South Texas is not a place for trendy gourmet cuisine. A few high-end restaurants experimenting with interesting combinations and the newest food fads can be found dotting Corpus Christi and McAllen, but nowhere else. That doesn't mean the food here is bad, just cheap, informal, and reliable. Family-owned Mexican restaurants dominate the scene in all corners of the region. Good seafood and barbecue establishments also are found in proliferation.