Photo by Joe Stephens

No article on Tex-Mex is complete without a photo of the late, great Felix. It's in the city's bylaws.

It's been more than a century since the first Tex-Mex restaurant opened in Houston. George Caldwell brought The Original Mexican Restaurant to our city in 1907, influenced -- most agree -- by a restaurant of the same name in his hometown of San Antonio.

It would be another 20 years before Felix Mexican Restaurant opened on Lower Westheimer as one of the Tex-Mex restaurants that -- along with Ninfa's, Molina's and Leo's -- would define the genre in Houston. And it would take at least 40 more years before the cuisine had a definitive name: Tex-Mex, used to qualify a cuisine that neither purely Mexican nor purely Texan but an organic fusing of a blend of cultures throughout the region.

Diana Kennedy didn't see it that way, however, and the famous cookbook author dismissed Tex-Mex as Americanized Mexican food served at "so-called Mexican restaurants." This didn't sit well with Texans or Tejanos, who'd been serving what they simply referred to as "Mexican food" for decades.

"Texas-Mexican restaurant owners considered it an insult," wrote former Houston Press food critic Robb Walsh in his introduction to a six-part series on the history of Tex-Mex in 2000. To this day, you can usually bet that if a Texan says, "Let's go out for Mexican," you know they're talking about Tex-Mex.

Although Leo's and Felix are both closed now, Ninfa's is still recognized as the birthplaces of fajitas and Molina's as the standard bearer for the classic Tex-Mex dish of cheese enchiladas topped with chili con carne. And although Kennedy was initially dismissive of the genre, Tex-Mex is now considered to be America's first regional cuisine -- beloved not just in Texas, but throughout the world.

It's fajitas and enchiladas dishes that continue to define Tex-Mex cuisine in Houston, as much as frozen margaritas in Dallas, or the way the puffy taco symbolizes Tex-Mex in San Antonio. In compiling this list, I wanted to spotlight the 10 restaurants in Houston that preserve the standards of these beloved dishes -- the fajitas, the cheese enchiladas, the chili con queso, the margarita -- and serve as cultural touchstones for the history of the cuisine itself.

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Giggity.

There was a period of time in my life when I couldn't get enough of that first date feeling. It's akin to the adrenaline rush of skydiving or rock climbing -- except often with the promise of food or drinks in lieu of potentially plummeting to your death. (Sure, there's the danger of emotional pain instead of physical pain, but that probably won't happen until at least several dates away.)

Since a first date is often the initial and most important impression you'll make, you want that impression to be memorable. But how do you achieve "memorable" without also committing the cardinal sin of trying too hard? You plan an awesome, low-key, casual yet elegant first date -- that's how.

Although I've been out of the dating game for a while now, I still remember that my favorite first dates were just like that: low-key and loose. I enjoyed it immensely when a guy planned an evening that started out with coffee and/or a drink, with the possibility of more to come if that first sip went well. (And by "more to come," I mean dinner or hopping over to another bar to continue the evening. Get with it.) When the first-date planning was left to me, I often did the same.

Were I still dating today, these are ten of the afternoons or evenings I'd plan for a first date. All of these destinations also double as terrific occasions to reconnect with your spouse or partner as well, so book a babysitter and make it a date.

Note: Most of these first dates involve a small degree of walking, so ditch the crazy heels.

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Photo by Kevin Rigdon

Even Houston street art can't help but feel the influence of the taco truck

Picking the ten best tacos in Houston is something akin to picking the most beautiful women in Texas. There are far too many options to do any justice by limiting the list to just ten.

Instead of trying to pack the list with an arbitrary top ten, I spent the past three weeks pilfering other taco lists, talking to Houston's taco experts, driving the streets of Houston and generally gorging myself on tacos all over town in an effort to bring diversity and some sort of dignity to what may be Houston's most impossible list.

Another problem I found building this list for Eating...Our Words is that despite staying stationary a lot of the time -- some for upwards of years -- taco trucks are still mobile food units. Trucks I wanted to visit for this list -- like La Chona on the Northwest side and Tacambaro at Canino Farmers Market -- were nowhere to be found.

What follows are the very best taco varieties -- yes, I tried almost every version at each stop -- at some of Houston's very best taco trucks and taco stands.

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Photo by Troy Fields

We're at the part of the crawfish season when peeling becomes less laborious, where miniature-lobster-sized crustaceans replace the teensy mudbugs that filled your bucket just weeks ago. This is the perfect time to strap on a bib and stock up on moist towelettes for high-yield shell peeling.

Since our local fare is almost synonymous with Viet-infused anything, Vietnamese-Cajun spots dominate the roundup of crawfish joints that I've assembled. While Chinatown hosts the most abundant concentration of mudbug places in town, there are still plenty of longtime haunts that offer traditional spice mixes for the Louisiana natives who might protest any twist on traditional Cajun blends.

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Photo by Vintagemodernquilts

It's hard to beat the terrace at Tiny Boxwood's...only one other patio in Houston managed it.

Patio dining in Houston isn't quite the rage it is in more temperate cities. In fact, even cities like Chicago -- which arguably enjoys the same amount, perhaps even less, of patio-appropriate weather as we do -- seem to clamor for outdoor dining more than Houston does. Despite that fact, we are in the midst of ideal patio weather and Houston has no shortage of enjoyable outdoor space in which you may enjoy the next 17.5 days before we find ourselves in 90 degree-plus weather once again.

With glorious, short-lived patio weather in mind, here are our top 10 (give or take) patios in Houston:

10. The Creeks

Everyone in Houston has thoughts on the Creek family of restaurants -- good, bad or otherwise. Luckily for Houston, we have four to choose from. Since no two Houstonians can seem to agree on which one is best, we lumped all four here. Because all of the Creeks sit within a five-mile radius of one another, we've made it easy for you by picking all of them. For a more laid-back social vibe, we like the simplicity of Onion Creek or the so-called Austin-esque, sprawling hodgepodge that is Cedar Creek. If you prefer to BYOB, Dry Creek's small front patio is the way to go. If you can't be bothered with crushed granite gravel on your nice shoes, Canyon Creek is a far tidier if more stark patio.

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Just 24 months ago, making a list of Houston's ten best beer bars would have been far easier. Since that time, not only have a ton of new beer bars opened up, many places have elevated their game. In fact, our rough draft for this list boasted over 20 bars.

It's true that a solid handful of bars could make a case to be on this list, so much so that we're sure we left out at least one of your favorites. A few, like Cottonwood and Nobi, are too new to be considered. Some places from our initial list were just too far away to be considered, like Brews Brothers in Galveston. Still more barely missed the cut, which made picking the eighth, ninth and tenth place spots far more difficult than determining our top three. Each and every one is a contender and we expect this list to look vastly different next year as a result.

With that said, here is our list of the ten very best beer bars in Houston.

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Photo by Troy Fields

Pull up a seat at our No. 2 pick, 1252 Tapas.

Although etymologists agree that the word "tapas" comes from the Spanish word tapar, which means "to cover," that's where agreement on the origin of the Spanish snack-stravaganza ends.

Seminal cookbook The Joy of Cooking claims that "tapas" originally referred to slices of bread or meat used to cover glasses of sherry served in Andalusian taverns. The covers -- especially the salty meat -- served the dual purpose of keeping flies out of the sherry and encouraging patrons' thirst. My handy Food Lover's Companion backs up this theory. Although it's the most popular theory currently in play, there's more to the history of tapas than just sherry.

Places serving tapas-style dishes predate restaurants, and were once one of the only places people could get food outside of their own homes prior to the 18th century. "France was the birthplace of what we now call the restaurant," write Jean-Louis Flandrin and Massimo Montanari in Food: a Culinary History. "With the exception of inns, which were primarily for travelers, and street kitchens...where in Europe at that time could one purchase a meal outside the home? Essentially in places where alcoholic beverages were sold, places equipped to serve simple, inexpensive dishes either cooked on the premises or ordered from a nearby inn or food shop, along with wine, beer, and spirits, which constituted the bulk of their business."

Taverns such as these, Flandrin and Montanari note, "existed not only in France but also in other countries. In Germany, Austria, and Alsace, Brauereien and Weinstuben served delicatessen, sauerkraut, and cheese, for example; in Spain bodegas served tapas."

In keeping with the tavern tradition, a good tapas restaurant should ideally feature an excellent selection of beverages -- especially wine -- and a cozy, relaxing atmosphere. Tapas restaurants aren't fancy; they're familiar. And these days, tapas dishes should be appropriately sized for sharing with friends. The days of a meal fitting on top of your glass are long over.

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The dating Web site How About We just released the results of an in-depth study about the dating habits of singles across America. And, rightfully so, our dear Houston was one of the cities involved in the study. (We are so hot right now, you guys. I can't even.)

We took a look at their list of H-town's Most Popular First Date Eats and put together our top spots for each type of cuisine using our 2012 Best of Houston® winners.

Side note: Apparently, Houston singles prefer to woo their dates at places like Lucky Strike, the Saint Arnold Brewery and, of course, the Houston Zoo. Because nothing says romance like a couple of shit-flinging monkeys doing it in front of you.

Here they are:

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This shiny new Foursquare badge could soon be yours.

Each September, the Houston Press releases our Best of Houston® issue after slavishly compiling what we consider to be the best this city has to offer -- from theater companies and sports figures to bars and restaurants.

With that in mind, we're excited to announce a new partnership with Foursquare, the app that allows you to check in to local businesses, places and events, find out what others are saying about those things and generally stalk one another -- but in that amiable, pleasant, social-media way.

Our partnership with Foursquare will allow you to explore Houston even more easily, and here's why: Our Voice Places data will sync with Foursquare, which means you can find out about events, concerts, parties, happy hours and all the fun stuff that's normally only found in the Houston Press calendar listings. And if you visit a restaurant or bar's Foursquare page, you'll be able to see all of the Houston Press info on that locale -- from our own reviews and blog posts to other Voice Places and Foursquare users' helpful hints and tips.

But that's not all...

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Photo by Troy Fields

Luigi's pizza is best served with a side of chicken wings.

For the next 20 weeks, we'll be rounding up the runners-up to our 2012 Best of Houston® winners. In many categories, picking each year's winner is no easy task. We'll be spotlighting 20 of those categories, in which the winner had hefty competition from other Houston bars and restaurants.

Earlier this year, we asked: "Is Great Pizza in Houston Finally on the Rise?" The answer, six months later, appears to be a resounding yes.

Not even a year ago, our Top 10 Pizza list (compiled to go along with our 2011 Best of Houston® issue) didn't even feature half the entries you see below. It's not that some of them didn't exist, mind you; it's that restaurants across the city have stepped up their pizza game -- whether they're a pizza place or not. In fact, much like this week's list of the Top 10 Restaurants in Montrose, 10 slots wasn't nearly enough to chronicle all the great pizza we've got going on right now. It's a great problem to have.

And if this welcome trend continues, 2013 may well be the Year of the Pizza in Houston. It's been a long time coming.

Honorable Mention: Luigi's

Luigi's is your classic mom-and-pop pizzeria, baking New York-style pizzas in a wood-burning oven for a reasonable price. The neighborhood eatery has a bocce ball court, is BYOB and offers plenty of patio space for you and your dog. The menu also includes tasty calzones, cheesesteak sandwiches and daily specials like tortellini in lamb sauce, but it's really all about the pizza here (even if -- like me -- you have to get your slice with a side of Luigi's irresistible jumbo buffalo wings). Be sure to save room for dessert, too; the gelato is as much of a draw as the pies.

See Also:
- 10 Most Useless Kitchen Gadgets
- 10 Deceptively Easy Dishes
- 5 Delicious Foods with Disgusting Ingredients

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