1. Bissonnet strip centers in Gulfton

Houston food blogger Bruce of Chili Bob's Houston Eats said it best about my favorite food neighborhood in town:

Bissonnet is one of our great food streets with a very wide diversity of eateries. As far as ethnic or national cuisines go it's probably most known for Mexican and Salvadoran but there is Greek, Italian, Cuban, Ethiopian, Nigerian, Vietnamese, Kosher, Caribbean, Filipino, Colombian, Pakistani and probably several others I've forgotten. The intersection of Hillcroft and Bissonnet has quite a diverse collection itself. Within a block are Hoagie's and More (Vietnamese/Salvadoran - a banh mi/pho/pupusa shop), Sheba (Ethiopian), Aroma Pizza Cafe (Kosher), Pupusa Buffet, Taqueria La Fogata, the venerable Droubi's (which I have just re-discovered after not having been for several years), a Honduran mobile unit and this place - a Turkish grocery.

While I wish there were more Ethiopian restaurants in town, Sheba Cafe is an amazing example of the cuisine. And right next door is one of my favorite "fusion" restaurants, Hoagies & More, which sells banh mi and pupusas...but no hoagies. There isn't a cuisine you can't find in Gulfton -- perhaps classic continental cuisine is the only thing that's excluded -- and it's all easily accessible for every budget, for every mode of transportation, for every socioeconomic status. Gulfton is the great equalizer, where the love of food is the only common denominator in its restaurants.

Honorable mention:

Collaborative chef-driven dinners, Grand Prize Bar when Feast serves dinner, cortados at Catalina Coffee, omakase and happy hours at Kata Robata, boudin at Pyburn's, Xuco Xicana, the Saigon "banh mi" burger at The Burger Guys, Wok n Roll, grilled oysters and crawfish at Wild Cajun, Revival Market, the newly revamped Yelapa Playa Mexicana and the Tierra Caliente taco truck at West Alabama Ice House.