Michelin Is Bringing Its Guide — and Stars — to Houston

The coveted guide will also recognize Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, and Fort Worth

In 2024, Texas will finally have a Michelin Guide, and Houston will be included.

The Michelin company, the international restaurant star rating system run by the French tire company, announced on Tuesday, July 16, that Texas would be granted the Michelin Guide Texas in 2024, according to a release. Eater Austin reports that the guide is set to be one of the largest inaugural statewide guides in the country, and anonymous inspectors — full-time Michelin employees — are reportedly already on the ground in Houston, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio to make the initial restaurant selections that will kick off the Texas edition. The newly-starred restaurants will be announced later this year at the 2024 Texas Michelin Guide ceremony.

According to the release, Michelin’s historical methodology and criteria on food — not service or decor — will stand for the upcoming Texas restaurant selections, including:

• quality products
• the harmony of flavors
• the mastery of cooking techniques
• the voice and personality of the chef as reflected in the cuisine
• consistency between each visit and throughout the meal

The question of whether Texas should have a Michelin guide has been debated for years, but the answer — and when it would happen — seemed more complicated. Many diners and chefs have attested that Houston has what it takes, with Michelin-star-worthy food, some of the most diverse cuisines in the country, plus chefs with Michelin-star restaurant experience and James Beard Award-winning and nominated chefs, too. The guide, however, required official buy-in from the Lone Star State’s tourism organization, Travel Texas, to host the Michelin Guide. According to Michelin, that time is finally here — and an exciting for the five cities that will be rated.

Texas’s 2024 restaurant selection will come alongside the guide’s selection of hotels later this year, which will showcase the most unique and exciting places for travelers to stay around the world, the release states. The guide will consider each hotel’s style, service, personality, and budget, and will give diners the option to book hotels through the Michelin guide website or app.

The tire company first published the guide for motorists in France in the 1920s in hopes of encouraging tire sales. It later was expanded to North America, where it published its first guide in New York in 2005, and has since expanded to various regions, including Chicago; Washington, D.C.; California; Florida; Toronto and Vancouver, Canada; Atlanta; and most recently, Mexico.

Though the guide has been known to largely recognize European and Japanese fine dining restaurants, the Michelin team has already given a nod to Texas barbecue in its press release, and Texans may hope that the state’s most resonant cuisines, like Tex-Mex, will be reflected in the guide.

This story will be updated.