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Predicting 14 Houston restaurants that should earn a Michelin star

It’s been about a week since the Michelin Guide confirmed its plans to bring its vaunted restaurant ratings Texas. Through a partnership with Travel Texas and local tourism boards in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio, Michelin’s famously anonymous inspectors have already been in the field evaluating restaurants for a range of recognition.

Of course, that starts with the famed Michelin stars, which are typically awarded to fine dining restaurants. Restaurants may receive one, two, or three stars.

As the guide explains on its website:

One Michelin Star is awarded to restaurants using top quality ingredients, where dishes with distinct flavors are prepared to a consistently high standard.
Two Michelin Stars are awarded when the personality and talent of the chef are evident in their expertly crafted dishes; their food is refined and inspired.
Three Michelin Stars is the highest award, given for the superlative cooking of chefs at the peak of their profession; their cooking is elevated to an art form and some of their dishes are destined to become classics.

In addition, Michelin issues Bib Gourmand awards to more affordable restaurants that still display a high level of culinary excellence and Recommended awards to restaurants that don’t quite qualify for either of the other two designations. Green stars are given to restaurants that show leadership in sustainability.

Like many other restaurant-obsessed Houstonians, speculating about which restaurants will receive stars has become a part-time hobby for us. In that spirit, let’s make some predictions.

First, a few things to keep in mind. In the years the guide returned to Los Angeles (2019) and the year it debuted in Miami (2022), it awarded stars to 25 and and 11 restaurants, respectively. Therefore, it seems reasonable to expect that Houston will fall somewhere in between with between 10 and 15 restaurants earning stars.

Miami also hints at how many stars each restaurant is likely to receive. Only an outpost of the globally-renown L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon received two stars that first year, and it remains the only Florida restaurant to hold more than one star. With that as a guide, it would be a surprise if any Houston restaurant received more than one star.

Thinking about the world of Houston fine dining, some restaurants seem more likely than others to earn Michelin’s attention. Just for fun, let’s establish three categories: Locks, Probably, and Fingers Crossed. Each category is presented in alphabetical order.

Locks

BCN: The Montrose restaurant serves elevated Spanish cuisine, which is a style that the guide has recognized worldwide. It also offers a very refined dining experience and recently upgraded its culinary talent with the addition of chef Fernando Recio, whose resume includes two star recipients Mugaritz and Saison. MAD, its sister restaurant, is something of a sleeper for a star.

Katami: Not only is the guide famous for liking upscale Japanese restaurants, this one features the culinary talents of Manabu Horiuchi (known as Hori-san), every Houston chef’s favorite Houston chef. The restaurant’s attention to rigorously sourced ingredients and classic preparations will serve it well when the inspectors submit their evaluations.

Le Jardinier: Both the New York City and Miami locations of the vegetable forward, French fine dining restaurant already hold stars. Excluding Houston would be a weird snub, especially since founding chef Alain Verzeroli explained on CultureMap’s “What’s Eric Eating” podcast that all three locations operate at the same high standard.

March: A restaurant serving an elegant, European-inspired tasting menu is practically inspector catnip. Factor in the deep wine list, elegant service, and stunning interior, and it would be a huge upset for March not to receive at least one star.

Probably

MF Sushi: Like Katami, Chris Kinjo’s Museum District restaurant serves rigorously-sourced fish that’s flown in from Japan. When the chef is working behind the counter, an omakase at MF is one of Houston’s most exciting meals. Given the guide’s interest in Japanese cuisine, it seems likely to earn a star.

Neo: No one questions that the food prepared by chefs Paolo Justo and Luis Mercado at this intimate omakase counter is worthy of recognition. The Uchi veterans have sharpened their skills through regular travel and collaborations with other top chefs. As long as the inspectors are comfortable with the restaurant’s setting inside a Montrose clothing studio, it’s in.

Tatemó: The 2024 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards Restaurant of the Year winner offers the kind of chef-forward, personal cooking that will garner Michelin’s interest, and, as both a two-time James Beard Award finalist and a Food & Wine Best New Chef recipient, chef-owner Emmanuel Chavez has proven he can stand on a national stage. Hopefully, the inspectors aren’t thrown off by the humble, strip center location and lack of alcoholic beverage offerings.

Theodore Rex: Speaking of the Beard Awards, Best Chef: Southwest winner Justin Yu continues to operate one of Houston’s most thoughtful, ingredient-driven kitchens. Its location in downtown’s Warehouse District and humble decor may not quite match what someone expects at a fine dining restaurant, but the Wagyu beef dumplings, tomato toast, and other fan favorites should push it over the top.

Fingers Crossed

Baso: The Basque-inspired live fire restaurant has been earning raves from diners and critics alike, and co-chefs Jacques Varon and Max Lappe bring critical experience working in Michelin-starred restaurants. The pork chop, venison tartare, and charred shrimp demonstrate the chef’s skills, but the inspectors might want the restaurant to complete a full year before granting it a star.

Bludorn: Chef-owner Aaron Bludorn has said that the stress of maintaining Cafe Boulud’s star weighed on him, so he probably doesn’t want to repeat that experience in a new city. While it’s certainly possible that Bludorn is a little too big and a little too loud to earn a star, it is also extremely consistent, French-influenced, and ingredient-driven, which are all qualities that should capture the inspector’s attention.

An Indian Restaurant: One of Houston’s Indian fine dining restaurants will likely earn a star, but figuring out whether it will be Amrina, Kiran’s, Musaafer, or Verandah is tricky. All of them serve tasting menus that could capture the guide’s attention. Perhaps chef Mayank Istwal’s wide-ranging menu and Musaafer’s over-the-top decor will push it over the top. Then again, Amrina chef Jassi Bindra earned Michelin recognition when he worked in Washington, D.C. Perhaps one bite of Kiran Verma’s tandoori lobster or Sunil Srivastava’s biryani could be enough to distinguish their restaurants from the others.

Little’s Oyster Bar: Chef Jason Ryczek and his team have shown a high degree of consistency since Pappas opened the upscale seafood restaurant last year. His passion for sourcing high quality ingredients — including harvesting his own caviar — should impress the inspectors, too. A commitment to sustainability could even land the restaurant a green star.

Nancy’s Hustle: Can a restaurant known for its burger earn a star? Let’s hope so, considering the rest of chef and co-owner Jason Vaughan’s menu, which includes regular new additions and sources from top local farms. While Michelin says its inspectors only care about the food on the plate, Nancy’s well-sourced wine list and consistently friendly service will serve it well, too.

Pappas Bros. Steakhouse: Admittedly, the guide doesn’t seem to hold steakhouses in very high regard, but if, in a nod to Texas, it were inclined to recognize one, it would be Pappas Bros. The restaurant shows respect for ingredients by doing all of its dry-aging in house. It also has the deepest wine list in Houston and some of the most polished service. Just make sure the inspectors know to add jalapeños to their potatoes au gratin and to ask for fried shrimp as a supplement to their steak orders.

Eyes on 2025

This year has been such a dynamic time for new restaurants that a few places are simply too new to be in the conversation for stars this year. They include:

Ishtia, the new Native-inspired tasting menu concept from Eculent chef David Skinner.
The Marigold Club: Goodnight Hospitality’s ode to Mayfair London.
Turner’s Cut: Ben Berg’s steakhouse devoted to all-out luxury.

Good luck next year.

Bib Gourmand

As for the Bib Gourmands, if Pizzana, which earned one for its Los Angeles location, is any indication of what sort of casual restaurants the guide is looking for, Houston is flush with informal, relatively affordable establishments that should look forward to awards. Can the inspectors get to all of the worthy candidates in year one? Probably not. We’ll grouse about the inevitable snubs — particularly in Chinatown and Houston's suburbs — but here are 11 that come to mind:

Aga’s: The South Asian community’s favorite restaurant for food that tastes even better than mom’s.
Burger-Chan: Houstonians love burgers, and an Asian-inspired burger joint that makes its own scallion aioli and sambal mayo seems distinctive enough to make the cut.
Crawfish & Noodles: Still the gold standard for Viet-Cajun cuisine.
Himalaya: The Ghandi District favorite has been operating at a high level for 20 years.
Jūn: A highly personal restaurant from chefs Evelyn Garcia and Henry Liu that could also get a star.
The Original Ninfa’s: The guide wouldn’t be doing Houston justice without at least one Tex-Mex eatery. Choosing this East End restaurant would be a good nod to the city’s history.
Phat Eatery: The Malaysian restaurant in Katy has been delighting diners with its beef rendang, roti cannai, and other favorites.
Pizzana: If it’s good enough to earn one in LA, why not Houston?
Street to Kitchen: The lively Thai restaurant led by James Bead Award winner Benchawan Jabthong Painter could also be in line for a star.
Truth BBQ: At least one barbecue joint is going to get a Bib.
Urbe: At least one taqueria is making the list. Michelin probably plays it safe by choosing the one owned by Beard Award winner Hugo Ortega.

Photo by Eva Kolenko

Tatemó seems likely to earn a star.

If none — or very few — of these predictions come true, that’s okay. Writers for this publication have a history of being spectacularly wrong.

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A CultureMap Exclusive

Sneak peek at members-only wine club and restaurant opening soon in Upper Kirby

Courtesy of 55 Seventy

The main restaurant will serve elevated American fare.

A wine-driven, members-only club is currently under construction next to Upper Kirby’s Levy Park. Called 55 Seventy, the game-changing facility is on track to open at the end of November.

Prior to opening 55 Seventy’s original Dallas location in 2022, founder Tommy Shuey worked in finance. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he started looking around for new business ventures and quickly discovered that Dallas’ private wine storage facilities were completely sold out, despite, in his assessment, being relatively out of the way compared to where its clients live and not very nice inside.

“The thought was, why don't I just make this nicer and charge more and put it in their backyard and really offer that quality and convenience that I feel like a wine collector would appreciate on storing wine,” Shuey tells CultureMap.

He also envisioned a club component that would offer more than just a place for collectors to drink. It would provide a full service restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily, along with the ability to host private events with custom menus. Dallasite embraced the concept, selling out memberships and prompting Shuey and his partner, sommelier Jeff Gregory, to search for a second location. They quickly identified Houston as the right place to expand.

Bigger and better

“Our winery partners, when they come for a tasting, they always go to Houston first or second,” Shuey says. Later, he adds, “The more I started digging into this Houston market, the more this is not going to be news to you, but you start unraveling this underbelly of wine in Houston. I'm convinced that Houston is the largest wine city in the country. It is unbelievable.”

With lessons learned from the Dallas location, Houston’s 55 Seventy will be even more grand — a 30,000-square-foot, newly constructed building that will be able to hold as many as 150,000 bottles of wine while offering its members two restaurants, a demonstration kitchen, lounge areas, private dining and meeting spaces, and an art gallery. Houston's Gin Design Group is handling the interiors; as illustrated above, the club will have an Art Deco-inspired design.

Courtesy of 55 Seventy

The main restaurant will serve elevated American fare.

“We've learned so much. A lot of it is learning, hey, we have to do this differently or we want to do it this way,” Shuey says. “And some of it's a guess. I think people are going to use the club differently from Dallas. I think Houston is a later city, and I think that they come in bigger groups more frequently than Dallas.

“The one thing we know for sure is that Houston is a more adventurous food city. And it's a higher bar than Dallas. And so we hired two chefs, both of Michelin experience, to elevate the program.”

While the food program will follow the template created in Dallas by executive chef and partner Josh Sutcliff, a veteran of Dallas’ acclaimed FT33 who’s committed to local sourcing and scratch cooking, day-to-day operations will be overseen by executive chef Diego Fernandez, who brings experience from Michelin-starred restaurants Alinea (Chicago), Quince (San Francisco), and time with research and development team at Pappas Restaurants. Executive banquet chef Jacob Solomon brings experience from the Michael Mina group to all of 55 Seventy’s private dining and events.

55 Seventy’s main restaurant is located on its first floor. It will feature a wide-ranging menu centered around steak and seafood, along with sushi and vegetarian items. Shuey notes that many items will be able to be modified to accommodate gluten-free and other food allergies. Whereas the Dallas location opened with a 220-square-foot kitchen, later expanded to 660, the Houston club will have almost 2,000 square feet of kitchen space, giving both chefs plenty of room to cook.

The second restaurant is called Canopy Bar. Located on the roof, it will serve pizzas and other Mediterranean-style fare. A nano wall will protect diners from the elements.

“The goal is to have something a little more casual and approachable,” Shuey says. “I think what we're most excited about is to have those two very different restaurant options for our members versus in Dallas.”

Shuey has made a similar commitment to the wine side of 55 Seventy by recruiting master sommelier Justin Moore to serve as executive director of wine. Most recently with Washington, D.C.’s Rose’s Restaurant Group that operates three, one-star Michelin restaurants — Pineapple and Pearls, Rose’s Luxury, and Little Pearl — Moore will oversee the club’s wine list as well as a wine brokerage service that will help members grow their collections.

“I have deep respect for the classic benchmark producers, and I love finding the bottle nobody has heard of yet,” Moore said in a statement. “Houston appreciates both, and our list will reflect that.”

Who the members are

Two months before opening, 55 Seventy has already sold about 1,000 memberships. Ultimately, the club could offer as many as 3,000, but Shuey wants to build that slow. For now, the aim is to have enough people that both restaurants feel lively and that members are able to make connections with each other over great bottles.

Beyond being able to pay the various fees — an initial payment of $6,000 for an individual, $7,500 for a couple, or $20,000 for a company, plus about $500 per month — Shuey says members typical have a certain perspective in common.

“It's somebody who is at the stage of their life where they appreciate the finer things, food, wine, cocktails, and hospitality. If they're willing to appreciate the fact that we are sourcing our beef from a local producer, and they'll pay a little bit more for that because it's quality. It's somebody who wants their wine made by hand by a winemaker who's reputable and not by a machine and a factory somewhere. It's really somebody that wants our staff to know their name when they walk in and feel appreciated.

“You're talking about partners at law firms, business owners, wealth management, firm partners, you're talking about people that live in the area and just love food and wine. People that work in the industry that have that like real appreciation for what we're building. And we don't want it to be stuffy. We want it to be approachable.”

As he notes, service is a big part of 55 Seventy’s appeal. Since it isn’t operating with the same financial considerations as a stand-alone restaurant, the club doesn’t need to turn tables. A member can claim a spot all night, drink a bottle from their cellar, and eat as much or as little as they want to.

55 Seventy is expected to open on Friday, November 27. It will be located at 3015 Richmond Ave. Membership inquiries may be directed to membership.houston@55seventy.com.

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