who's getting a star?

Michelin Guide chooses Houston to reveal Texas' first starred restaurants

Could March be one of the first Texas restaurants to receive a Michelin star?

Photo by Julie Soefer

The countdown is on to find out which restaurants will be included in the first Texas edition of the Michelin Guide. An invite-only ceremony will be held in Houston on Monday, November 11 to reveal the selections.

First announced in July, Michelin’s guide to Texas will cover Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, and each city’s suburbs. Texas Travel and local tourism boards in each city agreed to provide marketing support — $90,000 per year for the first three years in Houston alone — to bring the guide to Texas. The restaurant announcement follows a ceremony in September that revealed the American hotels to receive Michelin keys, including three in Houston.

“We are delighted to be hosting the inaugural Michelin Guide Texas Ceremony in the vibrant city of Houston,” Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the Michelin Guides, said in a statement. “Houston is full of culinary innovation and world class hospitality, which goes hand in hand with our values at the Michelin Guide. Together with Houston First, as well as the support of Travel Texas, we look forward to an evening of celebration as we toast to the restaurants that our Inspectors have chosen to award in Texas.”

Michelin uses anonymous inspectors to evaluate restaurants on five criteria: product quality; mastery of cooking techniques; harmony of flavors; the personality of the chef as reflected in the cuisine; and consistency over time and across the entire menu. Based on that, they may recognize restaurants with one of three designations:

Michelin stars, rated at one, two, or three for restaurants that offer exceptional experiences
Bib Gourmand, described as “restaurants that offer great quality food at good prices”
Green stars for “restaurants that are leaders in sustainable gastronomy”

In addition, Michelin may also issue a lesser “recommended” designation to restaurants that are good but don’t qualify for a star rating.

Although which restaurants will receive what designation will be a mystery until November, CultureMap has learned that the guide has been sending emails to establishments requesting information for its website. Rumors about which restaurants have (and have not) received an email have been quietly circulating among restaurant industry insiders for the last month or so. CultureMap shared some options for Houston restaurants that could receive stars here.

Regardless of how many restaurants receive stars, a sense of excitement has been building. Some believe the opportunity to earn a Michelin star will help draw more culinary talent to the state. Others look forward to seeing how Texas cities compare to Michelin markets around the world, a sentiment shared by Houston First president and CEO Michael Heckman.

“The Michelin Guide’s arrival in Texas presents us with a unique opportunity to show the world the extraordinary sophistication and complexity of our state’s culinary scene. And there’s no better place to launch the Michelin Guide Texas than right here in Houston, the nation’s most diverse city,” Heckman added.

“Over the last two decades, our city has emerged as a food mecca, fostering skilled hometown chefs and restaurateurs while simultaneously drawing exceptional talent from across the globe. Houston First is excited to partner with Michelin in hosting the inaugural Michelin Guide Texas ceremony and to learn alongside our partner cities which Texas restaurants have been selected.”

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Esquire's Best New Restaurants

Esquire names Houston's West African eatery to best new restaurants list

Photo by StuffBenEats

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It’s a ChòpnBlọk world, and we’re all living in it. The Houston restaurant is the only Texas representative to make Esquire’s list of The Best New Restaurants in America, 2025.

Published Monday, December 1, the list includes 33 restaurants from across the country. New York City leads the list with seven representatives, followed by greater Los Angeles, which earns six spots, including Restaurant of the Year for RVR, an izakaya in Venice, California.

The quality of the restaurants they’ve discovered has put the magazine in a celebratory mood.

“This year at Esquire we’ve seen dozens of new restaurants like this, places where spectacular food is coupled with a damn good time — where ambition and abandon meet,” Joshua David Stein writes. “These are the places you hate to leave, but when you do, you leave full. Full of some of the most deeply personal food you can remember eating, full of joy and ideas and hope. You stumble out, way past your bedtime, practically dancing in the street.”

Turning to ChòpnBlọk, Stein notes that founder Ope Amosu has already partnered with Houston hip-hop legend Bun B and the Rockets — and hints that more locations may be on the way. Still, it’s West African restaurant’s creative fare hat sets it apart.

“Recent years are littered with the carcasses of failed fast-casual concepts. But Ope Amosu’s ChòpnBlok seems destined for success, borne on the tide of seven tremendous rice bowls,” he writes. “The rices range from the Ghanaian fried rice known as waakye — pronounced ‘watchee’ — to diaspora-bridging jollof jambalaya. Along with the rices come ikoyi shrimp or yaji vegetables finished with yassa curry or red stew and plantains.”

Reached for comment, Amosu sent the following text to celebrate his restaurant’s success.

When we say “Africa to the world,” these are amongst the reflections we envision.

Being named one of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants is bigger than us. It’s a win for our community, our culture, the diaspora. We’re grateful to see our West African cuisine and narrative taking up space and shifting the conversation around what American dining at its best can be. And to do this while reppin’ ‘the H’… Man!!! Hol’ up!!!

We move with the flavors, stories, and traditions that shaped us. It’s what we know and how we will continue to show up.

I’m humbled in the best way and still locked in… ten toes down! Our community and the city of Houston just caught another win and it feels right! What an honor!

In 2024, Esquire named Afro-Mexican restaurant Late August as its only Houston best new restaurant. In 2023, it named Montrose restaurant Nonno’s Family Pizza Tavern as its Pizza Joint of the Year.

First opened as a stand at the Post Market food hall downtown, Amosu opened ChòpnBlok’s first standalone location in Montrose on October 1, 2024 (Nigerian Independence Day). It features a West African-inspired design by Zainob Amao of AMAO Creative in collaboration with Gin Braverman of Gin Design Group.

Being included in Esquire is only the latest national recognition for ChòpnBlok. In September, the New York Times named it one of America’s 50 best restaurants. Last month, the Michelin Guide named it one of five new Houston restaurants to receive a Bib Gourmand designation.

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