The Michelin Guide's inaugural review of Texas dining is out, and seven Austin restaurants, including three renowned barbecue spots, earned Michelin stars. The Texas capital made up nearly half of the 15 one-star restaurants selected across the Lone Star State. Additionally, two Austin establishments received a Michelin Green Star for their sustainability efforts.
As a diner who has watched Austin's culinary scene explode since moving here in 2016, I'm thrilled that many local chefs and their teams will receive recognition at an international level.
Restaurants selected by the Michelin Guide stand to benefit in many ways, including increased visibility, popularity, and revenue. Additional upsides include the ease of recruiting new talent and maintaining the staff, which helped them earn recognition in the first place.
Conversely, the surge in demand for Michelin one-star restaurants can make securing reservations more challenging and lead to price increases. Some chefs who've experienced the Michelin Guide effect have later distanced themselves from the recognition, citing the stress caused by trying to maintain star status.
It remains to be seen what the impact will be on the lines at barbecue joints, the first-ever in the United States to receive Michelin stars. Lines were already commonplace at the most popular Texas barbecue spots, most of which rely on counter service.
Table of Contents
Methodology
The Michelin Guide's anonymous inspectors evaluate restaurants on five criteria:
- Quality of ingredients used.
- Skill in food preparation.
- A combination of flavors.
- Value for money.
- Consistency of culinary standards.
As you can see, the focus is entirely on food quality. Factors like location, interior design, and customer service don't play a role. Michelin inspectors visit the restaurants under consideration multiple times. They dine alone and pay for their meals.
Multiple inspectors evaluate Texas restaurants that are being considered for Michelin stars. The inspectors must unanimously approve the award.
The Michelin Guide's star rating system:
- 1-star - "High-quality cooking, worth a stop."
- 2-star - "Excellent cooking, worth a detour."
- 3-star - "Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey."
- Green Star - "...a strong commitment to sustainable gastronomy."
Below you'll find a map of all the Michelin-starred restaurants in Austin, and more information about the cuisine served at each. Bon appétit!
One Star Restaurants
Barley Swine
Opened in 2010, Barley Swine is the second restaurant by chef Bryce Gilmore, a 7-time James Beard Foundation Award nominee for Best Chef: Southwest. Anthony Bourdain featured the restaurant in his 2012 Austin episode of No Reservations.
This farm-to-table spot offers a prix fixe menu for $125 that changes with the seasons. Ingredients are sourced from local farms and purveyors, with some produce grown on-site and, as of 2023, from their one-acre farm (River Field Farm). Eco-conscious diners will appreciate that Barley Swine is 100% carbon neutral.
Highlights of the November 2024 menu include blackened cod with masa butter, pig face carnitas with sweet potato mole, and hoja santa pavlova with roasted pear sorbet. I've had the pleasure of dining at Barley Swine with friends several times over the years, and it was an easy choice for my list of the best places to eat in Austin.
Bryce Gilmore's other restaurants include Odd Duck, which earned Bib Gourmand recognition, and Sour Duck Market, which supplies pastries to many Austin cafes. 6555 Burnet Rd #400, Austin, TX, barleyswine.com
Craft Omakase
In the last five years, numerous sushi restaurants have opened around Austin. Three of them were selected by the Michelin Guide in their first year in Texas; however, only Craft Omakase was awarded a star (the others are Tare and Toshokan).
Chefs Charlie Wang and Nguyen Nguyen are alumni of Uchiko, the sister restaurant to Uchi (both belong to Tyson Cole's Hai Hospitality, and neither received Michelin recognition). This may explain the bold choice to open the 12-seat Craft Omakase one block north of their former employer.
According to the Michelin Guide inspectors, courses "...like an aguachile of pink shrimp with sweet potato or crudo of hamachi with yuzu-honey sauce are delightful."
A 22-course seasonal tasting menu is served for $175 per person. The price includes taxes and a 20% gratuity, which makes the cost more palatable. Adding sake or a wine pairing can make for a significantly higher bill.
Craft Omakase is the only Austin restaurant to receive a Michelin star where I have yet to eat; I look forward to trying it out in 2025 (if I can get a reservation). 4400 N Lamar Blvd, Suite 102, Austin, TX, craftomakase.com
Hestia
Hestia in downtown Austin offers live-fire cooking from an open kitchen. Named after the goddess of the hearth, most, if not all, dishes have ingredients touched by the fire or smoke it produces.
The restaurant was founded by chefs Kevin Fink and Tavel Bristol-Joseph, who now operate 12 concepts in Austin and San Antonio through the Emmer & Rye Hospitality Group.
I first dined at Hestia in March 2020 with a friend, a few months after they opened, and almost every dish we ordered was a home run.
Highlights included a heavenly uni and cornbread, Parker rolls with formagina butter with benne seed and onion ash, king crab with kelp butter, and a s'mores-inspired chocolate mousse. I also tried kakigori, a traditional Japanese shaved ice dessert, for the first time.
Today, Hestia continues to offer à la carte dining and a 12-course, $195 tasting menu. Entrees include a halibut with brown butter, Berkshire pork belly with hatch chile and grilled squash, and a Texas Wagyu sirloin steak. 607 W 3rd St #105, Austin, TX, hestiaaustin.com
InterStellar BBQ
Pitmaster John Bates pivoted from selling sandwiches to barbecue and has won accolades ever since. I began going to InterStellar BBQ soon after I met my girlfriend, Kel, and before Texas Monthly magazine named them the #2 best BBQ joint in the state.
Now, his restaurant in a North Austin strip mall has garnered one of the first Michelin stars ever awarded to an American barbecue restaurant.
Thick peach tea-glazed pork belly cubes are a signature menu item and one of our favorite bites. Before Bates opened his second restaurant, Yellow Bell Tacos, in 2024, he served a smoked and chopped lamb shoulder taco with cilantro, onion, and avocado salsa as a special at InterStellar. I recently had it again at the Texas Monthly BBQ Fest, and it's still outstanding.
As a pastry fan, I've always appreciated the attention to desserts at InterStellar. My first, a Mexican chocolate rice pudding, was memorable. However, Bates has recently hired a pastry chef to raise the bar further.
This fall, he created a spiced rice pudding with gingerbread crumble topped with pumpkin compote and whipped cream. 12233 Ranch Rd 620 N Suite 105, Austin, TX, theinterstellarbbq.com
la Barbecue
Of the three Austin BBQ restaurants to earn Michelin stars in 2024, I've been going to la Barbecue the longest. When I was new to Austin, a friend introduced me to la Barbecue on the east side of town. A long line of hungry diners waited patiently to order brisket and other meats from the late LeAnn Mueller's food truck.
Today, la Barbecue has a brick-and-mortar restaurant on East Cesar Chavez with plenty of patio space and a custom pit in the back. LeAnn's wife, Alison Clem, runs the show and continues to serve some of the best brisket in Central Texas. Pork ribs and housemade sausage round out the Texas Trinity, and beef ribs are available on weekends.
If you prefer your meats in sandwich form, there are the classic chopped and sliced brisket options and specialties (that I've yet to try). Local beers, an extensive cocktail list, and ten Champagnes are available. 2401 E Cesar Chavez St, Austin, TX, labarbecue.com
LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue
Since 2017, LeRoy & Lewis Barbecue has been striving to elevate the quality of meat sold and the service delivered. Like la Barbecue, it began as a food truck and only recently opened its restaurant in early 2024.
According to its website, it "...carefully sources all of our meats from ranches in Texas that focus on quality of life and respect for the animal."
It's a difference in taste. I'm hooked on LeRoy & Lewis' smoked beef cheeks from 44 Farms, and their L&L cheeseburger (a 50-50 split of Akaushi brisket and ground beef) is one of the best burgers I've ever eaten. On my most recent visit, I was impressed with the hog fat cornbread served with seasonal butter (squash).
In addition to leaving the food truck for a permanent home in 2024, LeRoy & Lewis launched steak dinners on the weekends, available by reservation only (and well-reviewed by Texas Monthly). 5621 Emerald Forest Dr., Austin, TX, leroyandlewisbbq.com
Olamaie
At Olamaie, founder and executive chef Michael Fojtasek and his team have served contemporary Southern cuisine since 2014. The current chef de cuisine, Amanda Turner, demonstrated her skills on the 21st season of Top Chef: Wisconsin in 2024.
I was so enamored with my first dinner at Olamaie in 2019 that I wrote a dedicated post to share the experience fully. Although dishes like the Dewberry Hills Farm chicken and sweet potato pone I enjoyed are no longer available, this Austin restaurant's Michelin star confirms its high standards remain unchanged.
Today, you'll see fried catfish with blue crab rice and lemongrass-poached shrimp with coconut rice. Rabbit, a jerk-spiced pork chop, and Texas-raised Wagyu beef are also present.
A must for every meal is a side of their famous buttermilk biscuits with salted honey butter. These scratch-made biscuits are popular enough to support a sister restaurant, Little Ola's Biscuits. 1610 San Antonio St, Austin, TX, olamaieaustin.com
See also: Michelin Star Restaurants in Tampa
Green Star Restaurants
Dai Due
Dai Due is one of two Austin restaurants to receive a Michelin Green Star for its approach to sustainable dining. It was also selected as a Bib Gourmand, signifying "good quality, good value cooking."
Owner Jesse Griffiths is committed to sourcing the freshest seasonal ingredients from local providers, most of which are within 200 miles. Because ingredients are often out of season, they've got a serious preservation program to "...dry, can, pickle, ferment, smoke, candy and freeze like pioneers."
Texas producers make all the beers and wines (using Texas-grown grapes). You can read about everything they do and don't use on Dai Due's website.
Dinner is available Tuesday through Sunday. Menu items may include a dry-aged longhorn cheeseburger, a 7-ounce tenderloin finished with bone marrow garlic butter, and a giant smoked pork porterhouse chop.
Brunch is served on the weekends, with entrees like chicken fried quail, biscuits and gravy with antelope sausage, and tallow-fried donut holes with a coffee glaze. 2406 Manor Rd, Austin, TX, daidue.com
Emmer & Rye
Lastly, we have Emmer & Rye on Rainey Street in downtown Austin, which also earned the Michelin Guide's Green Star and Bib Gourmand designations.
Opened in 2015, this was the first restaurant by chefs Kevin Fink and Tavel Bristol-Joseph. This dynamic duo has built a stellar portfolio of restaurants with the Emmer & Rye Hospitality Group (including Michelin-starred Hestia).
Chef Fink previously worked at several three-star Michelin restaurants, including The French Laundry in Napa Valley and Noma in Copenhagen. It is safe to say that his time working under luminaries such as Thomas Keller and René Redzepi paid off.
Locally sourced ingredients, organic non-GMO heirloom grains, seasonal menus, a house fermentation program, and minimal waste are all part of the ethos at Emmer & Rye. 51 Rainey St, Unit 110, Austin, TX, emmerandrye.com
Final Thoughts
Overall, I'm happy with the results of the Michelin Guide's first swing through Austin. In addition to the seven restaurants with one Michelin star and two with Green Stars, 14 were selected as Big Gourmand, and 23 came away as Michelin Recommended.
The inspectors included 44 Austin restaurants in their first Texas guide. And there's still room to grow.
