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Austin reigns as the No. 5 best foodie city in America in new report

Austin's food scene is among the best in the country.

Photo courtesy of Sushi Kitchen

A new report has reaffirmed that Austin's diverse food scene stacks up as one of the best in the country. Austin takes the the No. 5 spot in WalletHub's just-released study comparing the "Best Foodie Cities in America."

To determine the rankings, analysts compared 182 U.S. cities across two key dimensions — "affordability" and "diversity, accessibility, and quality" — using 28 relevant metrics, such as the cost of groceries; the number of restaurants, food trucks, grocery stores, cooking schools, and others; restaurant diversity and ratings; and more.

Miami, Florida (No. 1); Portland, Oregon (No. 2); San Francisco, California (No. 3); and Seattle, Washington (No. 4) round out the top five best foodie cities in America for 2026.

Austin's food scene ranked 11th in the national diversity, accessibility, and quality category, which examined the prevalence of certain dining establishments, the diversity of restaurant cuisine, and restaurant growth. The local food scene ranked 15th in the national category for affordability, which prioritized the accessibility and affordability of high-quality restaurants, the costs for groceries and restaurant meals, sales and food taxes, and the average price for beer and wine.

People who consider themselves foodies don't have to limit themselves to a local restaurant scene, the report's author says. Foodies can discover new flavors and cuisines "wherever they can find them," including exploring in your own kitchen or visiting "less prominent establishments like street food trucks."

Austin has been a hotbed for great new cookbooks in the past year, including ones by the team at Fonda San Miguel, pitmaster Evan LeRoy of LeRoy and Lewis, and Reyna and Maritza Vázquez of Veracruz All Natural, plus more to come, like those by live fire pro Jess Pryles and Edgar Rico and Sara Mardanbigi of Nixta Taqueria.

"For these culinary enthusiasts, the experience of eating is elevated to a hobby or even a lifestyle," the report said. "While being a foodie can be quite expensive, culinary hotspots across the U.S. offer plenty of affordable and delicious options. These wallet-friendly cities cater to diners who prefer to cook at home, explore the local flavors or both."

Industry experts at Food & Wine also agree with WalletHub's assessment of the city's culinary greatness. Austin was ranked the 7th best U.S. city for foodies in the magazine's 2026 Global Tastemaker Awards earlier this year.

Top foodie cities across Texas
Houston could only muster up a surprising No. 13 rank on the list of the best foodie cities, two spots higher than last year's ranking. The diversity, accessibility, and quality of Houston's food scene ranked 18th overall, but its affordability rank (No. 24) left room for improvement.

San Antonio, however, had the 2nd most affordable local foodie scene in the nation, but WalletHub claimed its culinary diversity, accessibility, and quality (No. 30) lacked in comparison. The combined rankings, plus additional factors analyzed by WalletHub, resulted in San Antonio being declared the 18th best foodie city in the U.S.

Dallas' food scene suffered a tumble to the 36th spot overall this year after ranking as the 25th best foodie city in 2025, but Fort Worth made a leap from No. 89 last year to No. 74 spot in 2026. Fort Worth was also ranked the ninth cheapest foodie city in the U.S.

The local food scenes in the suburbs of Dallas-Fort Worth leave much to be desired, according to the report. Out of all 182 U.S. cities, Plano (No. 94) was the only suburb that ranked among the top 100, which left out Arlington (No. 118), Garland (No. 120), Irving (No. 128), and Grand Prairie (No. 160).

The top 10 best foodie cities in America for 2026 are:

No. 1 – Miami, Florida
No. 2 – Portland, Oregon
No. 3 – San Francisco, California
No. 4 – Seattle, Washington
No. 5 – Austin, Texas
No. 6 – Orlando, Florida
No. 7 – Tampa, Florida
No. 8 – Las Vegas, Nevada
No. 9 – Sacramento, California
No. 10 – Denver, Colorado

austin restaurants wallethub reports

Time to Play

Austin chef Philip Speer takes break from fine dining with new concept

Photo by Philip Speer

Nobody's Business is "business casual" bar fare, according to co-owner Philip Speer.

Four-time James Beard Award nominee Philip Speer opened a new walk-up kitchen serving burgers, sandwiches, and elevated bar food in downtown Austin on September 12. Nobody's Business sits inside Lavaca Street Bar at 405 Lavaca St., in the space Turf N' Surf previously occupied, and opens daily for lunch through late night.

One giant order window opens up into the sports bar to cater to the crowd inside. A second little window opens onto the sidewalk, where Speer hopes to draw downtown residents and workers. The team is also working on setting up some outdoor seating. Speer plans to sell breakfast sandwiches from that window between 9 and 11 am, coming soon.

"I really want to build this downtown community business through this walk-up window," Speer says.

Speer began his career in bakeries and spent 11 years at Uchi, earning James Beard nominations in the Outstanding Pastry Chef category. He now owns and operates Comedor, a modern Mexican restaurant that has gotten a lot of good buzz ever since it opened, as well as the speakeasy eatery Garage Pizza.

Nobody's Business, he says, gives him a bit of a break from fine dining.

"I used to have a restaurant called Bonhomie, that was pretty well known for its burger, and have wanted to do a burger joint since," says Speer, adding that he's always felt somewhat trapped in the "fine dining box."

"I'm just breaking free of that," he says.

Speer partnered with Via 313 co-founder Brandon Hunt for Nobody's Business, and the two took over the space on short notice.

"We actually opened it in six weeks, which is kind of insane, because this place was a disaster when we walked in," Speer says.

Chef Joe Ballou leads the kitchen day to day. He previously served as executive chef at East End Ballroom and as sous chef at the now-closed Elementary.

Speer calls the concept "business casual bar fare," which looks like comforting, delicious, typical bar food, but a bit dressed up. The team grinds Dean & Peeler beef in-house for the cheeseburger, which comes with Dijonnaise on a sesame seed bun Speer bakes himself. Every sandwich costs less than $20.

"I like to think that the offering here is sophisticated, but if you just read the menu, it's burgers, nachos, hot dogs, [a] fish sandwich, you know, things of that sort," he says, adding that the fish sandwich, sourced from Eric Leak Seafood, has already become a top seller.

Some of the most exciting things, according to Speer, are not even on the menu yet. Starting as soon as next week, though, the plan is to launch a French onion patty melt with a 7-ounce patty, caramelized onions, and raclette, served with a side of from-scratch French onion soup. He also highlights a chilled soba noodle bowl with crispy-skinned vermilion snapper and royal red shrimp, part of a menu section they call "Worth Sitting Down For."

"I don't want to say healthy," Speer says, "But you know, a more substantial meal offering; not just bar food snacks. And I'm excited about that."

All told, Nobody's Business is a bit of a break for Speer; a chance to be a little more playful with something a lot more casual. In fact, the name of the business started as a joke, since the partners wanted something that would stand apart from any one person's ownership or personality.

"It's no one person's business. It's nobody's business what you're doing, it's nobody's business what you're eating for lunch, it's nobody's business if you're hanging out at the bar," says Speer.

That playfulness and freedom will also show up in some fun and exciting collaborations down the line --- burger collaborations with Joseph Gomez of Joe's Burgers, game day specials like cheesesteaks when Philly plays, or Chicago beefs when Chicago plays.

"We can do whatever we want here, which is what I'm so excited about," says Speer.

Nobody's Business is now open daily inside Lavaca Street Bar at 405 Lavaca St.

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