This Week's Hot Headlines

Houston reality stars and River Oaks' newest restaurant lead the week's most popular stories

Editor’s note: Another week come and gone, so we’ve rounded up the five most popular stories on CultureMap from this past week:

1. Reality series Married to Medicine is filming in H-Town, and we have our own ideas for the cast. A Houston version of Bravo's Atlanta-based reality show, Married to Medicine, is currently filming at locations across the city. According to reports, the local cast is an international mix of mostly young women, early in their careers and facing the challenges of balancing demanding medical careers with personal life.

2. First look at River Oaks' newest restaurant with outdoor bar, crowd-pleasing menu and high-quality beef. CultureMap's food editor Eric Sandler provides a first glimpse at Harwood Grill, located in the space formerly occupied by 60 Degrees Mastercrafted. With a menu featuring steaks, burgers and crab cakes, the new spot is set to be an exciting addition to the River Oaks restaurant scene.

3. Founder of popular health food chain charged with cocaine possession and public intoxication. Mario Mendias, founder of health food company My Fit Foods, was arrested Monday night at the W Hotel in Austin after police received a call regarding a disturbance around 2:30 a.m. According to the affidavit, Mendias struck a security guard in the face three times and was subsequently arrested for public intoxication and cocaine possession.

4. Houston's newest power couple turn heads as Celebration of Reading raises $2.5 million. A Celebration of Reading, an annual event hosted by the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation, brought 2,200 people together as part of an effort to end illiteracy. The event drew many members of the Bush clan, as well as a number of celebrities, including J.J. Watt, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Reba McEntire.

5. Houston's best neighborhood restaurants: Tastemaker standouts offer great comfort food. With the 2015 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards only a few weeks away, Eric Sandler profiles the seven nominees for the Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year, which include hot spots Coltivare, Bernie's Burger Bus, Cuchara, Hugo's, Liberty Kitchen and Oysterette, Paulie's and The Queen Vic Pub & Kitchen.

Connie Kwan-Wang and Cindi Rose are among CultureMap's choices for Bravo's Houston-based reality series, "Married to Medicine."

7 Connie Wang, left, and Cindi Rose at the Foundation for Teen Health Tootsies luncheon September 2014

Photo by Max Burkhalte

Connie Kwan-Wang and Cindi Rose are among CultureMap's choices for Bravo's Houston-based reality series, "Married to Medicine."

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are you happy?

Houston continues sad streak as one of the 'unhappiest' U.S. cities

Photo by Damaris Martin on Unsplash

Even with a poor ranking, you still shouldn't ask us to "smile more."

A new nationwide study analyzing the happiest cities in America has determined Houston is slightly happier than it was last year, but it still appears to be one of the unhappiest U.S. cities in 2026.

Houston currently ranks as the 128th happiest U.S. city. Last year, it was No. 151.

WalletHub determined the happiest cities in America based on 29 relevant metrics based on "positive-psychology research" across three main categories: emotional and physical wellbeing, income and employment, and community and environment. As with most WalletHub studies, it compared the 182 most populous U.S. cities.

Fremont, California claimed the top spot as the happiest city nationwide for another year. Bismark, North Dakota and Scottsdale, Arizona, respectfully, rounded out the top three.

Here's how WalletHub ranked Houston across the three key dimensions:

No. 107 – Emotional and physical wellbeing
No. 148 – Income and employment
No. 158 – Community and environment

Despite its low ranking, Houstonians are working hard to improve their city's quality of life year after year, whether its through opening new restaurants, inviting Houston-born stars to perform at the rodeo, or having a strong job market. We also have some of the best museums, a diverse culinary scene, and iconic institutions like the Johnson Space Center. And considering that people keep moving here, Houston must be happier than other places.

Having a good job and a fun social life can qualify as factors that measure happiness, but WalletHub separately emphasized that making more money doesn't necessarily mean "more" happiness.

"For decades, researchers have explored the science of happiness and identified several core factors, including mental well-being, physical health, strong social ties, job satisfaction, and financial stability," the report said. "Still, income has its limits — studies show that earning more than $75,000 a year does not lead to greater happiness."

Elsewhere in Texas
The Dallas suburb Plano and its residents' happiness far outshines the rest of Texas, according to WalletHub. Plano ranked as the 16th happiest U.S. city, and the No. 1 happiest statewide. Austin was the only other Texas city to rank among the top 50, landing in the No. 39 spot.

This is how other Texas cities ranked in the report:

No. 70 – Irving
No. 92 – Garland
No. 106 – Grand Prairie
No. 111 – Dallas
No. 113 – Fort Worth
No. 119 – Arlington
No. 135 – Lubbock
No. 137 – El Paso
No. 140 – Laredo
No. 143 – Amarillo
No. 150 – Brownsville
No. 154 – San Antonio
No. 155 – Corpus Christi

reports san antonio wallethub

This Week's Hot Headlines

Houston reality stars and River Oaks' newest restaurant lead the week's most popular stories

Connie Kwan-Wang and Cindi Rose are among CultureMap's choices for Bravo's Houston-based reality series, "Married to Medicine."

Lizzo makes Houston feel 'Good as Hell' at sold-out Rodeo concert

New chicken restaurant flies into Houston with 'gluten-friendly' tendies

Chicken fried lobster takes top prize at RodeoHouston carnival food awards

are you happy?

Houston continues sad streak as one of the 'unhappiest' U.S. cities