The Battle of Big Taco
With their anything-goes approach to ingredients—and deep-pocketed investors—Torchy's Tacos and Velvet Taco have ambitious plans to expand nationally.
With their anything-goes approach to ingredients—and deep-pocketed investors—Torchy's Tacos and Velvet Taco have ambitious plans to expand nationally.
The Laredo-based chain’s straightforward, satisfying fare stays true to its Mexican roots. I wish many more Texans, and Americans, could enjoy it.
Marshall Stewart has been searching San Angelo for 35 years, looking for answers that might never come: Who murdered his teenage son, Shane, along with his girlfriend, Sally McNelly, in 1988? And why?
How high-end camping turned into a statewide phenomenon.
Check out these five-star spots under the stars.
Our twenty-third edition of Where to Eat Now finds that dining out can be loud, pricey—and as worthwhile as ever.
The city’s homicide unit granted a year of unprecedented access to photographer Richard Sharum. His pictures tell a vivid story of cops, criminals, and victims—and the violent act that binds them together.
Austin Riley spent decades raising exotic animals in the Texas Hill Country. In a split second, the animal he thought he knew best changed his life forever.
Seven great spots to seek those natural highs.
In this original short story, a San Antonio divorcé receives a series of missives from his elderly mother that hint at a past he never knew about.
She was pressured into convicting a man she believed was innocent—and was haunted by remorse. Three decades later, she did something about it.
The Aggies’ unofficial mascot has a few things he may or may not like to say about his school’s many recent travails.
This found* letter from Texas attorney general Ken Paxton to his wife, state senator Angela Paxton, provides a firsthand account of his impeachment skirmish along with stirring reflections on the nature of freedom and vengeance.
When Elon Musk moved here, Texans rejoiced that he would create lots of jobs. He also created chaos.
The lieutenant governor has made himself the state’s most commanding politician. But with great power has come great irresponsibility.
The representative who led the prosecution of Attorney General Ken Paxton brushed off death threats as he investigated corruption by fellow Republicans.
For every grifter or demagogue who stunk up the state last year, a thousand Texans strove for greatness.
All through the voucher fight, these 21 members of the Texas House of Representatives prioritized public schools.
The impeachment trial of Ken Paxton delivered a steady stream of tantalizing entertainment. But the most consequential moments played out when few were watching.
Fort Worth cleric Michael Olson is no stranger to scandal. But when he threatened to remove a nun from her home, he might have finally met his match.
Adeeb Barqawi founded the nonprofit ProUnitas, which helps connect social, health, and education services with the students who need them most.
The Other Ones Foundation, led by Chris Baker, transformed a state-run encampment site for Austinites experiencing homelessness into a welcoming refuge.
San Antonio’s Leon and Leticia McNeil have introduced generations of Black and Latino youth to the outdoors through their nonprofit, City Kids Adventures.
Lone Star State residents found ways big and small to lend each other a helping hand.
Whether helping prevent military suicides or reversing a childcare desert, these Texans are finding creative solutions to big problems.
Teaching kids how to play soccer made me a better person. So why don’t more Texans volunteer?
Call them the astronauts of the underground. The state’s cavers are a literal subculture, daring to go where no one has gone before.
Where to immerse yourself in the subculture.
Alligator snapping turtle populations in Texas were dwindling. One family of smugglers had been poaching them from the state for years.
The famously powerful dreadnought was hailed by Hemingway and played a key role in several famous battles.
Acre by acre, families have lost long-held property near Bryan and College Station—much of it to the efforts of two men who weaponized arcane documents to acquire plots potentially worth millions.
From arid El Paso to the Piney Woods, Texas boasts outstanding links that don’t require an expensive membership.
For a while it looked as if big-city barbecue would hog the spotlight forevermore. We should have known better.
For forty years, Allie Beth Allman has ruled the glittering world of luxury real estate in Dallas. Then came a flood of coastal money, a technological revolution, a rift with a longtime partner, and the inexorable toll of time.
From a small bookstore in Central Texas, the best-selling author rules over the booming Stoicism self-help movement. Why now? Why here?
Our scorecard of the Eighty-eighth Texas Legislature’s noisy scoundrels and quiet heroes.
The inventor of the world’s first cosmetic penile implant says a group of Houston doctors is trying to steal his ideas. Inside the multimillion-dollar feud.
The conservative, gun-toting superintendent of Fort Davis Independent School District is fed up: “I’m not patient enough to spend time with assholes in Austin, and I’m not rich enough to buy any votes.”
The real history is much messier—and more inspiring.
In this original short story, when two down-on-their luck Houston men try to steal copper pipes from a home, nothing goes quite as planned.
One year ago, before the school shooting in Uvalde, Kimberly Mata-Rubio had never been on a plane or given a public speech or scolded a U.S. senator right there in his office. A year in the life of a grieving mother.
Turndown service! Amazing cocktails! Small but expensive soaps! These ten new and renovated hotels (and ten more honorable mentions) know how to treat their guests.
For decades, the Houston folklorist labored over his biography of the legendary bluesman. Seven years after McCormick’s death, the book is finally out—and so are the secrets long kept by its troubled author.
Former House Speaker Tom Craddick and his family—including his daughter, Railroad Commission chairman Christi Craddick—earned about $10 million last year from oil and gas rights.
As we celebrate one hundred years of our state parks, they are more popular than ever. But our booming population is overwhelming the state’s scarce public lands. What will the next century hold for Texas’s “best idea”?
The twenty best Texas parks for birding, time traveling, kayaking, meeting up with relatives, and more.
For underprivileged kids, the biggest obstacles to success—homelessness, hunger, violence—reside outside the classroom. Dallas businessman Randy Bowman, who grew up poor himself, is betting on an unconventional fix.
The white tablecloth may be all washed up, but the dining is as fine as ever.
A $500 million restoration seeks to reverse almost two centuries of cultural and physical neglect at the most popular historic site in Texas. There’s never been more of a concerted effort to make things right.
In 1983 James Reyos was convicted of murder in Odessa, despite having an airtight alibi. Four decades later, he’s still fighting to clear his name.