—————————————————— 100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 66, Banana Pudding at Pizzitola's | Eating Our Words | Houston | Houston Press | The Leading Independent News Source in Houston, Texas

100 Favorite Dishes

100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 66, Banana Pudding at Pizzitola's

This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston® issue, we're counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston's cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least once.

Everyone knows that the ribs at Pizzitola's Bar-B-Cue are close to the best in Houston. But what this post presupposes is that...maybe the banana pudding is better.

Okay, that's just bullshit. But the banana pudding at Pizzitola's is often neglected in the face of its equally excellent ribs. So I'm here to tell you to save room for dessert at the famous barbecue joint on Shepherd (which also has a reputation for housing big money wheelers and dealers at lunch), because the banana pudding is too good to go ignored any more.

A successful banana pudding has to have four main components: thick, almost custard-like vanilla pudding; fat slices of bananas; real whipped cream; and crunchy Nilla wafers. Too often, banana puddings in restaurants skimp on one or all of these ingredients and the result is a sloppy, watery mess. Pizzitola's gets them all right, even down to the super-crunchy Nilla wafers that seem to be inserted just prior to serving.

Hell, even if you take the banana pudding to go to eat later at your desk (as I did in the photo above, as if you couldn't tell), they're still crunchy. That's a successful banana pudding.

The list so far:

No. 100: Chili cheese mac at Jus' Mac No. 99: Texas turkey sandwich at Spec's No. 98: Custard at Petite Sweets No. 97: Caprichos mixtos at Taqueria Monterrey Chiquito No. 96: Pineapple-wasabi burger at Lankford Grocery No. 95: Farmer's MKT Pizza at Phoenicia's MKT Bar No. 94: Potatoes at Money Cat Brunch No. 93: Breakfast tacos at Sunrise Taquito No. 92: Hot dog at Tacos D.F. No. 91: Avocado gelato at Frozen Cafe No. 90: Chicken sandwich at JerryBuilt Homegrown Burgers No. 89: Beer-battered asparagus at Hearsay No. 88: Honey Badger omelet at Kraftsmen Cafe No. 87: Pastelitos de carne at El Jalapeño No. 86: Pancakes at Union Kitchen No. 85: Wild boar and crab pizza at Boheme No. 84: Breakfast croissant at BB Donuts No. 83: Pretzel at Anvil Bar & Refuge No. 82: Short rib sandwich at Shepherd Park Draught House No. 81: Grilled shrimp po-boy at Pappadeaux No. 80: Dahi puri at Shiv Sagar No. 79: Aporreado at Los Corrales No. 78: Oxtail francobolli at Aldo's Cucina Italiana No. 77: Tonkotsu at Cafe Kubo's No. 76: Spinach danish from Angela's Oven No. 75: Pupusas at El Petate No. 74: Pheasant dog at Sammy's Wild Game Grill No. 73: X-Tudo burger at Friends Pizzeria No. 72: Esparragos gratinados at Tintos No. 71: Gua bao at Yummy Kitchen No. 70: Geisha dog at Happy Endings No. 69: Oyster po-boy and gumbo at Goode Co. Seafood No. 68: Ceviche at Sirena Seafood No. 67: Caldo de mariscos at Taqueria Arandas



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Katharine Shilcutt