Wagyu restaurants in Texas

Two hundred and one Texas restaurants publish here and sixty-three clear the full sourcing standard, which is more verified rooms than any other state. The other one hundred and thirty-eight rest on a menu claim we could read but not confirm to that standard. Texas also documents more American Wagyu than anywhere else, and by a widening margin: seventeen of its verified rooms name a domestic producer and state a breed status, against two in California and two in Florida. In a state that raises cattle, kitchens are noticeably more willing to name the ranch. Nevada runs Texas close on that count and beats it easily on share, but Nevada is a ninth the size.

It is the most concentrated of the big three. Dallas alone holds nineteen of the state's verified rooms, close to a third, and eight Texas cities clear the two-verified threshold that opens a hub of their own. Houston and Austin follow at some distance, and after San Antonio and Fort Worth the tail thins quickly.

The format is steakhouse and stays steakhouse. Forty-one of the verified rooms describe themselves that way, about two thirds, and the cut named most often is the striploin rather than the ribeye, which is the reverse of California. Where Texas does depart from the template it goes to the by-the-ounce counter, the most common Wagyu format in the state after the plated steak.

Thirteen Texas rooms carry the Certified Kobe badge, which requires both a registry licence and Kobe on the menu when we last looked. Sixteen hold the licence, so three are licensed and were not serving it, a gap worth knowing before booking on the strength of the word alone.