Somewhere between sucking on the heads of Vietnamese-Cajun crawfish and licking clean a plate of Mexican-style roasted goat and house-made tortillas, I wondered: Is Houston's multicultural dining scene the country's best-kept food secret? I knew the city has its share of good Mexican, solid BBQ, and cool places with big-name chefs at the stove. But I didn't expect to find strip malls filled with the best Southeast Asian food I've ever eaten, Indian-inspired chicken wings that won a spot in my bar food hall of fame, or a $14 value meal of pig's-ear cake and braised pork cheeks. Who knew that, dish after dish, I'd be scribbling "Wish I could get this back home!" in my notebook?

Think I'm overhyping the place? The Vietnamese food alone will make you a believer. Full disclosure: It's my desert island cuisine, so when I found out the city is home to the third-largest Vietnamese population in the U.S., I plotted my crawl. Starting on Bellaire Boulevard, the epicenter of ethnic Houston, I dove in deep and got blissfully messy with a crawfish boil at Crawfish & Noodles (10613 Bellaire Blvd.; 281-988-8098), where the mudbugs were dressed in an addictive Vietnamese-Cajun spiced garlic-butter sauce. At Que Huong (8200 Wilcrest Dr.; 281-495-2814) I got dizzyingly lost in the 300 menu choices yet still hit a bull's-eye with each dish, from tempura soft-shell crab to spicy salad with grilled beef and shrimp. I finished with a banh mi sandwich—my first but definitely not my last of the trip—to shame all imitators at Les Givral's Kahve (4601 Washington Ave.; 832-582-7671).

Vietnamese not your thing? Houston's also got authentic Thai, seriously great Indian, dim sum to cure the worst hangover, and street tacos that would be at home in Oaxaca, not to mention a wealth of high-end, local-ingredient-driven spots where the chef strolling the dining room may have been on TV the night before. And if you're looking for something a little more potent, the city's thriving artisanal cocktail scene will oblige.

In the middle of all this high/low culture-hopping is Tex-Mex, Houston's original take on fusion cuisine. This often overlooked stepchild of "authentic" Mexican cooking is being revived by Robb Walsh, a former restaurant critic and the author of The Tex-Mex Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos, and chef Bryan Caswell (who also cooks at Reef). At El Real Tex-Mex Café (1201 Westheimer Rd.; 713-524-1201) they offer "vintage" Tex-Mex, with most everything made from scratch and incorporating lots of old-school lard. Fajitas, the Tex-Mex poster platter, caught their first wave in Houston. They're proudly on the menu, as are dishes from other parts of the state: shrimp entrées from Brownsville, puffy tacos from San Antonio. And in case you're wondering, frozen Margaritas are still the drink of choice.

What's not to love about a town where you can get a life-affirming bowl of pho in the morning, a stellar goat biryani at lunch, juicy soup dumplings as a snack, and the freshest Gulf seafood for dinner, then cap the evening with an expertly poured cocktail? Not at all what I expected from Houston. The one thing I do expect now: a return visit to the best dining destination in Texas.

Anvil serves creative cocktails in a cool setting

H-TOWN'S NEW CLASSICS

Once you've had your fill of banh mi and puffy tacos, be sure to check out these must-visit spots for seafood, nose-to-tail dining, and expert cocktailsGone Fishing: One of my goals in Houston was to eat as much super-fresh Gulf Coast seafood as possible. Chef Bryan Caswell's sleek, sophisticated Reef was my first stop for plump baked oysters, blue crabs, and Houston's menu stalwart: redfish. 2600 Travis St.; 713-526-8282

I Feast will be waiting with a plate of black pudding. 219 Westheimer Rd.; 713-529-7788

Hammered: If you're like me, you'll spend way too much time at Anvil, the city's best bar for a well-mixed cocktail. The Golden Gate Swizzle and Maharaja Buck are house favorites; I just name my liquor and let the bartender improvise. 1424 Westheimer Rd.; 713-523-1622