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Has Dallas finally arrived or fallen behind?

Has Dallas finally arrived or fallen behind?

On Monday night, a group of women dropped into Nonna’s, a cozy haven of an Italian restaurant off Lemmon Avenue. “Congratulations!” one woman said to the bartender, Alejandra Porras, who was a little confused. Did she miss something? “Michelin!” the women explained.

Ah, Michelin. A tire brand that has become a steward of culinary greatness. In 1900, the French company began publishing guidebooks, hotel and travel tips for people still learning to drive, and in 1926 it began rating restaurants with stars, first in Europe and more recently in US cities such as New York and Chicago . It only took about a century Michelin reaches Texas.

It was Monday evening Texas awards ceremonya big deal in Houston, where chefs from around the state took the stage when their name was called and posed with the Michelin star, adding a touch of comedy to the nail-biting affair. Nonna was one of seven Dallas restaurants to receive the Bib Gourmand award, which is usually given to more affordable establishments, but the awards ceremony hadn’t even started when the women congratulated Porras. How did they know? Well, they saw on Instagram that Nonna was there, something like that something was happening.

Once just a guide, Michelin became a moment: the event was broadcast live and metabolised publications in social networks and the media narratives that started the game at home about what these underdogs did right and who robbed. The big guns came to our state with their strict standards and anonymous inspectors and divided us into categories, ratings, honors. It was a moment of celebration, but also of uncertainty.

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Indeed, something happened. But what did that mean?

Is Dallas behind?

For anyone of a competitive bent, the evening was a rout. Fifteen restaurants received a brilliant one-star rating across the state (there were no 2 or 3 stars), but only one of them, omakase sushi house Deep Ellum, Tatsucame from Dallas.

“I hate to say it, but Dallas is getting completely washed out by Houston and Austin,” said one observer on X, although the shutout was actually Fort Worth, which received no stars, and San Antonio, which also received just one. But the bottom line among the state’s most famous cities was brutal. Austin: 7. Houston: 6. Dallas: 1.

No one I spoke to was interested in throwing shade at Austin and Houston, the first city to transform its fine dining scene since the lazy ’90s and the second to have long-standing bragging rights for the best food in the state. But only one restaurant with stars — for the whole city? Has Dallas been crushed, or are we really that far behind?

“I have an old joke that you can open anything in Dallas as long as it’s a steakhouse,” says Seth Brammer, a hospitality veteran who runs a food and beverage consulting business. He was not surprised by the results. Ambitious, cutting-edge concepts don’t tend to stick.

FT33 was epic cuisine,” he says of Matt McCallister’s award-winning restaurant, which closed in 2018. “The problem was that he wasn’t even popular with the locals.”

Matt McCallister works in the open kitchen of his restaurant FT33, which closed in 2018.
Matt McCallister works in the open kitchen of his restaurant FT33, which closed in 2018.

This idea found an echo Dallas subredditwhere users tried to make sense of the results. “People here don’t want Michelin food,” said one poster. “Dallas diners are not adventurous, and places that offer interesting food and service tend to be short-lived in this city.”

Brammer sees the Michelin awards as an “it is what it is” moment. “Every food town gets the food we deserve,” says Brammer, who notes that every night you can find a line snaking down the street at the Chick-fil-A drive-thru, In-N-Out and Raising Cane’s. After all, it is a management and business city, not known for a creative class that supports more adventurous concepts. “The food is typical of the city, and if people aren’t picky (more daring restaurants), we won’t have it.”

Greatest Hits menu.

“Dallas thrives on chains,” he says Shannon Wynnrestaurateur who has helped shape the North Texas cultural scene since the ’80s when he launched legendary nightspot 8.0. Since then, he’s launched a number of ventures, including Flying Saucer Draft Emporium, Flying Fish and Addlesome Moth, and runs a string of burger joints called Rodeo Goat, which serve tasty food, but it’s not a place anyone would have expected to win a Michelin star. However, he joked that he was considering emblazoning the servers’ aprons: “Stars? We don’t need stinking stars!”

I contacted Wynn as a long-time employee who could understand why Dallas had failed Michelin.

“Dallas’ DNA has been diluted significantly by large-scale productions that take a lot of the wind out of the local guys’ sails,” he says. “There are just so many bucks out there.” He places much of the blame on developers who assemble expensive businesses that require out-of-towners to import their concepts, making it difficult for independents and locals alike. “Developers have really destroyed the local restaurant economy,” he says.

Indeed, Dallas can be a disappointment to visitors looking for something more eclectic. Cry of the WolfRoss Demers’ completed restaurant on Gaston Avenue closed in October 2023, the same month that celebrity chef Junior Borges left Meridianelite Brazilian-American restaurant in the Village Apartments complex. Although Borges still lives in Dallas, he lives become executive chef at Excelsior Hospitality, located in Austin, and executive chef at Juniper’s upscale Italian restaurant. I was wondering how the dining scenes of the two cities compared.

Junior Borges was the executive chef at Meridian, located in the Village, before going to...
Junior Borges was the executive chef at Meridian, located in the Village, before leaving to work at Excelsior Hospitality in Austin. (Jeffrey McWhorter/Special Contributor)

“People in Austin can take a little more risk,” Borges says, while Dallas leans more toward what he called a “greatest hits” menu. However, he noted that there are brave and experienced chefs in Dallas, and he was surprised not to see them get more recognition. He thought Oak Cliff’s Lucia deserved a star (it got Recommended status), while he was disappointed that Peter and the Beast’s Misty Norris, known for inventive dishes and sustainable techniques (pickling, fermenting, butchering whole animals), was to completely refuse awards.

It’s unclear how much time Michelin inspectors spent in each part of the state. The company keeps its process a secret, so no one knows how many restaurants they’ve tried, whether they’ve targeted barbecue spots (four barbecue restaurants have earned stars, the first American-style restaurants in the company’s history), why or how any restaurant didn’t. did do not measure

“A lot of my friends and people I know are disappointed that they didn’t get the award, but we know it’s a process,” Borges says. “The fact that the manual is here will push us to another level.”

A “tangible impact”?

Julian Barsotti, owner and chef of Nonna, at his restaurant, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Dallas.
Julian Barsotti, owner and chef of Nonna, at his restaurant, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (Chitose Suzuki / Staff photographer)

On Tuesday night after the ceremony, I sat in the Nonna bar with Julian Barsotti, the chef and owner who founded the restaurant at the age of 27. Now 44, Nonna is one of several establishments he owns, including an Italian restaurant Barsottiwhich earned a Michelin Recommended distinction, one of only 20 in Dallas, making it a rare double winner.

“I’m really interested to see if it has a tangible impact,” he says, sipping a Negroni while wearing a backwards baseball cap. How important is the Michelin Guide to people? He says all the young women in his office had never heard of it until they looked it up Emily in Pariswhere is the plot point. Then they said, “This is a huge deal.”

The cozy atmosphere of Nonna’s neighborhood was the perfect addition to a long day. The flames of a pizza oven crackled in the corner where father and son worked together, watching the dough bubble. For dinner, I enjoyed sweet potato gnocchetti forks with smoked pancetta and gorgonzola, which tasted so divine I had to close my eyes to miss every detail.

As I approached the tables, I was fascinated by how many old customers there were. Some had heard of the Michelin award, some had not, but most were regulars. Two married lawyers had one of their first dates here in 2015. One woman has been coming since it opened in 2007, and another just celebrated her birthday at Nonna. It was strangely moving, all these people had been swept along by the current of life, but they were coming back to this little corner tucked away in the mall.

Didi Rose, Dallas philanthropist, civic leader, center, dines at Nonna's on Tuesday, Nov...
Dallas philanthropist and civic leader Didi Rose, center, dines at Nonna’s on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (Chitose Suzuki / Staff photographer)

“One of my all-time favorites,” says Didi Rose, the grande dame of the Dallas philanthropic scene, who happened to be dining there that night. “It’s creative and delicious, which is not always true. Sometimes the place gets so creative that you look like…” Her voice trails off as she tilts her head and makes a funny face.

It was a serendipitous encounter with Rose when I was thinking about what a Michelin award would mean for Dallas, as she has been part of the city’s evolution, including playing a big role in funding the arts district. She is one of those elegant Texas ladies: well-read, well-traveled, well-connected. (Her daughter is designer Lela Rose.)

When I started to explain that Dallas only got one star, Austin got seven and Houston got six, she put her hands on my shoulders.

“It’s good,” she said, her voice even enough for me to believe her. “We are very happy to be mentioned, but we want to be more.” She squeezed my shoulders. “We will.”

This story is part of The Dallas Morning News’ coverage of the Michelin Guide Texas. Read more on a selection of restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth and Texas.

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