Mark your calendars. The Michelin Guide, one of the world’s most coveted dining honors, is returning to Houston this fall to host the second Texas Michelin Guide Ceremony.

Slated for downtown’s Wortham Theater Center on October 28, the invitation-only ceremony will draw chefs, restaurateurs, and major players from across the state’s dining scene to see how they measure up. Awards are determined by Michelin’s mysterious spectators, anonymous employees who have spent the past year quietly dining their way through Texas.

Will this year’s event top last year’s inaugural ceremony? We’ll see. Michelin pulled out all the stops in 2024, draping downtown’s 713 Music Hall in its signature red decor and welcoming hundreds of guests for a night of culinary suspense. Fifteen Texas restaurants earned stars, and 44 received Bib Gourmands. The Houston area held its own, with six one-stars—BCN Taste & Tradition, Corkscrew BBQ, Le Jardinier, March, Musaafer, and Tatemó—plus 17 Bibs, including Mexican coffee shop and restaurant CasaEma, Thai favorite Street to Kitchen, and Belly of the Beast, another Spring restaurant helmed by James Beard Award–winning chef Thomas Bille.

The night was also historic: For the first time, an American barbecue restaurant was considered star-worthy. Corkscrew in Spring, Texas, joined Austin’s Interstellar BBQ, La Barbecue, and LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue in the spotlight with one star.

Though Houston was thrilled to receive its accolades, the guide didn’t come without some controversy. Michelin awarded a Bib Gourmand to Viet-Cajun restaurant Kau Bau, only to remove it after realizing that the Montrose spot had shuttered. Two barbecue joints saw their invitations rescinded, then reinstated, and some diners questioned whether Bib selections truly fit the “good quality food for a good value” definition.

Despite the hiccups, the ceremony has become one of the most anticipated events on Houston’s culinary calendar. The city has invested in keeping the guide here: Houston First, a major sponsor and the city’s tourism organization, has committed $270,000—$90,000 a year for three years—to host it.

Most things are slated to stay the same this year: The Michelin Guide will use its star system, awarding one to three stars (the highest honor) for cuisine deemed exceptional, rich in flavor, “remarkably executed,” and “infused with the personality of the chef.” Bib Gourmands will spotlight more affordable inspector favorites, and Green stars will recognize leaders in sustainable gastronomy. Special awards—like last year’s Sommelier Award, which went to Steve McDonald of Pappas Bros. Steakhouse—will also return.

One twist that could raise the stakes: Recognition isn’t permanent. Stars and Bib Gourmands can be lost in the same way that they’re earned—a reality that left some chefs uneasy when Michelin first announced its plans for Texas debut last July. And so far, no Texas restaurant has earned two or three stars. Could this be the year?

Needless to say, the pressure is on, and it’s almost baffling to think that a tire company (yes, it’s that Michelin) could have so many chefs across the state sweating in their jackets. According to a release, Michelin founded the guide in 1900, giving motorists free advice as a way to promote tire sales and the “development of car mobility.” The Michelin Guide eventually became a beast of its own, pointing travelers to the best restaurants and hotels in designated regions. Reportedly using the same criteria since Day 1, it launched its first North American guide in New York in 2005, later expanding to cities across the US and Canada. In 2024, Michelin added Texas, Mexico, and Quebec, and this year, it expanded to Boston, Philadelphia, and “the American South,” covering Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and the pre-existing Atlanta Guide.