Houston late-night or "dive" restaurants (and bars)?

My old college roommates and I are coming in for the Texas Bowl. Although we like spending time with other alumni at the game, we’d like to try a little bit of the local culture. We’d prefer to avoid tourist traps and warehouse-style restaurants.

Any restaurants you’d recommend? Cajun, South American, Barbecue, or Tex-Mex would be preferred because we can get a lot of the other foods in the places we live. Of course, any good food would be fine.

As for bars, anything with pints, darts, and a place to talk would be good. We see each other about once every five years, and at least two of the three of us aren’t looking to meet anyone. Good beer and a decent jukebox would be nice too.

Thanks.

Cajun: the Ragin Cajun is the best. The location on Richmond Ave is the original and the only one I have ever been to. If you want to avoid other tourist stay from the one on Main St.

http://www.b4-u-eat.com/houston/restaurants/reviews/rsv0022.asp

South American: Nelroe Churrascaria is an all you can eat Brazilian steakhouse. It is on Montrose Blvd. and tends to be more up scale. Price is around $30.00 to 40.00 per person.

http://www.nelorechurrascaria.com/

Barbecue: The one and only place for barbecue in Houston Goode Co., Barbecue on Kirby Dr. All the meats are slow cooked to perfection on mesquite and the sauce is good and spicy.

http://goodecompany.com/goodeRestaurantBBQKirby.aspx

It may be hard to find a good Tex-Mex that is not going to crowded. The better ones tend to be packed with locals.

As far as a hole in wall kind of place I like La Mexicana on Fairview St.

http://www.lamexicanarestaurant.com/index.htm

The best Tex-Mex in town is at Ninfa’s on Navigation Blvd. This the original location of a chain of restaurants but this one is the only one still run by the same family to started the chain. It is located just outside of downtown behind Minute Maid Park. Several downtown hotels send tourist there and locals tend to keep it crowded but there is not better place for Tex-Mex.

http://mamaninfas.com/

I don’t know about bars.