gogreenleft.blogg.se

Twelve of our Top 25 (the only restaurants we ranked) are new picks.

Many of them are appearing on the Top 100 for the first time. They’re the places that have managed to perform most consistently, and most interestingly, in the rockiest of days. To us, these are the places that shine most brightly in their categories right now. What mattered most in building our list - the first to draw on the expertise of our entire food team rather than one lonely critic - was feeling a certain spark in the restaurants we chose. Chefs experimented with niches and formats that have energized this year’s Top 100 list, whether it be exciting storefront pop-ups that caught on, special events that turned into a regular gig, or spots that relied on Instagram to build a customer base. The other was - and is - wildly creative. One was conservative, with menus trimmed back to proven hits and comforting carryout favorites. The changes wrought by the pandemic had two faces. Eleven of our class of 2019 have closed or ceased to function in their previous form, while one came back from the dead as a kiosk in a food hall. Operators are still scrambling to adjust: tweaking days and hours of operation editing menus hiking prices or reducing portions making do with reduced staffs. Even the steadiest players find it hard to maintain consistency when spotty supply chains, labor shortages and inflation remain in play.

Our restaurants are still coping with the disruptions two-and-a-half years on. The COVID pandemic that barreled into town during March 2020 brought seismic changes to the city’s dining scene. A lot has transpired since our last edition of Houston’s Top 100 restaurants, published in the more innocent autumn of 2019.