Finally, the Michelin Guide will review Texas restaurants.
The French group announced on July 16, 2024 that it had signed an agreement to publish a Michelin guide for Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio. This news comes after years of speculation that Michelin was considering setting up in Texas.
The partnership with Michelin, one of the largest in the United States, was signed with six groups: the tourism offices of Texas’ five largest cities, as well as Travel Texas, a state-funded entity located within the governor’s Office of Economic Development and Tourism. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Michelin is the world’s most recognized restaurant rating system. It’s the equivalent of the Olympics of gastronomy, where only the best and brightest restaurants in the world get a medal.
“Dallas is suddenly on par with any other food city in the world,” said chef Stephan Pyles. He has been cooking in Dallas for more than 45 years and has owned some of the city’s best restaurants, including Routh Street Cafe, Stephan Pyles and Flora Street Cafe.
Indeed, Michelin’s entry into Texas is one of the biggest developments to happen to Texas restaurants in decades.
TV shows like The bear and movies like Burned The chefs recounted the struggles they faced in earning and keeping a Michelin star, one of the world’s most difficult culinary feats. Restaurants that earn one, two or three Michelin stars are considered the best in the business, places worth visiting and saving up for.
Michelin’s anonymous critics, called inspectors, can also award green stars to restaurants that demonstrate a commitment to sustainability. Another distinction is the Bib Gourmand, given to restaurants that offer simpler cuisine and lower prices than Michelin-starred restaurants.
Michelin inspectors will be looking at all types of food, including cuisine “rooted in Texas culture,” the guide said in a press release. That includes barbecue and Tex-Mex dishes, delicious proof that Michelin isn’t just focused on fine dining.
“The Texas culinary scene has proven to be exciting, with multicultural influences, local ingredients and talent rich with ambition,” said Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guides.
He said Texas was “a great place for the Michelin Guide.”
“Very important for Dallas”
The Michelin Guide was created over 100 years ago as a vehicle for tourism in Europe. Take that literally: Michelin is a tire company.
The first Michelin guides issued recommendations in Europe with the simple goal of encouraging travelers to take road trips and, consequently, spend more money on tires. For more than a century, the Michelin Guide has expanded from Europe to dozens of locations, from Abu Dhabi and Argentina to Turkey and Taiwan.
In the United States, Michelin operates in parts of California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York and Washington, D.C.
It was Texas time, said Dean Fearing. He is widely considered one of the godfathers of Southwestern cuisine. He owns Fearing’s Restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton in Uptown Dallas and has been a chef in Texas since 1979.
“It’s very important for Dallas,” he said. “Ultimately, we’re going to be able to compete with New York, San Francisco, Chicago and all the other cities that have Michelin.”
He called the news “huge.”
Visit Dallas, one of Michelin’s North Texas partner entities, cites “culinary influence” as one of the city’s “five core pillars.” In short, eating is a favorite pastime for Dallasites.
“Culinary tourism and food have always been an important part of who we are as a destination,” Craig Davis, president and CEO of Visit Dallas, said via email.
He is proud of the partnership between Michelin, Travel Texas and the four other Texas CVBs. The seven entities have been in talks for years.
“This guide gives Dallas visibility on a truly global stage,” Davis said.
The timeline is now
The Michelin Guide Texas is expected to be published later in 2024.
Given the vast geography between the five Texas cities, Michelin inspectors have been eating in our restaurants for months, if not longer.
This is exciting news in many ways, but it is also worrying.
“We’re all scared to death,” Fearing said.
Michelin is tight-lipped about its evaluation process, and it’s unclear how much of the Michelin Guide Texas has already been written. Chefs at some of Dallas-Fort Worth’s top restaurants are already fearing the worst: What if they’ve already been evaluated? Is it too late?
“We have to be ready, because who knows when they’re going to come?” Fearing said.
Restaurateur Matthew Ciccone and chef Tatsuya Sekiguchi moved their families from New York to Dallas in the middle of the pandemic to open one of the area’s smallest restaurants, Tatsu Dallas. It seats just 10 people, who are served an 18-course omakase dinner in 90 minutes. Ciccone hopes Tatsu Dallas will be scrutinized by Michelin inspectors. Sekiguchi said his goal is to provide high-quality food and exceptional hospitality, no matter who is sitting at his sushi bar.
However, nerves are on edge.
“I don’t think there’s anything else in the country or the world that can elevate our restaurant to that level,” Ciccone said.
“If we are not ready, we do not want this star. We want it if we truly deserve it.”
Economic impact of Michelin in Texas
Like the Super Bowl or the Olympics, Michelin’s arrival in Texas will generate revenue for tourism. That’s one of the main reasons Travel Texas supported this five-city initiative with Michelin.
According to a 2019 EY study of more than 2,500 travelers, 42% of respondents have used the Michelin Guide to choose a restaurant outside the United States. The study shows that 61% of frequent travelers use the Michelin Guide to help them choose a destination, which is good news for the five Texas cities that are now on the Michelin map.
Additionally, restaurants that earn at least one Michelin star see a natural surge in interest from customers, said one Gastronomy and wines article that analyzed the effect of Michelin on restaurants.
David Uygur, co-owner of Lucia restaurant in Dallas, said they didn’t give much thought to Michelin’s potential entry into Texas when he and his wife Jennifer Uygur opened their Oak Cliff restaurant nearly 14 years ago. Their nine-table restaurant serves homemade pastas and charcuterie with what Uygur describes as “casual but refined service.”
“I’m curious to see what this will mean in concrete terms,” Uygur said of Michelin’s entry into Texas. The couple has no plans to change their menu or their focus on hospitality, but they wonder how others will.
“Michelin restaurants, the ones that have stars, tend to be tasting menu restaurants. We don’t have a lot of those (in Dallas),” he said.
Ciccone hopes that Texas restaurateurs will be able to recruit talent from across the country through Michelin.
“Our biggest gap is not the number of talented chefs in Texas. It’s the number of restaurant professionals in general who have the same level of passion that you find in California, New York, Japan and France,” Ciccone said. “How do we get these people to take Texas seriously? You can’t have a Michelin-starred restaurant with just one really good chef.”
He also hopes that Texas’ Michelin-starred restaurants can continue to innovate.
“For restaurants that do get a star, it hopefully means some stability, which is very important in this business,” he said. “If you have stability, you can experiment with your menu. You can take more risks. You can spend more money when you’re sure of the money coming in.”
Validation of Chiefs in Texas
While Michelin’s focus is on tourism, that’s not the most notable element of the Guide’s long-awaited Texas entry, Pyles said. It’s a personal matter.
“It’s finally a way to be validated for your hard work, your creativity and your execution,” he said.
Texas chefs could finally be “on par with the world’s great chefs.”
Pyles’ perspective is interesting because he spent nearly four decades owning fine-dining restaurants in Dallas. He’s now semi-retired and says he’ll never own a Michelin-starred restaurant, despite being one of Dallas’ top chefs for most of his adult life.
It’s a bit disappointing, but Pyles is proud of the work he’s done and happy with the life he has today. Plus, he says, he doesn’t feel the stress of being criticized by critics and citizens every day.
“I’ve been there, I know what it’s like,” Pyles said. “I have a lot of empathy for chefs. But that’s part of the game. That’s why we get into this business.”
He’ll be as eager as anyone to read the Michelin Guide Texas.
“The wait can be very painful. But it’s worth it if you can make it. And there will be restaurants in Dallas that can make it.”