheese and crab, is perfect for that expense-account lunch. On a chilly day, the shrimp bisque with a bit of sherry poured in will keep you from going back to the office at all.

Jim Goode is a fisherman. If you don't believe it, check out the photos on the wall. Goode is the intense-looking character in the flowing ZZ Top beard and the chef's pants decorated with skulls. And he seems to have been photographed holding up a string of nearly every variety of fish that swims in the Gulf of Mexico. Goode Co.'s cooking is pure Texas. There's catfish, redfish, Gulf red snapper, flounder and shrimp, all of it simply fried or grilled over mesquite and served with a minimum of accompaniments. For appetizers there's boiled shrimp, crabs, raw oysters or ceviche campechana. The Mexican seafood cocktail comes with lots of shrimp, crab and big chunks of avocado in a spicy salsa with tortilla chips. The daily fishing report for Galveston Bay is blown up and posted on an easel in the dining room, just in case you want to take the rest of the day off.

People put a lot of faith in the cooks, servers and busboys who work at their favorite diner. Patrons want to know that when they place their order and get their meal, they're in good hands. They wanna look in that waitress's eyes and know they have nothing to worry about -- not just with their dining experience, but with everything in general: the state of the world, the weather, their financial woes…And the decent, all-American waitresses at the 59 Diner are in your corner. They make you feel like life is worth living, dammit! "Everything's gonna be all right, honey," they seem to be saying through each smile and Coke refill. These are the gals who men were fighting for back in WWII ("Johnny, please come home safely!"). These are the gals your mother constantly pressures you to hook up with so she can have the grandkids she needs. These are the gals who can complete you. To paraphrase Prince, "complete me, baby, 'cause I just can't take no more!"

Brenner's was well loved by several generations of Houstonians, and there were a lot of moans and groans when it closed its doors last year. But the place has reopened after a complete renovation by its new owner. Landry's Restaurants Inc. CEO Tilman Fertitta had fond memories of eating here when he was growing up, and he gave the place a sentimental restoration. Sitting in the newly redone main dining room, you feel like you're visiting an antique inn out in the country. The impressive gardens and waterfalls have been further expanded. The steaks are wet-aged, USDA Prime, and they're served on an oval plate in a puddle of au jus. It's a smart idea. The meat juice soaks in as you cut each bite, so there's never a chance for the meat to get dry. The Gulf red snapper with crabmeat is also outstanding.

Bombay Sweets & Pure Vegetarian Restaurant The $4.50 all-you-can-eat vegetarian buffet here also includes crispy papadum and bubbly hot nan bread. You can use the straight-out-of-the-oven nan to shovel the luxuriously buttery saag paneer straight into your mouth. The lentil stews called dahls on the buffet line are extraordinary; there's one made with green lentils and tomatoes and another with yellow lentils and lots of spices. Try them both over the Punjabi rice, which is spiked with herbs, spices and green peas. And don't miss the velvety miniature stuffed eggplant fried in chick-pea batter and served in a spicy tomato-ginger sauce. Kadhi pakora, crusty graham flour dumplings that look like chunks of meat floating in a yogurt-based yellow curry, is another standout. And the black-eyed pea masala is incredibly spicy. In truth, you can hardly go wrong with any of the featured dishes. Sure, it's a vegetarian restaurant, but the food is so good, you won't even notice there isn't any meat.