This is the list to top them all: Introducing Top 100, CultureMap's ranking of the very best restaurants in Houston. Our list offers a comprehensive take on Houston dining, with thoughtful rankings from No. 1 all the way to No. 100.

It highlights Houston's diversity and is rooted in the neighborhoods where our readers live — for a place in the 'burbs to earn a spot, it must be worth the drive. It also has a bit of a sense of humor, which is how a divey Chinese restaurant with excellent fried dumplings winds up on the list.

Houston has over 10,000 restaurants. Sifting through them to figure out the top 1 percent wasn't easy, but six years as CultureMap's food editor provides a strong foundation. Visiting the restaurants — all of them since the beginning of 2018, many in the last four months — separated the merely good from the best.

Generally, readers can think of the ranking as follows: 1-30, the city's most outstanding restaurants regardless of price, cuisine, location, or style; 31-60, restaurants that are outstanding in their category; 61-90, restaurants that do most things very well and make Houston a more exciting place to dine; 91-100, restaurants with one or two outstanding dishes or that I feel a personal affection towards (for example, the French dip at Houston's).

Ultimately, this list is designed to serve our readers. Our Where to Eat Right Now series provides a snapshot of Houston's dining scene at any given moment, but we have never offered an overall perspective — until now.

People love to ask me what my favorite restaurants are. Now you know.

— Eric Sandler