by Steven Doyle
Last week I interviewed Jon Stevens at the newly opened Stock & Barrel in the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff. The beautiful new restaurant is impeccably designed, with the gorgeous build-out. But besides sleek lines and smart looks, the restaurant offers really good food. In a last minute decision last night I stopped in with a few friends and we proceeded to devour half the menu. Here are a few highlights: Continue reading
Filed under Steven Doyle
by Steven Doyle photos by Joy Zhang
Jon Stevens is the crazy good chef that has more than proven his stock in the Dallas food scene, and beyond. He recently opened his first restaurant in the Bishop Arts District, Stock and Barrel.
Stevens is originally from the San Francisco area, one of the great food cities in the United States and was mostly self-taught. The chef starting cooking at the age of 19 with his uncle who was also in the business. It was this uncle that gave Stevens the advice to pass on formal training as the city was bursting with great culinary experiences and the best way to learn was to do.
The young chef sat at the stoop of great culinary masters such as Traci Des Jardins of San Francisco’s Jardiniere. He also worked at Mecca and French regional Flytrap before landing at the Ritz Carlton where he worked up to a sous position just years later. It was then that Stevens found himself in Dallas as sous for the wildly understated but powerful talent, Chris Ward at the Mercury where he worked for a few years before hopping the fast moving Kent Rathbun train cheffing at Abacus, then opening Jaspers in 2003. It was there Stevens finally opened as chef at Aurora for Avner Samuels working for 2 years.
Stevens found himself missing California and moved back to work at the beautifully frenetic Bungalow 44 in Mill Valley just North of San Francisco where he stayed for 4 years honing his craft. But made his way back to Dallas where he opened at Neighborhood Services. Continue reading
Filed under Steven Doyle
by Steven Doyle
Veritas Wine Room favorite chef Jon Stevens recently returned from a multi-week tour of Spain, and plans on cooking up some of the good stuff he discovered on his voyage. Stevens spent some time in Barcelona, and ate his way through the city. He then went to Granada before moving on to Sevilla. He told Bradley Anderson, co-owner of Veritas that the tapas in Sevilla were simply stunning. Continue reading
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by Steven Doyle
You know Chef DAT. He is the chef that travels, cooks and is otherwise an all around bon vivante. He is also responsible for all those underground dinners you hear so much about. DAT is the undisputed king of the underground movement in the country and has been featured in national magazine and newspapers. We like to feature some of the more interesting dinners DAT hosts in his new secret digs somewhere in East Dallas, and he just alerted us to one that we would love to attend.
This Friday is going to be a very special night to remember. Chef Jon Stevens, originally from San Francisco, has worked in and run some of the best kitchens in Dallas – most recently Nosh. He will be opening the new restaurant, Mesero Miguel, with Mico Rodriguez very soon, with rumors of much more. Continue reading
Filed under Steven Doyle, Underground Dinner
by Steven Doyle
We talked about the Food For Thought event last month, but we wanted to give you an update. We are always getting requests for event information, and the summertime is a slow period for food events. As we draw closer to Fall and Winter that will all change and we will be announcing all sorts of fun events.
The fourth annual Food for Thought event will be held from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, September 22, at the Frontiers of Flight Museum. Showcasing Dallas/Fort Worth’s finest chefs and cuisine, Food for Thought benefits Big Thought, one of Dallas’ leading nonprofits dedicated to improving public education through creative learning (and Big Thought happens to be celebrating its 25th anniversary this year). At the event, former DISD School Board Trustee Edwin Flores will be honored with the coveted Gavel of Excellence Award. Food For Thought is presented by Lockheed Martin in partnership with the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers. Continue reading
Filed under chefs, Crave, Dallas, Steven Doyle
by Steven Doyle
Sometimes when you are out dining you simply want a snack. Small plates is actually my favorite way to dine, you get so many different flavors packed into one meal. If variety is the spice of life then Snack Global Kitchen and Bar is a whole lot of living.
As we had mentioned in our first look at Snack, it is a global kitchen, which basically means the kitchen staff can create anything they wish and be as imaginative as possible. This is genius.
We stopped into Snack late Sunday evening just before closing and the staff was winding down from a busy day. Sous chef Cody Sharp was at the helm and we are always pleased to see this firecracker of a chef. After graduating from Cordon Bleu Sharp took his first line position at Rockwall’s Restaurant Ava and simultaneously started working part time for Katherine Clapner at Dude, Sweet Chocolate in Bishop Arts. Continue reading
Filed under chefs, Food Porn Alert, henderson
by Steven Doyle
We had the first look at Snack, the new restaurant brought to you by the team of Avner Samuel and Jon Stevens who have been knocking it out of the park with Nosh. Snack is located on Henderson in the vacated Horne and Dekker space and has undergone a tremendous transformation.
Stevens has been working on the menu for Snack and making preparations for the opening at the same time he was revamping the Bailey’s kitchen. Stevens admitted all the work has taken a toll on him but he is happy that Snack will be opening its doors at 4pm tomorrow (May 22, 2012) serving cocktails with the kitchen swinging open at 5pm. Continue reading
Filed under chefs, Crave, Dallas, henderson, restaurant news, Steven Doyle
by Steven Doyle
Obviously there is plenty blooming over at Bailey’s Prime Plus. The owner Ed Bailey owns the handful of restaurants scattered across both Dallas and Fort Worth. We know about the recent brouhaha over at Chesterfield which Bailey has an interest along with celeb-barman Lucky Campbell, plus a slew of Patrizio’s (and a new one on the way in Southlake). Then we grab news that Bailey is the new owner of Uptown Bar and Grill.
So Bailey has plenty of restaurants in the area, but the flagship steakhouse really hasn’t taken off the way he would have liked. The concept is different than your usual steakhouses. Bailey’s was actually created to be an upscale steakhouse that would attract women. So why hasn’t the concept worked? Continue reading
Filed under chefs, Crave, Dallas, Steven Doyle
