The year 2025 was filled with exciting news and developments in Houston, from university rankings to restaurant openings and closures. As the year came to a close, it’s time to look back at the most-read stories of the year. Houstonians took great pride in seeing their city’s institutions and personalities shine on the world stage, and it’s no surprise that readers responded to news about Rice University being ranked among the best universities in the world and Sugar Land nearly topping a list of the best places to live in America.<\/p>\n
Rice University was named one of the best universities in the world, according to the QS World University Rankings 2026. The university moved up more than 20 places in the rankings, which consider factors such as academic reputation, employer reputation, and faculty-student ratio. The University of Houston also climbed the rankings, moving up about 100 places to No. 556 globally.<\/p>\n
Restaurant news was a major part of the year’s top stories, with six of the top 10 most-read articles focusing on the food scene in Houston. One of the biggest stories was the sudden exit of Chef Austin Simmons from his role as executive chef and partner of Tris, a fine dining steakhouse in The Woodlands. Simmons spoke exclusively to CultureMap about his decision, citing a desire to focus on his cattle business and burger pop-ups. He also announced plans to open a new restaurant, Charlois by Chef Austin Simmons, in the spring.<\/p>\n
Sugar Land was ranked No. 3 on Livability.com’s list of the 100 Best Places to Live in 2025. The study considered criteria such as average rent and home prices relative to income, and Sugar Land ranked highly in categories such as health, housing, and economy.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, 2025 also saw the closure of several beloved restaurants in Houston. Picos, a pioneering Mexican restaurant, announced that it would be closing its doors after 44 years. However, a surge in demand has delayed the closure until early 2026, giving Houstonians a little more time to enjoy the restaurant’s signature dishes. Andiron, a live fire steakhouse in Montrose, also closed its doors after only two years, despite achieving success and spots in the Michelin Guide.<\/p>\n
Houston’s restaurants also played host to several celebrity sightings in 2025. Beyonc\u00e9 Knowles-Carter and her family dined at Taste Kitchen + Bar, where they enjoyed a Southern feast featuring dishes such as jerk lamb chops and smothered chicken. Shaquille O’Neal also made headlines when he left a $1,000 tip at Ninfa’s Uptown, a Houston Tex-Mex institution.<\/p>\n
Several Houston companies were named among the best places to work by U.S. News, including Chevron, American Bureau of Shipping, and Calpine. Richard Kinder, the chairman of Kinder Morgan, was named Houston’s richest billionaire in 2025, with an estimated net worth of $10.6 billion.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, 2025 was a year filled with exciting news and developments in Houston, from university rankings to restaurant openings and closures. The city’s institutions and personalities continued to shine on the world stage, and readers responded to news about Rice University, Sugar Land, and the city’s thriving food scene. As we look to the future, it will be exciting to see what’s in store for Houston in the years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to 2025’s Most Popular Stories The year 2025 was filled with exciting news and developments in Houston, from university rankings to restaurant openings and closures. As the year came to a close, it’s time to look back at the most-read stories of the year. Houstonians took great pride in seeing their city’s institutions and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":12367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12365","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/houston.culturemap.com\/media-library\/police-lights.jpg?id=62642006&width=1200&height=600&coordinates=0%2C19%2C0%2C19","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12365"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12368,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12365\/revisions\/12368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}