Tatsu Dallas is DFW’s first and only Michelin star restaurant; dozens more hopeful for next year

DALLAS – The Michelin Guide announced its first-ever list of Lone Star restaurants on Monday night. 

Tatsu Dallas, a sushi restaurant in Deep Ellum, was the only North Texas restaurant to earn a coveted one-star rating. 

Michelin’s highest award is a three-star rating, which less than one percent of restaurants worldwide receive. 

However, a total of 15 Texas restaurants earned one star, and more than two dozen others in North Texas were listed as recommended or reasonably priced.

“It was it was like being at the Grammy’s. And I was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening.’ And it was like a dream come true,” said Patrick Hicks, who owns Smoke ‘N Ash BBQ with his wife, Fasicka Hicks. 

The Arlington restaurant which incorporates an Ethiopian twist into Texas barbecue is now on the recommended list.

It all began with a food truck. Six years later, the Hicks opened their Arlington restaurant. 

“We started back in 2012, I’ll say. You know, just carry some extra food and sell it on a weekend on the side of a street. And it was more of a family affair. Daughters were cashiers, and Patrick was the pitmaster, and I was the third person and just turned everybody on,” Fasicka Hicks said.

The recommended list also includes high-profile establishments like Dean Fearing’s restaurant, Fearing’s, in Dallas. 

“In the chef world, this is like winning the Oscar. This is the biggest award you can get or the biggest rating system we have. Now the goal will be to be on the list next year for one star,” said Sean Blanchette, the Executive Chef at Fearing’s.

The one-star list is also a goal now for the Hicks, who hope the exposure will allow them to expand. 

“We’re happy that it’s in Arlington, but we don’t mind spreading that, you know, that style of cooking just all over the cities. And, you know, just that we’ll be happy to have more than one place,” Fasicka Hicks said.