Meet Fort Worth’s Michelin-Starred Chefs, Including a Celeb Chef Opening a New Near Southside Restaurant This Fall

We are less than a month away from the 2026 Michelin Guide Texas selections, when restaurants can claim Stars, Bib Gourmands, and Recommended status from the most respected name in culinary excellence.

Last year, Fort Worth’s Goldee’s Bar-B-Q retained its Bib Gourmand, while Birrieria y Taqueria Cortez and Panther City BBQ remained Michelin Recommended.

As we eagerly await the big reveal, we chatted with three Michelin-starred chefs — including one opening a new spot, COMMODORE Tavern & Terrace, to the Near Southside this fall — who are shaping Fort Worth’s dining scene, as well as a sushi chef who brings Michelin experience from New York City.

Graham Elliot

Since 2004, when Food & Wine named Graham Elliot a “Best New Chef,” the chef and restaurateur has earned many of the culinary world’s top accolades. His namesake restaurant in Chicago earned two Michelin stars soon after opening. Following appearances on Bravo’s Top Chef and Fox’s MasterChef, he now brings his talents to North Texas as culinary director of FAR Out Hospitality, which chef Felipe Armenta founded.

Together, the business partners oversee an enviable portfolio that includes many of Fort Worth’s most acclaimed restaurants, including Maria’s Mexican Kitchen, Le Margot, and Pacific Table. Elliot recently announced a new partnership with local chef Charlie Rushton to bring a neighborhood restaurant focused on modern American cuisine to the Near Southside, adding that the venture marks the start of his own hospitality group.

Chef Elliot tells PaperCity that winning any prestigious culinary award is a group effort.

What did earning those stars mean to you, and how has it shaped your approach?

My name may have been on the door and associated with the stars as chef and owner, but Michelin recognition is really a team accomplishment. From the dishwasher to the cooks, servers, sommeliers, and everyone in between, every person contributes their piece toward one collective goal, and that experience taught me how powerful a restaurant can be when an entire team is committed to the same standard.

What does Michelin recognition mean for Fort Worth and for the work FAR Out Hospitality is doing?

Fort Worth already has the talent, technique, and hospitality to compete with any major dining city. The opportunity now is to showcase what makes Fort Worth uniquely Fort Worth, rather than living in anyone else’s shadow, and I think that’s something we’re really focused on across our restaurants.

What advice would you give local chefs hoping to earn Michelin recognition?

Find your own voice and give people a reason they have to experience what you do. Every chef has a story, whether it comes from their upbringing, culture, travels, or relationship with ingredients, so lean into that with confidence, put it on the plate, and then execute it consistently.

Michael Riemenschneider

Soon after opening Beren Meze & Grill House, owner Charlie Unlu made his ambition for the Turkish restaurant clear: to earn Michelin recognition. To train his staff and develop a new menu, he brought on chef Michael Riemenschneider as a consultant. Riemenschneider previously served as chef-patron of Michelin-starred The Abbey in England and later opened Frankfurt’s Atelier Wilma, which earned a Michelin star shortly after opening, among many other career achievements.

We were recently invited to a wine- and cocktail-pairing dinner headed by Riemenschneider, who worked the evening’s multi-course menu like a knife-wielding virtuoso. The monthly dinner showcases the talents of the kitchen team, and the recent omakase-themed gathering came with optional wine and cocktail pairings.

The opening course paired pressed yellow and red watermelon with pea- and cherry-flavored dollops and salty bites of crab, creating a playful mix of sweet and savory flavors — accompanied by a watermelon cocktail with plum, vermouth, vodka, mint, sweet cream, and melon gel. Later, a rich pigeon course paired the bird with liver, sweet corn purée, and raisins.

Drawing on his experience living and working in Turkey, as well as his wife’s Turkish heritage, Riemenschneider spent time learning where Unlu and his wife came from and the foods they grew up eating. The deep dive into their culinary roots became the foundation for his work helping Unlu pursue his goal of Michelin recognition. His early conversations with the couple centered on memory— what they ate as children and the dishes they remembered their grandmothers making.

“That’s how my cooking started, from my grandmother’s recipes,” Riemenschneider says. “I still use my grandma’s ideas and dishes she used to give me as a child.”

For Beren’s new menu, Riemenschneider blends tradition with contemporary cuisine, recognizing that even classic dishes live in the present.

Rodrigo Rivera-Río

When entrepreneur Adrian Burciaga and his namesake hospitality group opened Almacén el Gallo in downtown Fort Worth, they hired Chef Rodrigo Rivera-Río to develop the menu and train the kitchen team in contemporary Mexican interior cuisine. Rivera-Río’s KOLI | Cocina de Origen in Monterrey earned a Michelin star in 2024 and 2025.

What was it like for you and your team to win a Michelin star?

It was like a dream come true. I have to tell you why. In Mexico, we didn’t have Michelin stars at all [until 2024]. The restaurant was only 11 years old, and we always worked to try to be up to the standard of a Michelin-starred restaurant. We didn’t know that we were building a Michelin-starred restaurant. To be honest, it was something so beautiful for the staff, all the producers, and the people around me.

What does earning a Michelin star do for a restaurant?

I think this can be a really good spotlight for everybody. In my opinion, in the city where I live, Monterrey, and here in Fort Worth, the thing that we want is to generate more tourism. I think that’s the goal. We’re not trying to look at recognition as something to just put on the wall and say, ‘Oh, I have a fancy restaurant.’ The most important thing for us is that we need people to see the city. The whole city has to work together because that’s the only way something can grow.

What is your vision for Almacén el Gallo?

The main idea of Almacén el Gallo is to look toward these kinds of places that I really love. I lived on a farm, on a ranch in Hidalgo, for seven years of my childhood. In those kinds of places, there are fondas, and the fondas are places where women cook. You just go, and they tell you, ‘There are two appetizers, two entrees, and two desserts. What do you want?’ That’s it.

That food in Mexico has powerful flavors. What I want most at Almacen el Gallo is for people from all over the world, and all our guests, to try real Mexican food, like the soul food of Mexico. These recipes are from my childhood, from the fondas, and also from places I love to eat now, like the cantinas.

What have been some of the most popular dishes so far?

I think the short rib. We have a salsa made with a chile that I love, where we smoke the chile. I wanted something with the intensity of short rib, but at the same time with this smoky flavor. I didn’t want to do it the traditional way and put the short rib in the smoker for 18 hours. What I do is make this salsa in a really traditional Mexican style with this chile to give it that smoky flavor. People love it, and it’s one of the best sellers today.

Hiroto Ochiai

Hiroto Ochiai’s culinary path took an unconventional turn from Japan to New York. After working at Jean-Georges Tokyo, he moved to the United States in 2017 and helped open Sushi Amane and Shion 69 Leonard in New York, both of which went on to earn Michelin stars. As sous chef and beverage director, Ochiai developed an approach that blends his Japanese background with techniques picked up throughout his career.

Now, he runs Hiro’s Kitchen with his wife Nami, and the omakase and sake concept has proven so popular that reservations are needed to secure a seat at his table. We spoke with Hiroto and Nami earlier this year about their journey from Japan to New York City and Fort Worth.

“We love the open kitchen and counter-style service because it creates a closer connection with guests,” Hiro says. “Customers can feel the energy from the kitchen and see the passion behind the food. Even without a lot of conversation, that interaction becomes part of the experience.”

As Fort Worth’s kitchens claim ever more Michelin-starred chefs, we’re eagerly awaiting the October reveal — and (hopefully) the city’s first Michelin star.