Texas restaurants and bars are well-represented in Food & Wine magazine’s Global Tastemakers feature. Published Tuesday, April 2, the magazine sought recommendations from 180 food and travel journalists to select the best restaurants, bakeries, bar, airports, cruise lines, and more both in America and around the world.
Houston establishments make two of the lists: Montrose fine dining restaurant March comes in at No. 14 on the list of the Top 20 Restaurants in the US and Southern-inspired cocktail bar Julep earns No. 11 on the list of the 15 Top Bars in the US.
March earns praise for chef-partner Felipe Riccio’s menu that takes inspiration from different regions on the Mediterranean, while master sommelier June Rodil and the restaurant’s sommeliers get a shout out for the 11,000 bottle wine cellar. “You won’t find a more impressive and exciting wine list in the state,” Chadner Navarro writes.
Julep’s entry recognizes its use of ingredients such as marigold leaves and baked apples. “The drinks are served with artful garnishes and priced for repeated consumption,” the magazine notes.
Austin earns spots on three lists, including a No. 4 ranking on the list of 10 Top US Cities for Food and Drinks — up from its No. 10 ranking in 2023 and the only Texas city to make the cut. In addition, two of the city’s restaurants rank in the top 20, and Japanese-inspired cocktail bar WaterTrade earns an honorable mention on the top 15 bars list.
“Home to 2023 F&W Restaurant of the Year Birdie’s as well as 2023 F&W Best New Chef Edgar Rico of Nixta Taqueria, each year the city manages to find new ways to impress,” the magazine writes about Austin.
Birdie’s, No. 4 in the top 20, gets recognized for its fine dining touches within a counter service format. “Husband-and-wife team Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel and Arjav Ezekiel elevates every part of your experience with thoughtfulness, from the chuggable wine selection to the surprising New American menu where expensive steak shares the spotlight with an addictive portion of creamy soft-serve ice cream,” the article states.
Nixta Taqueria, No. 17 in the top 20, gets recognition for both its a la carte menu and chef Edgar Rico’s taco omakase. “Either way, you’ll want to go into it with excitement and a ravenous appetite for dishes like a snapper soup with udon noodles and oyster sauce, a golden beet salad further brightened with a pickled fennel salad, and a duck mole tamal.”
WaterTrade, the companion bar to omakase restaurant Otoko, offers an intimate environment and precisely made cocktails. “Like its neighbor, it offers up a transcendent tasting menu. Only here, of course, it’s all presented in liquid form,” the magazine writes.
Midnight Rambler, a bar at The Joule, comes in at No. 5 on the list of the 15 Top Hotel Bars in the US. In addition to properly made martinis, the magazine appreciates the bar’s lively atmosphere. “Regular DJs are always on rotation, and the cocktail menu accounts for that with thoughtful shot pairings,” it writes.
Overall, the American sections of the list have a bit of a coastal bias. New York is the country’s best food city, and three of its bars rank No. 1-3 on that list. Los Angeles’ Anajak Thai tops the best restaurant list. Silver Lyan, a Washington, D.C. cocktail bar in the Riggs hotel, leads the best hotel bars list.
