Wagyu restaurants in Fort Worth, Texas

Fort Worth's list is tiny and almost entirely certified. Thirteen of its restaurants publish here and only four clear the full sourcing standard, but three of those four are top-tier listings, and between them they hold both of the certifications this directory recognises: two carry the Certified Kobe badge and a third carries Certified Akaushi.

Those two badges point in opposite directions and having both in a four-room list is the interesting part. Kobe is the apex of the Japanese system: a specific strain, raised and slaughtered in one prefecture, certified there, and permitted to a licensed restaurant. Akaushi is the red Japanese strain raised in Texas, leaner than the Japanese Black behind most A5 and eaten as a full-sized steak rather than by the ounce. One is the most tightly controlled beef in the world arriving from eight thousand miles away; the other was raised about four hours south of here.

The Akaushi room is also the cheapest on the list, sitting a tier below the others, and it names two Texas ranches rather than one. That is the pattern to take away: the imported certifications concentrate in expensive steakhouses, and the domestic one turns up in a room that is easier to get into.

Three of the four sell Wagyu by the ounce, which is a high share for a list this size and reflects how expensive the Japanese side of it is. The nine remaining published venues advertise Wagyu on a current menu without documenting its origin, and are listed separately below.