And what you're probably seeing as "Texas food" is TexMex. Slathered in tomato sauce or cheese or both. Apart from that, Texas has quite a barbecue tradition, and various states have different sauces and meats they prefer to slow cook over coals. Brisket is king around here, with sides of beans (pinto or ranch), coleslaw, potato salad, pieces of ears of corn, and peach cobbler for dessert. https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/best-texas-barbecue-bites-2024/ They also make some pretty good chili.

A friend was visiting here from New York City and we took him to our favorite Mexican restaurant (not TexMex) and he saw one of the few TexMex dishes go past on the way to another table, a chicken fried steak smothered in a cheese sauce. "I want that!" he said, and I was just so glad that I didn't have to sit beside him on the plane the next day, because he was going to suffer from eating that.