The New York Times has added three Texas restaurants – including one in the Houston area – to its Annual list of “our 50 favorite places in America right now.”

They are:

The list, released Tuesday, September 24, mixes newer restaurants that have opened since 2023 with older establishments. In total, 26 states and Washington, DC are represented. California leads the way with five representatives, followed by New York with four.

Priya Krishna, a food reporter and interim restaurant critic, writes the entries for all three Texas restaurants.

At Viola and Agnes, a casual soul food restaurant just around the corner from NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Krishna praises chef-owner Aaron Davis for dishes like gumbo, fried catfish and cornbread. “(Davis) — who is from Louisiana and named the restaurant after his grandmother — has spent the last few years refining this rustic Southern cuisine that embodies all the deliciousness this planet has to offer,” she writes.

Last year, Krishna added two Houston restaurants to the list: Mexican restaurant El Hidalguense and Southern restaurant Gatlin’s Fins & Feathers.

Housed in a former Tex-Mex restaurant, Simply South’s vegetarian offering has resulted in three-hour wait times for dosas, chutneys and other dishes from the Andhra Pradesh region of southern India. “The Sunday scene here speaks volumes: the wait is three hours, Telugu chatter fills the room and the tables are laden with bisi bele bath, filter coffee and every kind of dosa and idli imaginable,” she writes.

Barbs BQ is no stranger to the New York Times. It made the publication List 2023 of “The 20 Best New-Generation Texas Barbecue Restaurants.” On that list, Krishna praises the way grillmaster Chuck Charnichart incorporates international flavors into her brisket, ribs and sides. “Barbs BQ honors centuries-old barbecue traditions but also defies them,” she writes. “(Charnichart) brings a unique point of view that makes her food stand out in a crowded meat landscape.”