The eggplant is a fine-looking fruit (yes, technically it's a fruit). It's big and round and dressed up in royal purple. But let's admit it, most of us are at a loss as to what to do with it in the kitchen. So why not leave that task up to the cooks at Brasil? They've certainly proved themselves worthy enough with their delicious baked eggplant sandwich. Big yummy hunks of the nutritious food (low in calories, but high in fiber) are nestled between fresh spinach, tomatoes, feta and a delicious black-olive tapenade -- pure delight with every bite. The sandwich is served on warm French or focaccia bread with a side of bagel chips. While we're busy honoring the lovely eggplant, here's another fun fact: Although technically a fruit, the eggplant is botanically categorized as a berry. But who cares when it tastes this good?

With 57 draft beers and 52 in bottles, The Ginger Man has something to please even the most discerning drinker. It also has the best selection of ciders in Houston. Draft selections include our locally brewed cask-conditioned St. Arnold's Amber, as well as a wonderfully refreshing Paulaner Hefeweizen (Germany) wheat beer. Then there's the highly complex Young's Double Chocolate (Great Britain) and the Lindemans Framboise (Belgium), with more than a hint of raspberries. Bottled beers include an organic brew called Wolaver's Brown Ale (United States) and the wonderfully named Delirium Tremens (Belgium), which is what you may end up with if you attempt to try all the brews available here.

Drinking bourbon at the Twelve Spot is a celebration of both the new and the old. The bar is one of Houston's newest hip spots, but its sexy decor is made up of wood as old as the casks that distill this sweetest of whiskeys. The Bourbon Challenger is a fancy name for Wild Turkey with a splash of orange juice and Rose's Lime. According to the bartender, the original drink was made with three different shots of bourbon, but that hiked up the price so high they quit making them. Mind you, the kinder, gentler version can still be something of a challenge to activities like walking, talking and taking down phone numbers. So go easy if you're interested in socializing with the Twelve Spot's exotic crowd.

Sometimes in Houston you need to fight fire with ice -- and the right thing to put over that ice is horchata, the Mexican agua fresca made from rice and sugar. Sure, there are pleasant versions flavored with vanilla or cinnamon, but the best of all is coconut. The deli of your local Fiesta Mart offers a coconutty version so good that you'll be tempted to suck the last sandy dregs of rice from the bottom of your Styrofoam cup. But when a grande costs only $1.39, why not just spring for a second?

Remember the carousel of toppings you used to get with your baked potato at fancy restaurants? Well, you'll still find the old sour cream-go-round at Barbecue Inn. Opened in 1946, this place is a time capsule, and as the long lines at lunch attest, it's also one of Houston's most beloved restaurants. The barbecue is good, but it isn't really the main attraction. The fried chicken is among the best in the city, and the chicken-fried steak slathered in milky cream gravy is awesome. Some people come here just for the french fries. But if you had to pick one dish that Barbecue Inn is best at, it would have to be the big succulent fried shrimp. Ask for a bottle of Tabasco and some extra horseradish if the bland cocktail sauce isn't hot enough for you.

This place started as a wholesale showroom for an Italian food wholesaler. Nundini makes most of the gelati and sorbetti you see in local Italian restaurants. The front of the warehouse doubles as a retail store and Italian deli. The gelati are very good, and the sorbetti are absolutely outrageous. The unbelievably intense raspberry ties with the snow white peach sorbetto as the best sherbet on the planet. The more unusual gelato flavors include cassata, which is made with spiced fruits and nougat and has a sort of liqueur flavor, and torroncino, which is made from the Italian candy of the same name. From time to time, Nundini makes some uncommon sorbetti flavors like lavender and balsamic vinegar as well. They also do special orders: For a group of visiting Japanese dignitaries, they once turned a whole fish into tuna sorbetto.

Over at the Hard Rock, it's not all about framed trinkets of rock-and-roll days gone by and a stocked gift shop. They also serve delicious food that's worth eating under a glass display of Rick Springfield's surgical scrubs from General Hospital. And believe it or not, one of their best delicacies is their milk shake, because, unlike those at some other Houston eateries, their milk shakes actually taste like freakin' milk shakes. When you order a strawberry milk shake, there are real strawberries in that bad boy -- none of that syrupy stuff like they serve at IHOP. Usually the Hard Rock serves it up in a slim glass. But when you order it to go, they give you this big-ass Styrofoam cup, and they thick that baby up so good that you have to suck with all your might just to get a sip. It's a struggle, but it's a good one. Fight the good fight, the sweet fight.

At least four things have to be right to make the perfect espresso. First, the ingredient: finely ground Italian espresso-roasted coffee. Second, the equipment: a machine capable of bringing the water to 2000 degrees and delivering the right pressure. Third: the know-how, in the form of an experienced barista who both knows how to tamp down the coffee in the gruppa (the metal cup) and keeps a watchful eye on the whole process. Last: knowing to serve it in a porcelain demitasse, which is far more civilized than a cardboard cup and makes it taste much better. A fine espresso should be enjoyed much as you would a fine wine. Swish it around in your mouth to get the full flavor and texture; it should have an almost syrupy feel. The thick, reddish-brown crema on top, the symbol of a perfect extraction, should be thick enough to hold two teaspoons of sugar for a few seconds before letting it sink to the bottom of the cup. At Dolce & Freddo, that's what you get.

The first time a friend ordered the L-2 lunch special of garlic string beans at Kam's, we thought she was insane. Maybe all the hot yoga she was doing was melting her mind. Who would order just a plate of green beans for lunch? Have one, she said, as we munched on our lemon chicken. We ate one. Then another. Then we tried to pawn off our chicken dinner and take all of her lunch. It's like the owners of Kam's hijacked Jack, stole his magic beans and planted a special super-flavorful beanstalk in their kitchen.

If you go to the Third Ward community convenience store Reggae Bodega, you'll find Ariell's cookies all laid out on the counter just waiting for you. They come in several scrumptious flavors: oatmeal raisin, cocoa butter, Belgian chocolate chunk, organic rolled oat and, let's not forget the mutha of them all, Ali's Carrot Cake. With their all-natural, made-from-the-finest-ingredients aesthetic, these are definitely the kind of cookies that were made to be eaten with a glass (or bucket) of milk. There's a stool right next to the counter, if you're so overwhelmed by the taste that you need to sit down. Each cookie costs $2, and they're worth every damn crumb. The chef's "cookie hot line" is temporarily disconnected, so you may have to get in touch with the guy (he named the company after his daughter) about his delightful treats at [email protected]. Or just skip over to the bodega with a bottle of Oak Farms and go nuts right there.