Tag Archives: John Tesar

Tasting Notes: Dallas ‘Top Chef’ alums pair food with booze

Posted on

Top Chef - Season 10

The Grape on Greenville Avenue is teaming up with Dallas’ Four Corners Brewing Co. for, not a wine dinner, but a beer dinner on Tuesday, Aug. 9. The Grape’s chef de cuisine — former Top Chef candidate Danyele McPherson — will devise a menu to showcase several craft brews. The cost of the four-course meal is $55 and includes, of course, the beer. Reservations are required  at TheGrapeRestaurant.com or calling 214-828-1981.

Then on Wednesday, McPherson’s fellow Top Chef alum John Tesar at Spoon hosts his own take on a wine dinner, with one dedicated to bubbly. The champagne dinner — with wines from Ruinart — will feature five courses (including dessert) on April 10, starting at 6 p.m. The cost is $125, and reservations at 214-368-8220 are recommended.

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

Tasting Notes: McCallister in running for ‘Best New Chef,’ Tesar does local wines

Posted on

IMG_5203

Matt McCallister, above, chef-owner at FT33, one of Dallas’ top new restaurants of 2012, is in the running for Food & Wine magazine’s title of “The People’s Best New Chef/Southwest.” Now, those of us who has followed Matt from Stephan Pyles to Campo before he nestled in at FT33 might quibble about the term “new,” but he’s certainly worthy of a vote! (McCallister isn’t the only Dallasite on the list, though — his pal Omar Flores with Driftwood is also a nominee.) Voting continues here through Monday.

Tonight, John Tesar, chef of the hot seafood resto Spoon in Preston Center, will feature wines from local Oak Cliff Cellars at a special wine dinner, paired with fish from around the world. Four courses (plus an amuse and dessert) run $100, including, of course, all the wines. Starts at 6 p.m.

Thursday, you get a chance to sneak a peek at Trinity Groves across the Calatrava, as part of the expanded Savor Dallas. Then on Friday, check out the wine stroll (this year at the Perot Museum) before the seminars and major tastings on Saturday, culminating in the big event at the Irving Convention Center Saturday night (this year, it doesn’t conflict with DIFFA).

Asador, the surprisingly inventive farm-to-fire restaurant inside the Renaissance Hotel, celebrates its second anniversary on Friday with a free concert from Goga, and a $25, three-course tasting menu.

On March 20 at 6:30 p.m., The Grape will host an exclusive winemaker’s dinner featuring the wines of Petroni Vineyards, with winemaker Martin Mackenzie introducing the wines. Four courses are $85/person.

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

SPOILER ALERT: ‘Top Chef’ all-straight now, but Texan’s still in running

Posted on

Top Chef: Seattle has toyed with us, both as gays and Texans. The first evictee was openly gay chef Jeffrey Jew. Since then, we’ve had just one queer chef to root for: returning competitor Josie Smith-Maleve, pictured. She wasn’t personally popular among the other cheftestants, and they’d been itching for her to go for a while. Last week, when she bested frontrunner Kristen Kish, the world seemed topsy-turvy. So last night, when Josie was finally let go, it felt, sadly, like justice had been served.

Still, that leaves a gay-free zone headed into the final weeks of the competition. Not, though, a Texan-free one. FT33‘s Joshua Valentine — who started as a line cook at Stephan Pyles — is still in the running. Hey, if we don’t have a gay to support, we always go for a Texan.

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

Tesar out on ‘Top Chef’

Posted on

Last week, Danyele McPherson — formerly with Stephan Pyles and sous chef at The Grape — was booted from Top Chef, largely for lacking confidence in her dishes.  Confidence wasn’t a problem for fellow Dallas chef John Tesar, above right, who was considered arrogant by his competitors on the hit reality cooking show.

Last night, Dallas lost its chance at another finalist (as Private|Social’s Tiffany Derry and Fort Worth’s Casey Thompson were) when Tesar was told to pack his knives and go following a disastrous risotto.  Tesar was given a second chance with a face-off against Lizzie, where each had to make a burger; Tesar’s lamb was deemed less worthy than her chicken. (I ate at Tesar’s old Commissary, and complaints about service aside, one thing the man knows how to make is a burger.)

Tesar was even given a third shot on the online-only Last Chance Kitchen, where ousted chefs compete against each other for a wild-card spot, but Tesar came up short there, too, against even more arrogant C.J.; Tom Colicchio, above left, judged Tesar’s foie gras too salty.

(There is one way he might be saved: Tweet #savechefjohn and he might become a fan fave.)

Don’t feel too badly for Tesar, though. His new Preston Center restaurant Spoon is worth a taste (read my review later this month), and as he told me recently, “say what you want to about me, but I work hard.” That’s obviously true.

—  Arnold Wayne Jones