This Week's Hot Headlines

James Beard winner opens new Heights restaurant and more top stories

The Green Room opens March 5.

Courtesy of The Green Room

Editor's note: It's time to look back at the top Houston news of the week, including a Heights restaurant debut and our highly anticipated Tastemaker Awards nominee reveal. Get the details on our top stories below, then visit this guide to plan your weekend.

1. James Beard-winning chef opens 26-seat new restaurant in the Heights. An intimate new restaurant with a James Beard Award-winning chef is coming to the Heights. The Green Room will open for dinner on Thursday, March 5.

2. Houston suburb surprises as a booming millennial hotspot in 2026. A new Houston-area city has emerged a top destination for millennial movers, and it's pretty surprising: Conroe.

3. Announcing the Houston nominees for 2026 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards. Our 2026 CultureMap Houston Tastemaker nominees represent the very best in Houston dining right now, from beloved neighborhood establishments to nationally recognized hot spots.

4. Meet the 10 rising star chefs shining in Houston's culinary scene. As always, we begin our Tastemaker Awards nominee spotlights by introducing you to those in the running for Rising Star Chef of the Year.

Boo's Burgers Joseph Boudreaux Boo's Burgers chef-owner Joseph Boudreaux is a Rising Star nominee. Photo by Michael Anthony

5. Favorite Houston burger joint fires up Memorial opening date. This week brought good news for Memorial and Spring Branch-area diners, when a new location of The Burger Joint opened Thursday, February 26.

tastemakers openings millennials suburbs hot-headlines

h-town tenacity

Houston punches in as one of 2026's most hardworking American cities

Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash

Houstonians are hard workers.

Houston and its residents are proving their tenacity as some of the hardest-working Americans in 2026, so says a new study.

WalletHub's annual "Hardest-Working Cities in America (2026)" report ranked Houston the 37th most hardworking city nationwide. H-town last appeared as the 28th most industrious American city in 2025, but it still remains among the top 50.

The personal finance website evaluated 116 U.S. cities based on 11 key indicators across "direct" and "indirect" work factors, such as an individual's average workweek hours, average commute times, employment rates, and more.

The U.S. cities that comprised the top five include Cheyenne, Wyoming (No. 1); Anchorage, Alaska (No. 2); Washington, D.C. (No. 2); Sioux Falls, South Dakota (No. 4); and Irving, Texas (No. 5). Dallas and Austin also earned a spot among the top 10, landing as No. 7 and No. 10, respectively.

Based on the report's findings, Houston has the No. 31-best "direct work factors" ranking in the nation, which analyzed residents' average workweek hours, employment rates, the share of households where no adults work, the share of workers leaving vacation time unused, the share of "engaged" workers, and the rate of "idle youth" (residents aged 16-24 that are not in school nor have a job).

However, Houston lagged behind in the "indirect work factors" ranking, landing at No. 77 out of all 116 cities in the report. "Indirect" work factors that were considered include residents' average commute times, the share of workers with multiple jobs, the share of residents who participate in local groups or organizations, annual volunteer hours, and residents' average leisure time spent per day.

Based on data from The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), WalletHub said the average American employee works hundreds of more hours than workers residing in "several other industrialized nations."

"The typical American puts in 1,796 hours per year – 179 more than in Japan, 284 more than in the U.K., and 465 more than in Germany," the report's author wrote. "In recent years, the rise of remote work has, in some cases, extended work hours even further."

WalletHub also tracked the nation's lowest and highest employment rates based on the largest city in each state from 2009 to 2024.

Source: WalletHub

Other Texas cities that earned spots on the list include Fort Worth (No. 13), Corpus Christi (No. 14), Arlington (No. 15), Plano (No. 17), Laredo (No. 22), Garland (No. 24), El Paso (No. 43), Lubbock (No. 46), and San Antonio (No. 61).

Data for this study was sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Travel Association, Gallup, Social Science Research Council, and the Corporation for National & Community Service as of January 29, 2026.

austin reports wallethub