FORT WORTH, Texas — When Michelin inspectors stopped by Rogelio Cortez’s kitchen off Rosedale Street in Fort Worth, they didn’t hand out a star. Instead, they handed out something else — a reason for Fort Worth to believe its flavor is still on the map.

"Since the first day we opened, to this day, we have lines out the door,” said Cortez, owner of Birrieria y Taqueria Cortez, one of only a few Fort Worth restaurants listed as Michelin Recommended two years in a row.

Cortez’s path to Michelin started far from the kitchen. He was a commercial roofer in 2019 when an injury ended his job. He began selling food out of his mother’s house, borrowing $15,000 from his father’s 401(k) to buy a food truck.

Four years later, that truck had become a packed taqueria, serving more than a thousand pe

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