In Michelin’s third year releasing a Guide in Texas, it named more than 30 great restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth. But forgive me while I complain: Michelin missed a few.
Michael Hogue
Michelin just announced the 2026 Texas Guide, a list of nearly 150 restaurants its anonymous critics enjoyed across the Lone Star State. Dallas’ existing 1-star Michelin restaurants, Tatsu and Mamani, retained their honors from 2025 to 2026. Michelin added one new starred restaurant in North Texas: Goldee’s Barbecue, an out-there smokehouse in Fort Worth run by a band of best friends.
Counting up all of Dallas-Fort Worth’s honors — the value-driven Bib Gourmands (6), Recommended restaurants (24) and its highest-performers, Michelin-starred restaurants (3) — North Texas has earned a respectable amount of attention from the elusive French company.
I’m thrilled Fort Worth is finally on Michelin’s map with a star, though I can’t make sense of why Goldee’s was added now and not a year or two ago.
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And I wanted more in Dallas.
Related story from 2021: I’m calling it: Goldee’s is the best new barbecue joint in North Texas
I’ll get into more of the snubs and surprises later today at dallasnews.com/michelin, but for now here are five takeaways from the Michelin Guide Texas, released Oct. 8, 2026.
1. Dallas diners, are we OK?
Michelin awarded 1 new Michelin star to three restaurants in Texas, and none of those were in Dallas. Not Sushi Kozy, the Japanese restaurant in downtown Dallas that serves up delightful surprises within its omakase menu. Not Olōyō, the exacting contemporary Mexican restaurant in Old East Dallas.
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I didn’t expect both of those to snag a star, but I did hope for one.
Chef Olivia López, of Olōyō, created the menu at her tiny contemporary Mexican restaurant in Old East Dallas. This dish is made with dry-aged heritage duck, mole manchamanteles, calamondin jam, pearl onions, pickled peppers and mustard seeds with a side of blue corn tortillas.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News
What does this mean for Dallas, a city where eating in restaurants is kind of our thing? I could say Michelin whiffed: Its critics overlooked our newest restaurants for stars, or maybe it didn’t spend enough time to learn to love them. That’s not my take in 2026. I think we’ve got work to do, chefs.
While Dallas’ fine-dining options in 2026 are better than they’ve been in years, our best restaurants can be better. Michelin judges on five criteria for a star — quality of ingredients, harmony of flavors, mastery of techniques, personality of the chef and consistency. I want to see more personality and more consistency.
At Sushi Kozy, diners cleanse their palates with this one bite.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News
2. Fort Worth diners, congrats! Mostly.
I’ve loved Goldee’s Barbecue for years, and it’s exciting to see it win 1 Michelin star alongside only two other new starred restaurants across the state, vegan restaurant Fabrik and Japanese spot Kappo Kappo, both in Austin.
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That puts a big spotlight on Fort Worth, and indeed, executives at Visit Fort Worth are celebrating the win. Previously, Fort Worth was the only major city in the Texas Guide that hadn’t received 1 Michelin star. Goldee’s win is a huge achievement, Visit Fort Worth CEO Mitch Whitten wrote in an emailed statement two hours after the news landed.
Continued congratulations are in order to Birrieria y Taqueria Cortez and Panther City BBQ, two Fort Worth restaurants that earned Recommended status in 2026 for a third consecutive year.
“These honors reflect the talent, passion and creativity that make Fort Worth such an exciting culinary destination,” Whitten wrote.
It feels fitting that Fort Worth’s first star goes to a barbecue joint. Cowtown was once the best city in the state to eat barbecue. And, it matches with Fort Worth’s cowboy persona — as home base for Taylor Sheridan and Landman, it has to be said.
But then, we’re left to wonder: What about Fort Worth’s excellent Mexican restaurants like Don Artemio, Dos Mares and Almacén El Gallo, none of which are listed in the Guide at all?
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3. What is the deal with barbecue, Michelin?
I used the word exciting to describe Goldee’s entry into Michelin’s highest echelon of food because it is. But also: Why now? Goldee’s was an exceptional barbecue joint in 2024, Michelin’s first year publishing a Guide in Texas. That year, Michelin stars went to four barbecue joints in Austin and Houston. Four. None in North Texas.
Some chefs and diners will grumble about including barbecue on a Michelin-starred list. It’s worth considering: Diners grab a plastic tray and slide it along the cafeteria line, pointing at the glistening brisket on the cutting board or the mac and cheese in a metal container, ready to be scooped. That casual experience contrasts with the tightly choreographed fine-dining dinners also on Michelin’s starred lists.
I would never say a barbecue restaurant doesn’t deserve a Michelin star. It does. But I don’t think Michelin has handed them out evenly, or in the right moments.
Going to Goldee’s in Fort Worth means standing in line, sometimes for hours. Once you make it to the front, no one will judge if you go big, with brisket, jalapeño cheese sausage, turkey, ribs and sides.
Lawrence Jenkins/Special Contributor
I asked Michelin about Goldee’s timing. Its chief inspector pointed to the five criteria for a Michelin star. Those haven’t changed for years — and that doesn’t explain why Goldee’s good cooking is star-worthy now and not before.
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We do know Goldee’s earned it without our help: “It’s worth noting,” the chief inspector wrote in a statement, “that the inspectors are not influenced by a restaurant’s popularity or level of media attention.”
After Goldee’s win, I’ll be looking at Cattleack Barbeque in the Farmers Branch area for a star next year.
4. An Indian restaurant in Plano gets deserved recognition.
The Michelin Guide arrived in Texas because of a $2.7 million, three-year agreement between five city tourism agencies, plus statewide entity Travel Texas. The two stakeholders in North Texas are Visit Dallas and Visit Fort Worth, and I wondered from the beginning how far Michelin’s critics would stray outside those two city boundaries.
Good news: They went to Plano! Michelin honored Indian restaurant Jashan as a Recommended restaurant. It’s the only restaurant in Plano on Michelin’s 2026 list. Jashan is absolutely worth a visit. The à la carte menu includes $18 chaat, $25 subz seekh gilafi and a $110 Jashan-e-raan, a shareable tandoori goat dish.
Owner Prasanna Singaraju, whose career was in smartphone and web apps previously, has thrown himself into the restaurant business with intensity and intention. Try Jashan if you haven’t been yet.
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On a visit to Jashan in November 2025, chefs served mango butter barramundi.
Shafkat Anowar/Staff Photographer
Raan-e-Dhungar, or smoked shredded lamb, was one of my favorite bites at Jashan.
Shafkat Anowar/Staff Photographer
Shikampuri-e-Nazaakat at Jashan is one of the fine-dining courses at this large, impressive Plano restaurant.
Shafkat Anowar/Staff Photographer
5. Please don’t tell too many people about Resident Taqueria.
Lake Highlands’ strip mall restaurant Resident Taqueria snuck onto Michelin’s list of affordable restaurants, its Bib Gourmands. Lunch and dinner at Resident is great, and I’m partial to the caramelized cauliflower with epazote aioli vegetarian taco as well as the pork belly burnt ends with cucumber and jalapeños.
It’s just … well … can newcomers please make room for the regulars? Resident has been a favorite in Lake Highlands for years. Please be cool.
Chef and owner Andrew Savoie holds pork rib carnitas at Resident Taqueria in Dallas. Lake Highlands neighbors already love this place.
Anja Schlein/Special ContributorWhat are your biggest surprises from this year’s announcement of the Michelin Guide Texas?
The Michelin Guide Texas revealed its 2026 winners on Oct. 8, 2026.
Dining and Cooking