a healthy ranking

Houston tops Texas as the best place for vegans in new report

Houston is home to Verdine, which is a big deal in the vegan restaurant scene.

Photo by Michael Ma Photography

Houston made the top 10 in a new survey of the top cities in the U.S. where it's best to be a vegan, coming in at No. 6 on the list — making it the best city in Texas, ahead of Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Fort Worth.

The survey by the team at Meal Delivery Experts set out to determine which cities have the most vegan food options. They compiled the 20 most populous cities in the U.S., then used data from TripAdvisor to count how many restaurants or food venues in each city offers at least one vegan option.

New York is No. 1, blowing everyone else away with 1,464 restaurants or food venues offering vegan options — more than double the number than any other city on the list.

No. 2: Los Angeles is in second place, with 705 restaurants or food venues offering vegan options. Los Angeles has among the widest variety of cuisines including vegan Korean, Ethiopian, and Thai food.

No. 3: Chicago, with 489 restaurants or food venues offering vegan options, which is a surprise since Chicago is such a big meat town, although the city is best known for deep-dish pizza, and many Chicago restaurants now offer a vegan alternative.

Houston earned its No. 6 ranking thanks to its total of 312 restaurants. Diners have a range of options, from dedicated vegan restaurants like Verdine and Mo' Better Brews to vegan-friendly fine dining options like Theodore Rex and Le Jardinier, the restaurant at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston with sisters locations in New York and Miami that each hold one Michelin star. The city's Indian and Pakistani restaurants offer plenty of vegan fare — think of chef Anita Jaisinghani's Meatless Mondays at Pondicheri as one example.

Whether motivated by health, environmental, or ethical reasons, the number of vegans in the U.S. is rapidly increasing, reaching new heights in 2022. One in ten, or 10 percent, of Americans now consider themselves vegan or vegetarian.

The dollars are also there, with the plant-based industry worth over $7 billion in the US in 2022.

The milk substitute market is valued at over $3 billion in 2022, and the meat substitute market is valued over $1 billion in 2022.

Austin was the only other Texas city to make the top 10, coming in at No. 8 with 286 restaurants.

Dallas was No. 12, boasting 209 restaurants that are vegan or offer vegan options, followed by San Antonio at No. 13, with 202 vegan- or vegan-friendly establishments.

Fort Worth came in last place, with 68 restaurants or food venues offering at least one vegan option, despite Fort Worth's buzzy vegan scene with places like Pizza Verde, Zonk Burger, Mariachi's Dine-In. Fort Worth is also home to Texas' most famous vegan restaurant, Spiral Diner.

The full list, by ranking:

New York - 1464
Los Angeles - 705
Chicago - 489
San Francisco - 467
San Diego - 385
Houston - 312
Seattle - 309
Austin - 286
Denver - 261
Philadelphia - 258
Phoenix - 234
Dallas - 209
San Antonio - 202
Charlotte, NC - 176
Jacksonville, FL - 140
Indianapolis - 140
Columbus, Ohio - 137
San Jose - 80
Oklahoma City - 80
Fort Worth - 68

vegan bests lists

a CultureMap Exclusive

Houston's 'Chinese takeout bar from the future' touches down in Webster

Courtesy of The Rice Box

A rendering previews The Rice Box's new location in Webster.

Houston’s Chinese takeout bar from the future is coming to the Bay Area. The sixth location of The Rice Box will open in Webster later this summer.

Located at 114 El Dorado Blvd, the new location will be called Rice Box Space Center after NASA’s headquarters at the nearby Johnson Space Center. Founder John Peterson tells CultureMap that it’s a bit of a homecoming for him and his wife/business partner, Jenny Vo, as they grew up in the area. As with every new location, the restaurant created a movie-style poster to announce its opening.

Rice Box Webster movie poster The Rice Box Space Center is expected to open later this summer.Courtesy of The Rice Box

For its first truly suburban location, Peterson plans to offer a more efficient pickup system for to-go orders. Dubbed The Rice Box Pickup Reactors, the system applies Rice Box’s sci-fi aesthetic to curbside ordering. As seen in the rendering above, the building will have six slots that drivers will pull into to get their orders.

“The goal is to have guests in and out with food in hand in around 90 seconds,” Peterson writes in an email. “It’s still pickup, but we’re trying to make that moment feel more intentional and more connected to the digital side of Rice Box instead of treating it like an afterthought. We’re looking at this opening as both a new store and a prototype for how Rice Box can work in more suburban markets without losing the part of the brand that makes it feel like us.”

Bay Area-area diners can expect the same menu as the Rice Box’s other locations. That includes staples such as General Tso’s chicken, sesame chicken, beef with broccoli, and orange peel beef. The restaurant also serves traditional Chinese-inspired fare such as Chongqing chicken, cumin beef, mapo tofu, and chow fun noodles.

Recently, Peterson rolled out a new version of Rice Box’s dumplings. Available in chicken, pork, or vegetable, each style of dumpling comes with a different wrapper that enhances the filling’s flavor. They’re also available either steamed or fried.

The Rice Box started as a food truck in the early 2010s. After moving to a permanent location in the Greenway Plaza food court, it has opened brick-and-mortar locations in the Heights, River Oaks, Rice Village, and Memorial.

openings news-you-can-eat the rice box

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a CultureMap Exclusive

Houston's 'Chinese takeout bar from the future' touches down in Webster