Philly has cheesesteak sandwiches. Chicago has deep dish pizza. Boston has beans (thanks, Jim Gaffigan). What do we have?
I don't think we have one, but if we were to nominate I'd say some sort of dish that combines Asian and Latin influences
If you must choose one thing, I believe this distinguishes Houston more than anything else. One could say the culinary diversity here is unique.
It's tough to think of something that is distinctly Houston. Tex-mex and BBQ apply to all of Texas. Crawfish and Gulf seafood to the whole Gulf region. Pho and other Asian food from Asia. Houston's blessed to have great examples of all of those but I can't think of anything unique to Houston. C'mon Houston chefs take up the challenge and come up with something uniquely Houston.
Is this really a dish? That sounds so damn good. Love pho. I will begin a search for this in Austin post haste.
Google searched and found an LA Crawfish at Northcross Mall on West Anderson. Will give it a try asap.
I think it's very clearly fajitas. I will only eat them in Houston, they suck everywhere else. You don't realize how amazing the tex mex in Houston is until you live somewhere else. Houston also probably has the best pho in the country. Real Mexican, real tex mex, bbq, Vietnamese, and southern food is all outstanding in the city.
Houston Press has a top 100 Houston dish list. http://www.houstonpress.com/restaur...es-2014-a-love-letter-to-houston-food-6601286 Very diverse.