I wonder if they peel the tails. Seems like I've had a seafood version of Pho and the shrimp weren't peeled. Edit - found an image online and looks like the tails are peeled.
My interpretation of the question is that it isn't about what Houston does best. It's what distinguishes Houston the most from an average city. LOL, by diversity, I didn't mean of Tex-Mex by itself. I meant the diversity of Tex-Mex, seafood, cajun, steak, Asian, etc.
I thought it originated in New Orleans. Vietnamese crawfish places are everywhere in the west coast. If i think of the food I don't think of Houston first.
This article claims Houston but who knows. http://www.houstoniamag.com/articles/2014/4/7/the-vietnamese-crawfish-craze-april-2014
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Tijerina Houston was doing TexMex before the first subdivision was built, before 1920, before 99% of the country even heard the word. A bunch of the "deep history" of Houston TexMex is gone now with Ninfas and Felix's, etc is gone now, but twenty, thirty, or even seventy years ago this was a TexMex town.