The Texas Cities Earning Their First-Ever Michelin Stars

The Lone Star State has some shiny new stars, this time courtesy of the anonymous Michelin critics. They spent months undercover dining at Texan restaurants — Michelin Inspectors always pay the bill themselves and do not reveal their identity even after multiple visits to a restaurant. The results of those secret restaurant evaluations were announced November 11. The 2024 MICHELIN Guide Ceremony took place in Houston, which is one of the five Texan cities whose restaurants were being considered, alongside Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio. Seventeen stars were awarded in total.

From iconic local specialties like Texas-style barbecue and Tex-Mex cuisine to fresh seafood and both farm-to-table and high-end dining, the state is bursting with gastronomy. Restaurants are judged on quality, flavors, cooking technique, consistency (across the menu as well as over time), and even on whether the food reflects the chef's voice and personality.

Texas is North America's 11th Michelin Guide destination. The first North American destination to be recognized by Michelin was the Big Apple in 2005, home to foodie paradises like Harlem and Queens. We've long known that Texas has great dining, but now it's time for Texas' best restaurants to finally get the global spotlight they deserve.

Texas' capital city has the burgeoning food scene you'd expect and a fittingly long list of Michelin star contenders. Barley Swine is a hot favorite and offers multi-course meals and tasting menus crafted using seasonal ingredients. The restaurant moved to a bigger space in 2015 to accommodate its popularity, and its menu perfectly walks the line between elegant and simple gastronomy with its small plates of modern American cuisine. El Naranjo, which serves Oaxacan cuisine, was another contender. It's always a good sign when the chef — in this case, James Beard Award-winning Iliana de la Vega — is also one of the restaurant's owners. Another Austin contender in 2024 was Prélude. While it's more of a cocktail lounge, the culinary genius behind it — Chef Mathew Peters — previously worked under Chef Thomas Keller, who heads the three Michelin-starred French Laundry.

Considering the relatively large number of Japanese restaurants that have Michelin stars and the exceptional Japanese-inspired food scene in Austin, there are a few deserving eateries. Tare offers a particularly distinctive dining experience with its intimate setting and multi-course menus that use ingredients sourced directly from Japanese markets. And speaking of sourcing, a restaurant like Dai Du, focused on traditional cuisine and hyper-local sourcing is well placed to win a Michelin Green Star for sustainability. The restaurant has its own butcher shop, and in addition to cooking ingredients, all its beers and wines are also locally sourced.

Michelin stars in 2024 were awarded to Barley Swine, Craft Omakase, Hestia, Olamaie, and barbeque spots LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue, la Barbecue, and InterStellar BBQ. Green stars, awarded for great food made and sourced sustainably, were given to Dai Due and Emmer & Rye.

The competition is fierce in Dallas, and several restaurants were in the running for a hallowed Michelin star. Petra and the Beast is a forage-to-table restaurant that also uses locally sourced produce to create eating experiences like its eclectic charcuterie board or six-course tasting menu. Georgie is another high-end eatery that offers art on a plate that is more delicious than pretentious. The restaurant was founded by Stephan Courseau, who has a history of leading iconic restaurants and working with famous chefs. Chef Dean Fearing's eponymous restaurant was also considered for a Michelin star. The chef has also published a cookbook titled "The Texas Food Bible."

Sushi | Bar, an intimate-format sushi restaurant that boasts a recommendation from Joe Rogan, was also a strong contender, as was the sushi restaurant Tatsu. "Omakase" style restaurants, where diners essentially hand over the reins to the chefs and let them curate the entire eating experience, are popular in Dallas. Given their format and the fact that the food is displayed artistically with high-quality ingredients, these restaurants are worth a visit if you plan to visit Dallas. Visit for its distinct urban arts scene, and stay for the food.

Tatsu secured a Michelin star in 2024. Michelin Inspectors praised its omakase menu with Hokkaido rice, Maine eel, and Alaskan salmon.

Despite its proximity to Dallas, which often has people combining the two into a single area, Fort Worth has its own gastronomic scene and potential Michelin-starred restaurants. The American restaurant and steakhouse Clay Pigeon is one such destination. It's the brainchild of executive chef and owner Marcus Paslay, who grew up in Texas and tries to create his dishes from scratch using seasonal, locally sourced produce.

Also strong contenders are James Beard Award finalist Don Artemio, which serves high-end Mexican food, and James Beard semi-finalist Ellerbe's Fine Foods, which offers farm-to-table dishes. Fort Worth has recently found favor with Michelin's newly launched hotel guides, with two of the city's iconic hotels getting the "Michelin Key": Hotel Dover and Bowie House. Interestingly, Bowie House also has a fine-dining Texan cuisine restaurant, Bricks and Horses, which could very well have bagged a Michelin recommendation.

No Fort Worth restaurants earned Michelin stars in 2024.

The legendary Texas food destination of Houston has more than 10,000 restaurants, from expensive steakhouses to top-notch soul food joints, and you can be sure that in a few years, the city will be full of Michelin stars. Texas' pristine coast and miles of beach also gift the state's eateries lots of fresh seafood, and Houston's restaurants make the most of those delicious offerings. Katami, a high-end Japanese restaurant run by local legend chef Manabu Horiuchi, a four-time James Beard nominee, is a great restaurant that had a shot at a star. Then there's Le Jardinier, the fine-dining French restaurant whose New York and Miami branches have already won Michelin stars.

Houston also packs in a good smattering of Indian cuisine, with several fine dining restaurants eligible for a star or a recommendation. Chef Jassi Bindra's Amrina combines showmanship and artistic presentation with classic Indian flavors. The restaurant is also well known for its eclectic cocktail selection. The chefs at Musaafer, another Indian restaurant, try to skillfully capture their home country's diverse foods and flavors with a creative but pricey menu. And finally, there's BCN Taste & Tradition, a fine-dining Spanish restaurant set in a 1920s mansion, which boasts everything you'd expect from a world-class restaurant. Its food, presentation, and ambience all go above and beyond any regular dining experience.

Michelin awarded stars to BCN Taste & Tradition, Le Jardinier Houston, March, Musaafer, and Tatemó. In the town of Spring, north of Houston, CorkScrew BBQ also won a star.

If you're exploring San Antonio's rich history, you might as well pair it with the city's equally rich (though much more modern) culinary scene. A great example of what this city offers discerning diners can be found at Bliss, an elegant eatery that blends wine bar ambience with modern American fare. Whether you're trying crispy fried oyster sliders or the (not so) simple potato leek soup that comes with truffle caviar, the food at Bliss will leave an impression. The restaurant has also introduced a $55 tasting menu on weekdays, making it all the more accessible. Another San Antonio favorite is Mixtli, which offers a constantly changing menu of Mexican cuisine. The restaurant is known for its intricately themed menus that explore Mexican food and culinary history. For instance, its selection for the final quarter of 2024 is titled "La Conquista: 1519" and goes back to the time of the Spanish conquistadors for dishes from Spain and ingredients sourced from the New World.

On the other end of the spectrum but equally memorable is the James Beard Award-nominated Clementine. The restaurant feels almost like a quaint tea house (it even offers a high tea experience) but serves food with Southern, Italian, and Mediterranean influences. It also offers a "Feed Me" menu, where the husband-wife duo that owns the restaurant takes diners through a multi-course meal.

Mixtli earned a Michelin star in 2024.