Dallas, TX
How did Dallas restaurant Mamani win a Michelin star after less than 2 months open?
The Michelin story stealing the spotlight in Dallas-Fort Worth is how brand-new French restaurant Mamani won 1 Michelin star.
The conversation is largely not around whether Mamani deserves the big win. No, it’s around why this monumental win happened in the first place.
Mamani opened Sept. 2, 2025, and was one of the most interesting new restaurants of the year in Dallas-Fort Worth. Its executive chef-partner, 37-year-old Christophe De Lellis, is toiling in the restaurant daily, fine-tuning his newborn alongside a fleet of servers, chefs, managers, a sommelier and even a full-time baking director. De Lellis has told The Dallas Morning News he’s proud of his French restaurant — and it’s the first that’s really his — but that Mamani is a work in progress. It’s a great painting and he’s still holding the brush.
Yet, sometime in the restaurant’s first 48 dinners, anonymous Michelin critics ate at Mamani several times and were impressed enough with its food to hand it Dallas’ only new Michelin star of 2025.
Mamani executive chef Christophe De Lellis pumps his fist as the Dallas restaurant name was called as a new 1-star Michelin recipient at the Michelin Guide Texas ceremony. He said after the event he was both surprised and grateful for the honor.
Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer
It was a move so shocking, The News asked tight-lipped company Michelin to explain.
In a statement, Michelin’s anonymous chief inspector — a person rarely heard from in the media — said De Lellis’ impressive resume helped his chances. Much of De Lellis’ professional career was working for revered French chef Joël Robuchon. Even after his death, Robuchon is one of the most decorated Michelin-starred chefs in the world.
De Lellis’ roots are in France, the home of Michelin.
Here’s Michelin: “Chef Christophe De Lellis has had a consistent background before opening Mamani,” the anonymous, unnamed chief inspector wrote to The News, “and multiple meals there proved the level of the cuisine at this new Dallas restaurant to be indicative of cuisine at the 1 star level.”
Dallas diners, this is huge.
Unpack this statement, and it says that De Lellis’ work elsewhere, likely referring to his executive chef job at Joël Robuchon Restaurant in Las Vegas some 1,200 miles away, spoke volumes about the work he has done at Mamani for fewer than two months. (De Lellis also helped at sibling restaurant Bar Colette in Dallas while Mamani was under construction.)
In one of the most heartwarming moments on stage at the Michelin Guide Texas ceremony in October 2025, Mamani owners Brandon Cohanim (left), and Henry Cohanim (right) hug executive chef and partner Christophe De Lellis, who helped their new Dallas restaurant win 1 Michelin star.
Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer
We should compare Michelin’s statement against its criteria when awarding stars. Though the company keeps much of its methodology a mystery, it has long said its critics use a five-point test while looking for the world’s best restaurants:
- Quality of ingredients
- Harmony of flavors
- Mastery of techniques
- Personality of the chef as expressed through their cuisine
- Consistency, both across the entire menu and over time
It’s possible four of these five items are achievable in under two months. But No. 5, consistency “over time”: How short is too short? Dallas Morning News readers and rule-followers have flooded us with comments, wondering why Michelin took such liberties with the time element.
Michelin confirmed it does not have a cutoff date for when restaurants are too new to be eligible for inclusion in the Guide. Mamani is just that great, we could assume.
One example of a beautiful dish at Mamani is the scallop and caviar appetizer. Others (not pictured) that were enjoyed by Michelin critics were the veal cordon bleu entree and the Paris-Brest, a dessert.
Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer
We return, however, to criteria No. 4, the personality of the chef. De Lellis’ pedigree spoke volumes in just a few weeks. But, we should remind ourselves a Michelin star goes to the restaurant, not to the chef. Is that the case with Mamani? The Michelin inspector’s explanation makes it sound like De Lellis was a big part of the win.
“Of course the star belongs to our entire amazing team,” De Lellis said in a company statement two days after the award.
Some News readers have expressed empathy for a small number of other excellent Dallas restaurants that had nearly 365 days since last year’s ceremony to adjust and correct their menus, vying for Michelin attention, while Mamani got it so quickly.
But while Mamani amazed judges, other Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants could have, too. Mamani winning a star does not diminish another restaurant’s chances.
Tatsu Dallas, a Japanese restaurant in Deep Ellum, was the only other Michelin star recipient in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2025.
The News asked Michelin how many other restaurants across the globe were awarded Michelin stars within 2 months or less of being open. A spokeswoman said Michelin doesn’t keep that kind of data on the countless restaurants it has visited since the Guide started in 1900.
We are left with two takeaways. First, Mamani has an army of culinary talent at its new Uptown Dallas restaurant led by superstar chef De Lellis. Second, Michelin makes its own rules, and we are left to understand what we can. You decide whether you can accept what we can’t understand.
This story is part of The Dallas Morning News’ coverage of the Michelin Guide Texas. Read more about the restaurant picks in Dallas-Fort Worth and across Texas.
The search for the next general manager or president of basketball operations of the Dallas Mavericks has begun. They terminated Nico Harrison in November, which was about nine months too late, and gave any available candidates clear notice that they were open for business.
The plan was always to wait until after the season to start the search. While names popped up as the season reached an end, they didn’t begin turning over the staff until the Monday after the season ended. However, Dallas Mavericks fans are not going to like how the team is going about the search.
Patrick Dumont Leading Search for General Manager
NBA insider Jake Fischer reported that the Mavericks are not hiring a search firm in their hunt for a new lead executive. Instead, team governor Patrick Dumont is “acting as his own point person.”
This is an… interesting decision, to say the least. Dumont is not a basketball person whatsoever, and most organizations usually hire a search firm. The Chicago Bulls hired one as they look for their replacement for Arturas Karnisovas. Just because a firm is hired doesn’t mean a team will listen, though.
The Mavericks hired a firm in their last search for a GM. They let Donnie Nelson go in 2021 after a long tenure with the Mavs. Instead of listening to the firm, though, Mark Cuban ignored it to hire Nico Harrison, who had no previous NBA front office experience. Harrison had been an executive with Nike, which gave him connections with players like Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, and plenty of others.
For a while, that seemed to be working out okay. While he still had some questionable transactions, such as trading for Christian Wood and letting Jalen Brunson walk in free agency, they were still able to make a run to the NBA Finals in 2024. Then, he blew it all up, trading away Luka Doncic for an older and injured Anthony Davis, and the team hasn’t been the same since.
It’s imperative that the Mavericks get this hire correct. The interim Co-GM setup with Matt Riccardi and Michael Finley has performed admirably, but the 2026 NBA Draft is important for the Mavs to get right. It’s their best chance to pair Cooper Flagg with another young star, as they don’t own their first-round pick again until 2031 after this.
Hiring the right GM could help bring in more draft capital by bringing in bad contracts or flipping veterans into picks.
Dumont was able to convince Rick Welts, a Hall of Famer, to come out of retirement to be the CEO and lead the charge for a new arena. Maybe Dumont pulls another rabbit out of his hat for the GM.
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For a moment, it looked like FC Dallas was on its way to another statement win at home tonight.
Petar Musa scored two first half goals, to extend his Golden Boot leading tally to nine goals. But after Dallas grabbed control, the Galaxy found a way back before halftime with goals from Lucas Sanabria and Joseph Paintsil.
The second half brought more chances and more frustration for Dallas, which finished the night with 13 shots to LA’s nine. In the end, the point stretched Dallas’ unbeaten run to five games, though just like last week, it felt like another match where Dallas left points on the table.
Key Moments
7’ – GOAL! After a poor pass back by a LA defender, Petar Musa was free to go one-on-one with the LA goalkeeper. After a touch to get ahead of a defender, Musa slotted home his eighth goal of the season from outside the penalty box.
21’ – Offside! Joaquin Valiente sent a floating ball over the Galaxy defense, where Musa was able to get behind the defense and make an easy play for what appeared to be his second goal of the night. The play was called offside despite a fairly lengthy review period.
38’ – GOAL! This one counts! Musa gets his second of the night off a great ball from Chris Cappis. Logan Farrington picked off the ball in the midfield. He then played Cappis wide to the left of the penalty area. Cappis immediately played a ball back across the goal for Musa to slide in and finish for his ninth of the season.
43’ – Goal LA. Lucas Sanabria got the ball near the top of the penalty area. He took a couple of touches to get outside the penalty box before firing a shot that beat Michael Collodi at the near post.
45+4’ – Goal LA. Gabriel Pec got the ball near the top of the penalty area. He pulled the ball back a bit, which caught a pair of Dallas defenders. This allowed Joseph Painstil to get free behind the Dallas defense as Pec played him through inside the penalty area. Pec immediately smashed home a shot above Collodi to tie the game.
75’ – Another offside goal. This time on a corner kick for Dallas, after a scrum in the penalty box, Kaick hammered home what looked to be the go-ahead goal. But after a few seconds the flag was raised due to a deflection on Osaze Urhoghide, who was in an offside position.
Instant Reaction
Yeah, this is another disappointing result for this team. In a real way, it felt like the first half against Houston from last month. Dallas grabbed the lead, looked in control, but some defensive miscues opened the game up for the visitors to climb back.
With a double-game week coming up, this will certainly be another game where Dallas will wonder ‘what if’ more than anything else…especially when you factor in the two goals called off for offside.
About the Subs
Eric Quill went to his bench for the first time in the 66th minute, as he brought on Santiago Moreno for Logan Farrington. Quill went to his bench again 81st minute with Ran Binyamin and Nolan Norris coming on for Sebastien Ibeagha and Deedson. The final sub came during stoppage time with Herman Johansson and Joaquin Valiente coming off for Sam Sarver and rookie Nick Simmonds, who made his MLS debut.
Man of the Match
No question about it tonight, it has to be Musa.
Where does this fit into the season
As of this writing, the draw puts Dallas into a three-way tie for 5th place with Real Salt Lake and Seattle. Both are in action right now and look firmly in control of their games. I’d expect Dallas to be in 7th place by the end of the night.
What’s next for FC Dallas
Dallas wraps up a three-game homestand next Wednesday night as they host Minnesota United.
Dallas, TX
Akheem Mesidor selected by Cowboys by Blogging The Boys in SB Nation’s community mock draft
Akheem Mesidor, Edge, Miami
Pass rush has been an issue since the Micah Parsons trade. The Rashan Gary trade helped, but Dallas still needs an injection of talent. Akheem Mesidor fits here because his body size allows for some versatility inside and out, something DC Christian Parker utilizes. Mesidor is also a high-motor player with a deep bag of pass rush moves.
His last season at Miami was full of disruption in the offensive backfield and he shows an all-around game, not just a bend-around-the-edge pass rusher. Yes, he’s a little older than you’d like in a rookie (25), but his motor, pass rush toolbox, and ability to play the run matches up with a need and makes him a quality pick at number 20.
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