Inside The Michelin Madness — Barbecue Surprises, Houston & Austin Restaurants Dominate the Stars and Sweet Stories Abound in a Long-Awaited Texas Debut

With a serious nod to barbecue, a live message from the International Space Station, Dallas’ Java Ingram playing MC and the puffed up Michelin Man seemingly everywhere, The Michelin Guide roared into Texas with an elaborate (and very French) awards ceremony at Houston’s 713 Music Hall. In the end, 15 Texas restaurants (with seven of those in Austin and six from Houston) walked away with the coveted One Star designation.

But no one may have been more excited to get the often life-changing honor than Corkscrew BBQ pitmaster Will Buckman.

“Up until a few minutes ago, I still thought I was being Punk’d,” Buckman roared after joining the chefs of Texas’ other Michelin One Star restaurants, which includes the likes of refined, high-brow spots such as Houston’s Le Jardinier, BCN and March, and Austin’s Craft Omakase, Barley Swine and Olamie, up on the grand front stage. “Hey guys, we’re the cool kids now.”

Barbecue is indeed now Michelin blessed. In a massive way. In all, four barbecue restaurants earned a Michelin star (no restaurants in Texas earned two stars, let alone the ultimate three, which is what’s expected in the Lone Star State’s very first inclusion in the guide). Besides Spring’s Corkscrew BBQ, Austin barbecue temples La Barbecue, InterStellar BBQ and Leroy and Lewis Barbecue all earned One Star. That means barbecue makes up 27 percent of Texas’ highest-rated restaurants by Michelin.

And the ‘cue love does not stop there. Twenty two other barbecue joints earned Bib Gourmand or Recommended honors.

Talk about Monday night madness. Michelin came to Texas and its team of anonymous inspectors absolutely fell in love with one of the signature cuisines of the state.

“To get a One Star, it’s kind of unprecedented for a barbecue restaurant,” Buckman tells PaperCity. “. . . I think what this does is it opens the door to everyone else in the industry and shows them that anything is possible within the industry. And where they push the limits of their cuisine is going to take them to anywhere they want to go.”

Dallas and San Antonio only landed a single One Star restaurant each with Tatsu Dallas and its chef Tatsuya Sekiguchi scoring a major sushi and creative omakase menu win and Mixtli’s Mexican wonders putting The Alamo City on the Michelin map. North Texas restaurant observers certainly expected more, but at least Dallas had Java Ingram, the former Miss Teen United States winner, as the master of ceremonies in this very Houston and Austin night. Sekiguchi also certainly made an impression as Dallas’ lone One Star, striding onto the stage in a large cowboy hat to get his coveted white Michelin chef’s jacket.

Julian Shaffer from Rye also did Dallas proud by taking home one of the just four special awards handed out by Michelin in this Houston ceremony, winning Exceptional Cocktails honors.

“Up until a few minutes ago, I still thought I was being Punk’d.” — Corkscrew BBQ pitmaster Will Buckman on winning a Michelin Star

The other Texas restaurants (not mentioned previously) that earned a Michelin Star are Tatemó and Musaafer in Houston, and Hestia in Austin.

Goldee’s BBQ is the lone Fort Worth restaurant to earn a Bib Gourmand. No restaurants in The Woodlands received Bib Gourmand or Recommended honors.

Michelin Is a Chef’s Kiss Of a Night

In many ways, this Michelin night is about the chefs who persevered and still pushed themselves to do more. Chefs like Mayank Istwal, who helms the kitchen at Musaafer, the ambitious fine dining Indian restaurant that Shammi and Mithu Malik opened in The Houston Galleria shopping center during the COVID pandemic.

“This award is for the team that makes the restaurant,” Istwal says. “For the dish washers. For the servers. For all the chefs who worked very hard. For the receptionists who welcomed everybody with a great smile. . . . This is for Houston. Houstonians have been very kind since day one. So thank you.”

Istwal’s family is back in India, where they ran and still run a catering business. Istwal’s dad never wanted him to leave the relative safety of a steady catering business. But you don’t win Michelin stars for catering.

“This star is for my dad,” Istwal says, talking to PaperCity among the happy chaos on the stage after the final photo-ops. “Because I remember he stopped believing in me. And now, I think he will believe again.”

This is the kind of night that could make anyone believe in the unique power and wonders of the restaurant industry. As the Michelin Man, the mascot of the French tire company that improbably started its guide back in 1900, bopped around, with seemingly every chef wanting their own photo with the Man, the winning chefs invited each other to their restaurants, building on the community. Houston touches abound too, including Michelin having a tequila partner for the first time in Reserva de la Familia, a homage to the Bayou City’s close connection to Mexico.

Having the awards in Houston is no small coup. And Houston First paid $270,000 to help bring the Michelin Guide to Texas with the five Texas cities featured (Houston, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio) and the Texas state tourism office set to contribute a combined $2.7 million over three years.

The Michelin clout is real and that international seal of restaurant approval does not come without costs. In turn, the heavy hitters certainly turned out for this ceremony at a Houston concert venue with Texas First Lady Cecilia Abbott, Houston Mayor John Whitmire and Astros senior vice president and general counsel Giles Kibbe (billionaire Jim Crane’s get-it-done project orchestrater) among those in the crowd. Michelin Guides international director Gwendal Poullennec brought his charm to the official presentation from the stage.

“This award is for the team that makes the restaurant.For the dish washers. For the servers. For all the chefs who worked very hard. For the receptionists who welcomed everybody with a great smile.. . . This is for Houston. Houstonians have been very kind since day one.” — Musaafer Chef Mayank Istwal

The Michelin Boost

Of course, for the chefs earning a Michelin Star is both priceless and potentially monetarily uplifting, changing a restaurant’s future outlook in some ways. “You might need someone else to answer the phones now” is what newly Starred-chefs heard from their colleagues most frequently.

“Not even in my best dream,” BCN Taste & Tradition chef Luis Roger says of earning One Star after 10 years in Houston. “. . . It’s recognition for all the Houstonians. They were right. If we are here, it’s because of them. They kept coming back. I couldn’t be cooking by myself.”

Roger came to Houston a decade ago unsure what would happen. “I came with my wife and children,” he tells PaperCity. “With nothing. Literally nothing in my pockets. For an opportunity. And we didn’t know. We kept $100,000 in a bank account in Spain in case we had to go back. Because we didn’t know what would happen.”

What happened is BNC became a Houston institution. And now it’s Michelin starred.

Like with any restaurant list, there are snubs and curious decisions in this first Michelin Texas Guide. Justin Yu’s ultra ambitious Theodore Rex being put in the Bib Gourmand, a category traditionally reserved for more modest and lower priced restaurants, raised plenty of eyebrows. As did revered Japanese turned Houston chef Manabu Horiuchi not earning any recognition for Katami or Kata Robata. The Michelin inspectors showed little regard for Texas’ sushi scene overall, outside of Tatsu’s signature win for Dallas (Houston’s Hidden Omakase also did earn a Recommended nod).

Houston’s Tatemó earning One Star is a testament to power of starting small and creating something audaciously original. Tatemó chef Emmanuel Chavez and his life and business partner Megan Maul’s ode to corn is located in an unassuming Spring Branch strip center, but its food magic is worldly. And now Michelin blessed.

As Chavez waited to get his Evian bottle engraved right in front of him, which is one of those pure French Michelin winner perks, chef after chef from other restaurants came over to pat him on the back or wrap him a hug. Some wins make everyone happy.

The cool kids in restaurants are changing. Even in Michelin’s steeped in tradition world. And that’s a beautiful thing.

Breaking Down All The Michelin Winners

 

Houston

— BCN Taste & Tradition

— CorkScrew BBQ

— Le Jardinier

— March

— Musaafer

— Tatemó

Green Star

Austin

— Dai Due

— Emmer & Rye

Bib Gourmand

— Barbs B Q (Lockhart)

— Belly of the Beast (Spring)

— Blood Bros. BBQ (Bellaire)

— Brisket (Austin)

— Burnt Bean Co. (Seguin)

— Cattleack (Dallas)

— Cuantos Tacos (Austin)

— Cullum’s Attaboy (San Antonio)

— Dai Due (Austin)

— Distant Relatives (Austin)

— Ema (Houston)

— Emmer & Rye (Austin)

— Franklin Barbecue (Austin)

— Gemma (Dallas)

— Goldee’s BBQ (Fort Worth)

— The Jerk Shack (San Antonio)

— Kau Ba (Houston)

— Kemuri Tatsu-ya (Austin)

— KG BBQ (Austin)

— Killen’s (Houston)

— Killen’s BBQ (Pearland)

— La Santa Barbacha (Austin)

— Ladino (San Antonio)

— Lucia (Dallas)

— Mala Sichuan Bistro (Houston)

— Micklethwait Craft Meats (Austin)

— Mot Hai Ba (Dallas)

— Nam Giao (Houston)

— Nancy’s Hustle (Houston)

— Ngon Vietnamese Kitchen (Dallas)

— Nixta Taqueria (Austin)

— Nobie’s (Houston)

— Nonna (Dallas)

— Odd Duck (Austin)

— Pinkerton’s BBQ (Houston)

— The Pit Room (Houston)

— Ramen del Barrio (Austin)

— Rosemeyer Bar-B-Q (Spring)

— Rosie Cannonball (Houston)

— Southerleigh Fine Food & Brewery (San Antonio)

— Street to Kitchen (Houston)

— Tejas Chocolate (Tomball)

— Theodore Rex (Houston)

— Truth BBQ (Houston)

— Veracruz Fonda & Bar (Austin)

Recommended

— 2M Smokehouse (San Antonio)

— Apt 115 (Austin)

— Barbecue Station (San Antonio)

— Barsotti’s (Dallas)

— Baso (Houston)

— Birdie’s (Austin)

— Birrieria y Taqueria Cortez (Fort Worth)

— Bludorn (Houston)

— Brisket & Rice (Houston)

— Candente (Houston)

— Comedor (Austin)

— Con Todo (Austin)

— Crown Black (Dallas)

— Dipdipdip Tatsu-Ya (Austin)

— Discada (Austin)

— El Carlos Elegante (Dallas)

— Este (Austin)

— Ezov (Austin)

— Fearing’s (Dallas)

— Garcia’s Mexican Food (San Antonio)

— Garrison (Austin)

— Georgie (Dallas)

— Harvest (McKinney)

— Hidden Omakase (Houston)

— Jeffrey’s (Austin)

— Joe’s Bakery & Coffee Shop (Austin)

— Knox Bistro (Dallas)

— La Condesa (Austin)

— Late August (Houston)

— Launderette (Austin)

— Leche de Tigre (San Antonio)

— Lenoir (Austin)

— Ling Kitchen (Austin)

— Little’s Em’s Oyster Bar (San Antonio)

— Lutie’s (Austin)

— Maie Day (Austin)

— Mercat Bistro (Dallas)

— Mexta (Austin)

— Mister Charles (Dallas)

— Monarch (Dallas)

— Mum Foods Smokehouse & Delicatessan (Austin)

— Nicosi (San Antonio)

— Panther City BBQ (Fort Worth)

— Pappas Bros. Steakhouse (Houston)

— Quarter Acre (Dallas)

— Rye (Dallas)

— Sachet (Dallas)

— Signature Restaurant (San Antonio)

— Smoke’N Ash BBQ (Arlington)

— Stillwell’s (Dallas)

— Stock & Barrel (Dallas)

— Suerte (Austin)

— Tare (Austin)

— Tei-An (Dallas)

— Terry Black’s BBQ (Austin)

— Toshokan (Austin)

— Written By the Seasons (Dallas)