another epic year

Sold-out crowd toasts Houston's culinary stars at 2024 Tastemaker Awards

A sold-out crowd filled Silver Street Studios on March 27 for the 2024 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards. Held annually since 2014, the ceremony recognizes the best of the best in Houston’s culinary scene.

The awards ceremony is the culmination of a months-long process of selecting nominees and featuring them in a special editorial series. It draws a who’s-who of chefs, bartenders, restaurateurs, and other notables who gather to celebrate Houston’s dynamic culinary scene.

The night means so much to the food community that Aaron Bludorn snuck away from a preview night at newly opened Bar Bludorn to attend the awards ceremony. Local media personality Katherine Whaley served as the night’s emcee.

This year’s Tastemaker Awards benefited the Southern Smoke Foundation, which was founded in 2015 to offer emergency relief funding and access to mental health services to members of the food and beverage industry. Through the popular Southern Smoke Festival and other events, the organization has provided more than $11.5 million in grants to food and beverage workers in need.

Special thanks to this year’s sponsors for making the night such as success. They include Stella Artois, Rías Baixas Albariño, Topo Chico Sparkling Mineral Water, 8th Wonder Cannabis, Tito's Vodka, Still Austin Whiskey Co., and CASE Chocolates.

A plethora of nominees served delectable dishes at the event. They included:

Achappam, a rose cookie with roasted pepper, guava, avocado by Musaafer
Chocolate cake by Auden
Fried chicken biscuit by Saint Arnold Brewing Company
Burmese coconut cream soup by Burmalicious by Suu
Pomegranate short rib by Rumi’s Kitchen
Scallion and herb crochette by Mimo
Crispy oysters with vinaigrette by Balboa Surf Club
Ceviche Nikkei tuna by Pacha Nikkei
Frozen lemon meringue pie by Fluff Bake Bar
Mini totopos by Cochinita & co.
Tuna tartare by Goodnight Hospitality, previewing its upcoming restaurant The Marigold Club
Khao Yum Naam Tod (crispy, spicy rice ball with fermented pork) by Street to Kitchen
Oyster mushroom pita sandwiches by Hamsa
Fried nori chips with tuna by Hando
Key lime doughnuts from Josephine’s Gulf Coast Tradition
Chilled crab salad from Little’s Oyster Bar
Turbot con caviar from MAD
Seafood escabeche from Ostia
Duck liver mousse with strawberry jam on a funnel cake from Nobie’s
Potato puree with poached shrimp and avocado from Navy Blue

Photo by Daniel Ortiz

8th Wonder Cannabis supplied seltzers.

After a brief introduction, Whaley gave out the night’s awards, including the prizes for Bar of the Year, Rising Star Chef of the Year, Wine Program of the Year, and Best Patio, this year’s wildcard category. Winners were chosen by a judges panel of restaurant industry experts — except Best New Restaurant, which was voted on by CultureMap readers.

Winners accepted gorgeous glass trophies onstage and posed for pictures. Get the full list of winners here.

Since its launch in 2014, our Tastemaker Awards have been the city’s defining food event where A-list dining names mix with passionate dining fans. The electric crowd and elated participants made 2024 the best year yet.

Our hearty congratulations to the winners and our thanks to the sponsors, participants, and attendees. Scroll through the above photos to relive the night, and we’ll see you next year.

parties tastemakers

restaurant boom

Texas to lead nation in culinary job growth by 2032, report predicts

Photo by Lucas Law on Unsplash

With all the booming restaurant scenes in major cities like Houston, Texas' overall culinary industry will grow faster than the rest of the country within the next six years, Escoffier found.

A new analysis of the states that will have the most culinary industry job growth has revealed that Texas is expected to lead the nation with the fastest growth in the country by 2032.

The nationally recognized Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts' study, published December 30, 2025, compared all 50 states to determine their job prospects for chefs and head cooks, restaurant cooks, and food service managers based on three key metrics: projected growth rates from 2022-2032; "absolute job creation" (the total number of projected new positions) during the same 10-year span, and actual job growth rates from 2022-2024.

Texas' culinary industry is expected to grow by 24.88 percent by 2032, the report found, which is the highest projected growth rate nationwide. That translates to more than 52,000 culinary jobs created within the next six years.

Escoffier also broke down individual projections across all three metrics:

45,150 new restaurant cook jobs, a 39.72 percent increase
3,580 new chef and head cook jobs, a 19.76 percent increase
3,340 new food service manager jobs, a 15.17 percent increase

"The top three states alone — Texas, California, and Florida — will add nearly 130,000 culinary jobs, almost 45 percent of all jobs created in this industry (despite those states making up about 28 percent of the nation’s population)," the report said. "This demonstrates an extraordinary scale of opportunity for job seekers willing to relocate to states with booming restaurant scenes."

Major Texas cities, including Houston, are home to numerous highly esteemed award-winning chefs that are defining local restaurant scenes. And there are just as many up-and-coming chefs rising through the culinary pipeline.

As Escoffier notes, projections are just one factor among many that determine the strength of the national culinary industry. Texas' combined actual culinary job growth from 2022-2024 is down 0.28 percent when compared to expectations.

"This simply means that, over the past few years, the state appears to have underperformed growth projections; the industry still grew in that state, but perhaps not as much as anticipated," the report's author clarifies. "Given the short timeframe (2022-2024), this category plays a small role in our rankings relative to the ten-year projections."

Washington led the U.S. with the most new culinary jobs added from 2022-2024, with 5,800 positions created during that time. Escoffier said Washington handily beat expectations that only 1,300 jobs would be added, representing a 348 percent "overperformance."

The top 10 states with the fastest-growing culinary industry are:

No. 1 – Texas
No. 2 – California
No. 3 – Georgia
No. 4 – Florida
No. 5 – Washington
No. 6 – North Carolina
No. 7 – Utah
No. 8 – Arizona
No. 9 – Nevada
No. 10 – Alabama

texas culinary job market reports