In the seventeenth century, the government of New Spain established a network of trails based on Indigenous trade routes that it called El Camino Real de los Tejanos, in part to prevent the French from moving beyond Louisiana’s western border. But the French have finally succeeded in invading Texas, and they’ve brought with them their opinions on our dining scene.
On July 16 Michelin, the French tire company whose restaurant guides are vaunted the world over, announced it was coming to the Lone Star State. At that point, its anonymous inspectors were already on the ground eating in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio, and, as Michelin’s press release stated, they were as interested in evaluating barbecue, seafood, and Tex-Mex restaurants as they were the usual white-tablecloth, fine-dining establishments.
Yesterday Michelin finally revealed its Texas selections. And as the first Mexico City guide, which Michelin also published this year, showed with Mexican cuisine, the new list proved that the organization has a lot to learn about Texas food traditions. It was exciting to see this slate of restaurants get honored, but plenty of Mexican restaurants and taquerias were seemingly overlooked.
First, the good news: Nixta Taqueria co-owner and executive chef Edgar Rico was given the Young Chef Award, the equivalent of his Rising Star Chef of the Year Award from the James Beard Foundation in 2022.
Mixtli, the standard-bearer of ultracreative Mexican fare, with rotating quarterly menus that focus on a theme or region of Mexico, received one Michelin star and special recognition for its service. It was the only San Antonio restaurant to earn a star, which comes after years of being named a semifinalist or finalist for the James Beard Foundation Awards.
The only Mexican restaurant in Houston to land a star was Tatemó. It’s well deserved and in line with Michelin’s penchant for exquisite and creative menus with continental leanings. Tatemó, owned by Emmanuel Chavez and Megan Maul, is one of a handful of restaurants statewide with a focus on Mexico’s heirloom corn and the time-consuming and labor-intensive process of nixtamalization. Tatemó and executive chef Chavez have been James Beard Foundation Award semifinalists and finalists as well. Chavez was teary-eyed when he accepted the award at the Michelin event. When I asked him how he felt, he replied, “Feels like I need to get me a James Beard [Award] now.”
The Mexican restaurants that received a Bib Gourmand were more heavily concentrated in Austin and included taco trucks Cuantos Tacos and La Santa Barbacha, the innovative Nixta Taqueria, Ramen del Barrio, and Veracruz Fonda & Bar, from the team behind the popular Veracruz All Natural minichain. EMA, the Houston cafe that serves the number seven taco in our 50 Best Tacos in Texas list, was also recognized in the category.
Recommendations include casual fine-dining Mexican restaurant Comedor, trailers Con Todo and Discada, seafood specialist Este, Joe’s Bakery & Coffee Shop, and Suerte—all in Austin. Joe’s is the only Tex-Mex restaurant listed as a recommendation. Of all the Tex-Mex joints across Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio, the inclusion of only one Austin-based Tex-Mex restaurant and a Bib Gourmand awarded to a neo-Tex-Mex palace choking with smoke, Candenta, has me questioning whether Michelin and its inspectors have a working definition of Tex-Mex. Perhaps the passing mention of our homegrown specialty in the initial press release was code for all Mexican cuisines, or perhaps Michelin inspectors don’t understand Tex-Mex at all, in which case, I humbly suggest dipping into my Tex-Mexplainer columns.
That El Carlos Elegante was the lone recommended Mexican spot in Dallas is also confusing. Although the restaurant practices nixtamalization for its tortillas, it is better recognized as a “party spot,” as D Magazine restaurant critic Brian Reinhart succinctly put it in his review.
But the absences from the guide are more revealing. Revolver Taco Lounge/Purépecha Room, in Dallas, and Don Artemio, in Fort Worth, were snubbed. Revolver Taco Lounge and its sister restaurant, the reservations-only, Purépecha Room, which serves a prix fixe chef’s menu, are equal to Mixtli and Tatemó in quality and diner experience and should have at least earned a Bib Gourmand. Don Artemio, with its specialization in the cuisine of the Mexican state of Coahuila, is exceptionally thoughtful—especially in its luscious deconstructed tres leches cake studded with berries and topped with ammonite shell-shaped ice cream, inspired by the fossils found in Coahuila.
None of H-Town Restaurant Group’s restaurants, including Hugo’s and Xochi, were named in any category, which landed them in the same company as El Naranjo in Austin, from James Beard’s 2022 Best Chef: Texas, Iliana de la Vega. This might mean that Michelin is interested in relatively new restaurants over stalwarts. If so, I would’ve advocated for Stixs & Stone, in San Antonio, and the Original Ninfa’s on Navigation and Tres Chiles, in Houston, to be included as well.
That so many Austin restaurants were lauded in the guide was a telling sign that Michelin fell into the same trap other outside organizations and individuals do—relying on the Capital City to represent Texas’s overall dining scene.
Toward the end of announcing the one-star restaurants last night, emcee Java Ingram and the international director of the Michelin Guides, Gwendal Poullennec, made a show-stopping announcement to discuss barbecue as “the soul of Texas.” But Mexican food (as well as Indigenous food) should also be included. Michelin and its inspectors have a lot of homework to do on the state and its foodways. Hopefully, they’ll make improvements for next year’s guide, but in the meantime, I offer to take them on a tour of the state’s vast and varied Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants and taquerias.
