Haven’t picked a side yet in the great gravy battle? Still in the undecided column when it comes to Goodson’s vs. Mel’s? We were too, until we decided to settle certain debates once and for all: Texas chili without beans at Armadillo Palace or the sweet, Greek-style chili—with beans—that's long topped the coneys at JCI? Does The Breakfast Klub really make the city's definitive chicken and waffles? Is there a better slice of pie in town than the Bayou Goo at House of Pies? And is there a more nostalgia-inducing plate of biscuits and gravy anywhere than at Lankford Grocery? The results of these delicious decisions, below.

Chili, Two Ways

No Cincinnatian—or Terlinguan, for that matter—is more serious about chili than your average Houstonian. Whether the hearty stew should be served with or without beans is a more contentious issue than the proper pronunciation of “San Felipe” (for the record, we’re staunchly in the “San Fuh-LEE-pay” camp). 

	Goode’s Armadillo Palace	JCI Grill
Founded:	2005, across the street from the original Goode Co. BBQ opened by Jim Goode in 1977	1923, by Greek immigrant brothers Tom and James Papadakis
Meat:	“We get our venison from Broken Arrow Ranch outside of Ingram,” says Levi Goode, Jim’s son and keeper of the Goode family chili con carne recipe, upon which the Armadillo Palace’s is based. The venison is added after they reconstitute and puree New Mexican and ancho chile pods. “It’s a little bit more heart-healthy than your traditional pork and beef style,” says Goode. “It’s not an easy process, but we think it makes a difference.”	“We use inside round beef chunks instead of ground beef,” says Darrin Straughan, president of James Coney Island. But that’s not all—they also use beef suet. Before adding the spices, tomatoes, or even water, “we melt the fat and make a roux,” Straughan explains of a original family recipe so guarded it’s kept in a safe. “It reminds you of a Texas chili, but Jimmy [Papadakis]”— James Papadakis’s son—“said it was devised by his uncle and his dad.”
Served with:	grated cheese, diced onions, Saltine crackers	grated cheese, diced onions, beans on request
Price:	$9.95	$3.99
Beans?	“Beans are a little bit of a northern thing; it’s not traditional to our great state, so we just figured beans are really kind of a filler if you don’t have enough meat to go around,” says Goode. “There’s plenty of meat in Texas, so no need for that.”	“I actually prefer our chili with beans, because it’s too rich to eat [otherwise],” says Straughan.

Edge: Too close to call: you decide.

Chicken & Waffles

	The Original Timmy Chan	The Breakfast Klub
Price:	$6.25	$14.99
Number of waffles:	1	1
Number of wings:	6 to 9	6
Endearing quirk:	every Timmy Chan in Houston is the “original” Timmy Chan	spelling everything possible on its menu—e.g., pekans, biskits, bakon—with a “k”
Length of wait before ordering:	between 30 seconds and three minutes	between 30 minutes and three hours

Edge: The Original Timmy Chan, thanks to the sheer convenience of its multiple locations (the Medical Center spot, address above, is our favorite) and super-short lines.

Chicken & Dumplings

	Cleburne Cafeteria	This Is It
Price	$6.49	$7.04 (small); $11.37 (full serving)
Year opened:	1941	1959
Endearing quirk:	consistently refusing to take credit cards; bring cash	an absurdly terrible parking situation; carpool
When you can get it:	Tuesdays only	Tuesdays, Saturdays
On the side:	squash, mashed potatoes	yams, cabbage, collards
Finish it off with:	homemade chocolate icebox pie	homemade banana pudding

Edge: This Is It, for its twice-weekly availability and for chef/owner Craig Joseph’s adherence to grandfather Frank Jones’s recipes.

Shrimp ’n’ Grits It

Besides a prodigious number of rooms (seven plus the Courtyard patio at Brennan’s, five plus the Bears’ Garden patio at Ouisie’s), these two Houston landmarks have something else in common: both lay claim to the best shrimp ‘n’ grits in the city. But whose is the greater grit?

	Brennan’s of Houston	Ouisie’s Table
Founded:	1967	1973 (moved to new location in 1995)
Local flavor:	Housed in the New Orleans–style 1929 John F. Staub building that originally served as the Junior League of Houston’s headquarters; damaged in 2008 by Hurricane Ike and a subsequent two-alarm fire, Brennan’s was rebuilt and reopened in 2010.	Horton Foote based his play Dividing the Estate on chef and owner Elouise “Ouisie” Adams Jones’s family; Miss Ruby, the scarlet dress Jones’s sister wore to the 1958 Houston Debutante Ball, hangs in the restaurant from Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day each year.
Shrimp:	Six premium Gulf 16/20 shrimp from Jimmy Evans of J&J Shrimp Company in Houston, coated with Creole seasoning and seared in a hot pan	Six—and always from the Gulf
Grits:	stone-ground yellow from Homestead Gristmill in Waco, which executive chef Danny Trace calls “the best grits you can buy”; cooked down with milk and butter; Texas goat cheese, roasted corn, and fresh thyme added at the end	“A lot of people think grits are just grits, but that definitely is not the case,” says Jones. “We think we found the best to be made by Anson Mills in Columbia, South Carolina. Their grits are stone-ground and milled from heirloom corn.”
Price:	$25 (lunch); $36 (dinner)	$18 (brunch); $20 (lunch); $24 (dinner)
Why it’s the best:	“It’s about flavor, and it’s about seasoning absolutely everything,” says Trace, who’s been overseeing the kitchen at Brennan’s since 2010. That includes deglazing the pan with both white wine and brandy. “We’re probably the only restaurant in town that uses two types of alcohol,” he laughs. "Once it’s deglazed we splash cream in the pan and put in [compound] butter," says Trace. "You don’t come here for the lack of calories."	“The basic recipe comes from one of the most exceptional chefs I ever met, Bill Neal of Chapel Hill, North Carolina,” says Jones. “I had the pleasure of getting to know him before he became famous, and he personally okayed me using this recipe. Over the years, we've had two people who worked in our kitchen and went on to become chefs on their own try to copy ours. We were happy to hear from their customers [that] neither of them were able to replicate ours.”

Edge: Too close to call. You decide.

Pancakes & Syrup

	Fountain View Cafe	The Buffalo Grille
Founded:	1983, by Stephen Drayer	1984, by Mac McAleer
Run today by:	Stephen Drayer	multiple generations of the McAleer family
Number of pancakes in a stack:	three	two
Price:	$6.10	$5.95
Secret ingredient:	plenty of vanilla extract	hot maple syrup served from a carafe

Edge: Fountain View Cafe, for lacy, thin, vanilla-perfumed, crepe-like pancakes that aren’t so filling you can’t order a signature omelet too.

Biscuits & Gravy

	BRC Gastropub	Lankford Grocery
Founded:	2010, by Lance Fegen and Lee Ellis	1938, by Nona and Aubrey Lankford
Run today by:	Lance Fegen and Lee Ellis	Eydie Lankford Prior, her husband Cotton, and their family
Served on:	Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2:30	Saturday mornings from 7 a.m. to noon
Served with:	fried chicken, eggs, bacon jam, french fries	two sausage patties
Price:	$18	$5

Edge: Lankford Grocery, despite its cash-only policy, for being a tried-and-true classic.

Pie Fight

Two pies named for the Bayou City. Only one can claim the title. Things could get messy.

	Bayou Goo, House of Pies	Bayou City Mud Pie, The Chocolate Bar
Crust:	crushed pecans	fudge brownie
Filling:	sweet cream cheese, vanilla custard, chocolate chunks	chocolate mousse
Topping:	whipped cream, chocolate shavings	whipped cream, chopped pecans
Price (slice):	$4.11	$5.95
Price (whole pie):	$13	$45

Edge: Bayou Goo, House of Pies, for the rock-bottom whole-pie price and 24/7 availability.

Save