A lot of things have changed since Houston hosted its first Super Bowl in 1974—not least, the dining scene. In the 1970s, the city was dominated by steakhouses, seafood buffets, and Italian "rat pack"-style dining rooms. Following the 1973 Arab oil embargo, the city was hitting a boom time big-time.
Texans still cook a great steak—and Houston is certainly a beef town—but now the metropolis, the fourth largest in the U.S. has emerged as one of the country’s top restaurant cities. Exemplary cooking runs the gamut from comfort food to fine dining, authentic Mexican fare, and almost every kind of Asian cuisine you can think of. That’s due, in part, to the city's diverse population, which means that Korean influences, say, find their way onto an ambitious American menu more easily than might happen in other cities. What’s harder to figure out is why their bar scene is so terrific. But it is.
