Editor's note: The top Austin news of the week includes a new concept from barbecue favorite Salt Lick and three luxury fashion brands making their Austin debut. Plus, we've rounded up all the ways to meet new people this winter. Read the five hottest Austin headlines of the week below, and find fun things to do this weekend here.

1. Salt Lick BBQ branches out with new restaurant concept in Austin suburb. Storied barbecue restaurant Salt Lick will extend its legacy with a new concept coming to Buda. Roxie's, a homey Southern restaurant fit for families, will debut in the growing Austin suburb sometime this spring.

2. 3 major luxury fashion brands move into famous North Austin mall. Austin's hottest shopping district will add the first three standalone stores in the city for Christian Dior, Balenciaga, and Zimmerman.

3. Way more than 15 ways to meet new people in Austin this winter. The new year is here, and maybe that means you want to meet new people. We've rounded up great ways — from classes to volunteering and, yes, apps — to do just that.

Meet fellow creatives in a wheel throwing class at the Doherty Arts Center. Photo from Doherty Arts Center Facebook page

4. Austin faces highest rent prices in Texas for 2025, new report says. A new cost-of-living index underscores what many Austin renters are painfully aware of: Local rents rank among the costliest in the U.S.

5. 14 Austin coffee shops band together for day honoring Daniel Johnston. Hi, How Are You Day is back on January 22, encouraging Austinites to meet up in community spaces and check in on each other's mental health.