From Wagyu hand rolls in Austin to the highest sushi lounge in Dallas, luxury hotels across Texas are rewriting the Lone Star State’s culinary rules.
The world’s only Michelin-starred brewery recently brought its sushi concept to Austin for the first time. Moody Tongue Sushi took over The Café at The Loren, serving everything from A5 Miyazaki Wagyu hand rolls to spicy tuna “sushi tacos” alongside the brewery’s beers. In Dallas, the city’s Thompson Hotel guests can ride 49 floors to Michelin-recommended Monarch, the city’s highest restaurant, then go one floor higher for sushi and sake at Kessaku. It’s safe to say Texas has come a long way from barbecue ribs and T-bone steak.
The five-star Loren at Lady Bird Lake hosted the first Texas residency of New York’s Moody Tongue Sushi, the Japanese offshoot of Chicago’s Moody Tongue brewery. Founded in 2014 by Jared Rouben and Jeremy Cohn, Moody Tongue is the only brewery in the world to hold a Michelin star, while Moody Tongue Sushi, which opened in New York’s West Village in 2023, is itself a Michelin Guide selection.
The Loren opened in October 2022 with 108 rooms and suites overlooking Lady Bird Lake and downtown Austin. It was the first U.S. property from The Loren Hotels & Residences, following The Loren at Pink Beach in Bermuda, and is a member of WorldHotels Luxury and American Express Fine Hotels + Resorts. In 2023 it appeared on both Condé Nast Traveler’s and Travel + Leisure’s lists of the world’s best new hotels. A third Loren, at Turtle Cove in Turks & Caicos, is planned for 2027.
Executive sushi chef Hiromi Iwakiri, who has more than 25 years of Japanese culinary experience, led the Moody Tongue Sushi pop-up included maki. During the day, The Café is the hotel’s casual address for coffee, pastries, salads, sandwiches and flatbreads. The main restaurant, Nido, sits on the eighth floor beside the rooftop infinity pool with floor-to-ceiling glass and a terrace looking across Lady Bird Lake toward downtown.
Aperí at Paggi House gives the hotel another distinctive drinking spot. The seasonal wine bar operates on the patio of the restored Michael Paggi House, with more than 40 wines, build-your-own charcuterie boards and staff acting as wine concierges. The Greek Revival house predates the Civil War and is one of Austin’s oldest surviving buildings. It is an Austin Historic Landmark, a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Other Loern features include a 5,000-square-foot Milk + Honey Spa with 10 treatment rooms, a 24-hour fitness center, complimentary electric bikes and a contemporary art collection including works by Liam Gillick, Sarah Braman, Olafur Eliasson and Karl Blossfeldt. The largest suite is the 1,446-square-foot Two-Bedroom Balcony Suite, with two king bedrooms, two and a half baths, a separate living room and a large private terrace.
The five-star Thompson Dallas opened in November 2020 as the first Texas property from Thompson Hotels, now part of Hyatt and World of Hyatt, and participates in American Express Fine Hotels + Resorts. It occupies part of The National, the former First National Bank Tower. Completed in 1965 and designed by George Dahl and Thomas E. Stanley, the 52-story tower was the tallest building west of the Mississippi when it opened and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
After sitting largely dark for a decade, the tower underwent a roughly $460 million redevelopment. At 1.5 million square feet, The National is the largest adaptive-reuse project in Texas, according to the Urban Land Institute. Among the restored exterior elements were 17,555 marble panels quarried from the same Greek source as the marble used for the Parthenon.
Thompson has 219 rooms, including 52 suites, with walnut, brass and floor-to-ceiling windows giving the accommodations a midcentury look. Restored wood panels and original hand-cut marble from the 1965 tower were also incorporated into the hotel. Both penthouses occupy the 49th floor. The roughly 2,400-square-foot North Penthouse, the hotel’s largest suite, has a fireplace and a five-figure Hästens Dreamer bed that Thompson says was the first of its kind in Texas.
Dining starts on the ninth floor at Little Daisy, the hotel’s Franco-American bistro. One floor above, Catbird is a cocktail-driven restaurant and lounge with a rooftop terrace overlooking downtown Dallas. Executive Chef Jeramie Robison has run the kitchen since the hotel opened; his résumé includes The Mansion on Turtle Creek, David Burke’s Fishtail in New York and Japanese fusion standout Uchi, while his Louisiana background brings occasional Creole touches to a menu that also leans heavily into Japanese and Asian flavors.
Signature dishes include truffled edamame with mandarin chili kosho and smoked tamari, crab Rangoon dip made with blue crab and pimento cheese, popcorn chicken karaage and an okonomiyaki waffle. The bar is just as splendid, with drinks including The Catbird, made with reposado tequila, Aperol, lemon and grapefruit foam; a Nitro Espresso Martini; and the Wolf of Elm Street, built around cognac and amaretto. The room also hosts live jazz, bands and DJs, making Catbird Thompson’s main late-night stop before the dining program shoots up to Monarch and Kessaku on the 49th and 50th floors.
Though independently operated, 40 floors higher, Monarch is a wood-fired modern Italian restaurant from Maple Hospitality Group and chef Danny Grant, who previously earned two Michelin stars at Ria in Chicago, included in Michelin’s Texas guide. The restaurant occupies the 49th floor with panoramic views, handmade pastas, steaks, seafood and wood-fired dishes. Directly above it is Kessaku, a 60-seat cocktail, sake and sushi lounge on the 50th floor, the former observation level of The National. The room has 360-degree skyline views and serves globally sourced fish and seafood along with cocktails and sake. Although Kessaku sits one floor higher, it is classified as a lounge, leaving Monarch with its billing as Dallas’ highest restaurant.
The ninth floor also has Thompson’s Insta-famous rooftop infinity pool and private cabanas. The Spa at Thompson Dallas includes an infrared sauna, eucalyptus steam room and steam shower, an outdoor deck overlooking downtown with hot and cold plunge pools, a barrel sauna, a yoga lawn, and interactive boxing.
