The Michelin Guide elevated the Texas dining profile in the eyes of national and international audiences.
Zach Hilty/Provided by BFA.com
The Michelin Guide arrived in Texas in 2024 with much fanfare, as chefs, restaurateurs and diners across the state wondered how the French-based guide would judge the state’s restaurants and how said judgments would affect the dining landscape.
The gold standard of international restaurant recommendations increased the magnitude of the spotlight that already hovered over Texas, likely introducing many readers to the diverse bounty the state had to offer.
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While the shine of the Guide’s luster has diminished slightly in recent years, as it continues to enter more markets in the U.S. and abroad, its arrival elevated the Texas dining scene.
But, with Michelin’s three-year, $2.7 million contract coming to an end in the weeks ahead, questions about the program remain. Was it worth it for the state of Texas? Its five major cities paid $270,000 each over the duration of the contract, a combined sum that was matched by the state. And will the Michelin Guide return to Texas after October 8, when the third round of awards is announced —not with a ceremony, but via press release?
The answer to the first question depends on your perspective. The answer to the second is unknown. Neither the state, nor any of the cities (Austin, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio) will give any concrete details on the status of the contract or ongoing negotiations, though Michelin has made clear that it always plans to stay in a market once it enters.
Working on a new contract
Michelin Guide executive director Gwendall Poullennec visited LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue during his visit to Austin in September 2024 to announce the Michelin Key winners.
MATTHEW ODAM/AMERICAN-STATESMAN
“Once the Guide arrives in a destination, the intent is for it to remain there,” Michelin public relations manager Carly Padgett told the American-Statesman via email. “Supported by partnerships, the inspectors will continue to evaluate restaurants in the current coverage areas while keeping an eye on other locales as possible culinary hotspots for inclusion.”
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A 2025 Michelin-commissioned report by global accounting and consulting firm EY, formerly Ernst & Young, makes the case that the Guide is a net positive, proven to drive tourism, serve as an economic engine for the locales where it exists and directly benefit restaurants. The study, entitled “Beyond the Michelin Stars,” reports that 74% of travelers surveyed said the presence of Michelin-recognized restaurants is a decisive factor when choosing a destination and that 82% of chefs reported an increase in sales after being recognized.
The most optimistic statement on Michelin’s potential future came from Visit Dallas senior vice president of tourism and operations Mark Thompson, who says Michelin has significantly elevated the Dallas and Texas restaurant scenes nationally and internationally. He said he thinks Texas’ relevance in the dining world would suffer if the Guide left.
Thompson said he is “very optimistic” Texas will retain a Michelin presence, adding he has no indication that anything would prevent it. He said the interested parties are still working on the complexities and timing of a new contract and speculates that a new agreement may not be announced until early 2027.
Michelin’s arrival and impact
Chef John Bates’ Interstellar BBQ received one of the first Michelin Stars granted in Texas in 2024.
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An inaugural fall celebration in Houston in 2024 revealed two major things: Michelin had elevated the category of barbecue to the exalted tier of Michelin Star status, the Guide’s highest honor, and Austin and Houston were the early stars of the Guide in Texas.
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Three Austin barbecue restaurants took home one star each — Interstellar Barbecue, La Barbecue and LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue — as did farm-to-table restaurant Barley Swine, sushi-focused Craft Omakase, live-fire fine dining restaurant Hestia and since-closed Southern restaurant Olamaie.
Austin’s seven honors led the state in the first year, with Houston restaurants nabbing six awards. Dallas and San Antonio each took home one star. Dozens more restaurants received Bib Gourmands (meals that offer great value) or were simply listed as recommended in the Guide.
The fervor and attention of the newly minted stars helped change the economic prospects for those restaurants, with reservations filling months in advance and lines instantly growing at the already popular (and reservation-free) barbecue restaurants. The effect of the more minor honors was muted, with few restaurant owners the Statesman contacted reporting that Bib Gourmand or being listed in the Guide was mentioned much by diners.
By the time the event ended in the second year, there was more head-scratching than high fiving. Only three restaurants received new stars — one in Dallas and two San Antonio restaurants from Austin-based Emmer & Rye Hospitality Group — while the 15 starred restaurants from 2024 retained their honors.
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What the state and cities are saying
Questions remain about whether the Michelin Guide will return to the Lone Star State in 2027.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
As the third annual announcement approaches, there are more questions about whether the Guide will return than who might earn a new star or attain a second. Representatives from all five cities gave some qualified form of endorsement of the Guide, with some city reps speaking more full-throatedly about the importance of Michelin’s impact on their local scene.
A rep from Austin, home to almost 40% of all starred restaurants in Texas, responded with the most enthusiasm about the Guide’s impact and future.
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“Visit Austin firmly believes the Michelin Guide has lifted our city’s entire restaurant ecosystem,” Tom Noonan, president and CEO of the city’s tourism bureau told the American-Statesman via email. “While we have heard directly from various restaurant partners that they have found the inclusion beneficial, we cannot speak on behalf of individual restaurant businesses or their specific experiences. We remain dedicated to supporting all levels of our food scene, from the legacy restaurants that established Austin as a ‘food city’ decades ago to the modern chefs now earning international acclaim.”
Noonan points to data from Zartico, a technology company that tracks travel data, and Future Partners’ ‘State of the American Traveler’ study to illustrate the economic impact of spending by visitors.
Zartico reports that restaurant spending in Austin from visitors rose from 35% to 45% of total sales between 2024 and 2025, the first full year with the Guide’s spotlight on Texas. It is up to 50% in 2026. The ‘State of the American Traveler’ study showed that 69% of survey respondents ranked Austin’s food scene as slightly good to extremely good in 2025, up 5 percentage points from 2023, before the Guide arrived, and the city moved from a No. 13 ranking to a No. 10 ranking in the same period.
“Visitors are making a profound impact on the economic vitality of our entire community, benefiting not just Michelin Guide-recognized spots, but the diverse spectrum of restaurants that make Austin a world-class culinary destination,” Noonan said.
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Representatives from the other four cities, who declined to discuss details of any current contract negotiations, echoed Noonan’s sentiment about the Guide bringing value, and all pointed out that the Guide’s presence was simply a small part of ongoing efforts to elevate their cities’ restaurant scenes.
“Regardless of the outcome, we remain committed to elevating Fort Worth’s vibrant culinary scene through strategic content and story placements, our ongoing support of the Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival, and our broader efforts to shine a spotlight on the talented chefs and restaurants that make this city a culinary destination,” Visit Fort Worth vice president of marketing and communications Kimber Foster wrote in an email.
“San Antonio had a strong culinary identity well before the arrival of the Michelin Guide, from our designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy to generations of restaurateurs and chefs who have shaped a dining culture distinctive to our city. We believe the Michelin Guide has provided another important international platform for showcasing that talent and introducing San Antonio’s culinary community to new audiences,” Visit San Antonio vice president of marketing and communications David Gonzalez wrote in an email.
What the restaurant industry is saying
“I’ve got enough on my own plate without spending too much time worrying about the larger restaurant ecosystem or how Michelin affects it,” Craft Omakase co-owner Charlie Wang said. “I can only speak for Craft, and it has been a positive experience for us.”
Zach Hilty/BFA.com, Zach Hilty/BFA.com
Charlie Wang, co-owner of Craft Omakase, which received a Star in 2024 and retained it in 2025, says that the Michelin Star has changed the fortunes of his business. Craft filled its book of available reservations within hours of earning its Star in 2024, and visitors at the popular Central Austin sushi restaurant regularly say the Star is what brought the restaurant to their attention.
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Wang says he has seen some restaurants adjusting their operations or offerings in ways he assumes are designed to attract Michelin’s attention, a move he advises against. He acknowledges that he is not in a position to determine how the Guide’s presence in Austin has affected the overall dining economy or whether the cost to keep the Guide here is a worthwhile government expenditure.
“Government is pretty good at spending and wasting money, so who am I to judge? As far as value goes, Michelin is probably a better bang for the buck than the I-35 construction, considering I have to sit through that misery every day,” Wang told the American-Statesman via email. “If Texas decides to renew, I certainly won’t complain. Either way, we’re staying on our path and doing what we do. What the Michelin contract really buys Texas is attention. Without it, we’ll lose some attention. Austin had great restaurants before Michelin, and it will continue to have great restaurants after they leave. We were slicing fish before they came, and we’ll keep slicing fish after they’re gone.”
McGuire Moorman Lambert Hospitality Group is one of the most prolific and profitable restaurant groups in the state. MML restaurants, from seafood jewel box Clark’s to red sauce Italian restaurant Sammie’s, are some of the most stylish and crowded in the city.
Though MML restaurants have helped define the modern Austin scene, their elegant steakhouse Jeffrey’s is the only one of the group’s nearly two dozen concepts that has been listed as a recommended restaurant in the Guide since 2024.
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MML-cofounder Larry McGuire said inclusion in the Guide has not noticeably led to new business at his popular steakhouse, and he doesn’t think his company’s fleet of restaurants concerns itself with Michelin.
“We’re having a very strong year. We don’t even really consider it as something we should be thinking about,” McGuire said. “Our bread and butter is repeat customers. That’s where I get a little lost with the Michelin Guide: our businesses are built for people who eat out multiple times a week, and we’re trying to get that business. What MML does seems kind of destined to be misaligned with what Michelin’s focus was on and who they recognized (barbecue and prix fixe restaurants).”
‘If I never get a star again, I will sleep well’
Chef Phillip Frankland Lee (seen here with wife and partner chef Margarita Kallas-Lee) said he hopes to operate the couple’s new boutique steakhouse, Big Slick, at a two-Star level, though he says he doesn’t spend much time worrying about whether or not his restaurants actually received the accolades from Michelin.
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While MML has remained largely indifferent to the Michelin impact, chef and restaurant owner Phillip Frankland Lee says he was acutely aware of how the Guide influenced public opinion.
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Lee and wife, Margarita Kallas-Lee, own Restaurants by Scratch, which includes four concepts in Austin. The original California location of their Pasta | Bar restaurant earned a Michelin Star in its first year of operation. Lee says when the Guide didn’t give the Austin outpost a Star (Michelin generally focuses on single-location restaurants), the expensive tasting menu restaurant suffered significantly.
Lee said the intimate Pasta | Bar in East Austin operated at 90% capacity in its first three years, but once no Star was given, reservations plummeted to just 10% of capacity. He believes Stars can cut both ways for restaurants that operate in a certain style and at high price points.
“I think that people, when they saw us not even get acknowledged, just assumed that we weren’t good enough,” Lee said.
The Lees closed Pasta | Bar about 15 months after the first Michelin Stars were handed out in Texas. They opened boutique steakhouse Big Slick in its place this summer. And, while Lee said he intends to operate the restaurant, which features trappings of Michelin-starred restaurants like tableside preparations and saucing, at a 2-Star level, he has given up aiming for Stars.
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“If I never get a star again, I will sleep well at night,” Lee said.
A Star can change the trajectory and bottom line of a restaurant overnight. But it does not guarantee long-term success. Chef Michael Fojtasek’s Southern restaurant Olamaie earned a Star in 2024, with the award initially igniting a rush of attention.
The restaurant booked hundreds of reservations in the days following the ceremony in Houston, but the bump from the award only lasted about eight months.
Retaining the Star did little to change the flow of traffic. Fojtasek said he received hundreds of calls and text messages congratulating him and his staff in 2024, but only received one or two texts following the news that the elegant Southern restaurant had retained its Star in 2025.
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Following the Star, numerous guests curious about the “Michelin experience” would visit and order a few appetizers and entrees to share among the table to check the Southern stunner of their bucket list. “People would come to Austin and have lunch at Interstellar BBQ and LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue and then pop in here for a few bites for dinner,” Fojtasek said with a laugh, referring to two other Austin restaurants that received their initial stars in 2024.
The culinary tourism led Fojtasek, in part, to change his restaurant to a $175 prix fixe tasting menu, while reserving snacks and biscuits for bar service. But the high cost of goods and labor, the challenges of an Austin dining market overflowing with options and populated by distractible diners who don’t like dining out late combined to make its future untenable. Star or not.
Fojtasek closed Olamaie over the summer.
The Texas Restaurant Association, an advocate for the state’s food and hospitality sectors, recognizes the value Michelin brings to the Texas dining scene at large, but acknowledges the awards are a small piece of a bigger economic puzzle.
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“Recognition alone cannot erase the significant economic pressures restaurants are facing today,” a TRA rep told the American-Statesman via email. “Operators continue to navigate rising costs and a challenging business environment, which makes every opportunity to showcase Texas restaurants and attract visitors even more meaningful.”
Lessons from outside of Texas?
It would be very rare, though not unprecedented, for Michelin to leave Texas. The Guide left Las Vegas after its initial three-year contract ended in 2009, during a belt-tightening recession. Las Vegas, however, returned to the Michelin fold this year. The Guide announced in late 2025 a new Southwest edition, which includes Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.
Atlanta looked poised to lose the attention of Michelin after its three-year contract, a reported $900,000 commitment, ended in 2025. But Atlanta was folded into a new Michelin Guide to the American South, with a two-year contract of $450,000. The Colorado Michelin Guide was restructured after its initial three-year contract ended, with the Guide expanding to include the entire state instead of only Denver and a few elite ski towns.
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The Michelin Texas announcement will take place Oct. 8. After that, the future is hazy.
Whether Michelin returns to Texas in 2027, and in what form, remains an open question. And, while restaurants that receive Stars benefit most from the Guide’s work, it’s clear that losing the French-based company’s gaze would be costly to independent restaurants in the state.
“I believe the international recognition, especially for Texas BBQ, has been very important. Whether you agree with it or not, Michelin is considered one of the gold standards in judging restaurants and hotels,” John Bates, owner of the one-Star Interstellar Barbecue, wrote in an email to the American-Statesman. “(If Michelin left Texas) it would be disappointing in general and would take opportunities away from local restaurants and hotels. It’s hard enough to run an independent restaurant in today’s economy. I appreciate the city and state investing in hospitality.”
Dining and Cooking