The French-based Michelin Guide added two new Austin restaurants and one from Fort Worth to its culinary constellation of stars Thursday morning.
The announcement brings the total Michelin-starred restaurant count to seven for Austin, six for the Houston area, three for San Antonio, two for Dallas and one for Fort Worth.
The star is a promotion for Fabrik, which was previously a recommended restaurant in the guide. Chef Je Wallerstein worked and staged in Australia, Berlin and Copenhagen before opening her restaurant in East Austin, then relocating to Tarrytown this summer. In her small open kitchen, she creates an eight-course vegan tasting menu that pulls flavors from Mexico, Italy, Scandinavia and Japan while keeping all sourcing local and seasonal. Fabrik had already become one of the hardest reservations in town even before the star, so plan ahead.
No Austin restaurants were among the new Bib Gourmand honorees, a distinction for great meals at a good value, leaving the city’s total at 15. Michelin also added 16 restaurants to its recommended list, the most basic of its honors, including only one in Austin, Din Ho Chinese BBQ. Garrison, the fine dining restaurant inside the Fairmont Hotel, is no longer a recommended restaurant in the guide.
Michelin announced the honors via a press release Thursday morning, eschewing the glamorous event it had held the previous two years in Houston.
The announcement is the last act of a three-year contract between Michelin and the state of Texas and its five major cities. The state paid $1.35 million over the contract’s term, with each city paying $270,000.
Reps from the state and each city say Michelin’s existence in the Texas market has benefitted the cities’ and state’s hospitality economy, and the French guide has said that when it enters a market, it intends to stay there.
Michelin pulled out of the Las Vegas market almost 20 years ago at the end of that contract, but Sin City has recently resurfaced in the guide as part of a larger Southwest guide. Atlanta was absorbed into a larger Southern guide at a smaller financial commitment after its three-year contract for a standalone city guide concluded.