Matt McCallister

The 11 Best Bites from the Dallas Observer Iron Fork 2013

Hopefully you made it to Iron Fork last night. Hopefully you dressed lightly. While massive blowers at the front of the venue did their best, the back of the Dallas Contemporary was quite warm. I'm half convinced that Matt McCallister's sweat was the magical ingredient that propelled the young chef ... More >>

Balls, Boobz, and Potatoes: The Cheap Bastard's Iron Fork Recap

Last night at Iron Fork, a bunch of hipster food people got together and ate food at each other while wearing fashion clothes at the Dallas Contemporary. It was fun. See also: - The 11 Best Bites from the Dallas Observer Iron Fork 2013 - The People and The Food of Iron Fork 2013 I heard it was a ... More >>

Tidbits of Advice for Iron Fork 2013 Attendees

It's almost here. This Wednesday our Iron Fork competition and food celebration will descend on the Design District. If you attended our Artopia event you'll remember the Dallas Contemporary as a top-notch venue with plenty of space for exploration. We're excited to fill the same venue with more tha ... More >>

Food Fight!

Farmers Markets Ceviche Bars and Colorful Barbecue: This Week In Dallas Dining

I think this might be the best spring I have ever encountered. There have been a few cold snaps here and there, but I find them invigorating. And these sunny days that are mixed in here and there are amazing. It's great weather for a vacation, which I intend to indulge in shortly after publishing t ... More >>

Six Great Beer and Culinary Events for This Week, April 10 - 16

Thursday, April 11 The We Over Me Farm at Paul Quinn College is hosting its annual Community Cooks dinner this Thursday. Some of Dallas' best chefs will be serving at the event, including Chad Houser, Jeff Harris of Bolsa, Jason Maddy of Oak and Matt McCallister of FT33. Tickets are $75 and benefit ... More >>

The Week's Best Culinary Events, March 20 - 26, Including A Craft Beer Tasting

Wednesday, March 20 If Wednesday is your super-fancy day, then you might enjoy dinner at FT-33 where chef Matt McCallister is working up a six-course Texas-inspired dinner paired with Corra Wines, with detailed explanations courtesy of winemaker Celia Welch. Dinner is $200 per person including the w ... More >>

Matt McCallister Wins Food and Wine's Peoples Choice Award

Just last week we told you that Food and Wine was having a little Internet-based people's choice chef extravaganza that featured not one, but two local chefs. Today, the magazine announced that Matt McCallister has won the Southwest region. Food and Wine didn't say how many votes McCallister (or an ... More >>

Omar Flores and Matt McCallister Nominated for People's Best New Chef

Food & Wine recently announced that Matt McCallister, chef-owner of FT33, and Omar Flores, who chefs at Driftwood have been nominated for the magazine's The People's Best New Chef award. See also: - FT33 is Now Open in the Design District - FT33 chef Matt McCallister and Driftwood chef Omar Flores ... More >>

BREAKING: Restaurant People Love Crossing Their Arms in Photos

Dallas chefs and restaurant owners looooove crossing their arms in photos. We should make it stop. It's the most important change that needs to happen in our restaurant scene. Seriously. Evidence:

FT33 chef Matt McCallister and Driftwood chef Omar Flores Host Two Surf and Turf Dinners

FT33 chef Matt McCallister and Driftwood chef Omar Flores are teaming up for surf and turf style two-part dinner series. If that grabs the attention of your stomach, then you might want to go ahead and call in for reservations, as they will surely fill up quickly. On Monday, February 4, McCallister ... More >>

The New Outpost American Tavern as Campo Part 2: The Laid Back Sequel

When Campo in Oak Cliff opened in back November of 2011, the creative modern cuisine at the hands of chef Matt McCallister was widely praised. Yet, three months later when Scott Reitz learned that the Stephan Pyles-trained chef already had his eye on his own project, Retiz asked the question "Campo ... More >>

Stampede 66 is Now Open for Lunch

Stephan Pyles latest concept, Stampede 66 (1717 McKinney), opened in early November as an ode to southwestern cuisine from the creator himself. Pyles also helped create much of the Dallas dining scene with an honor-roll of students that studied in his kitchens; like Tim Byers of Smoke, Jeana Johnson ... More >>

Your Parties Suck. This Can Help.

For the Love of Deep Fried Little Debbie: This Week in Dallas Dining

Hello? Is anyone out there? Is this thing on? It's quiet around the Observer today. The cubes are empty and everyone is tweeting about wrestling with TWA, Greyhound and other modes of transportation. I think the holidays are in full swing, and I'm excited to jump into the fray myself, but first the ... More >>

Two Hot-Head Chefs Pair Up For "Lost In The Woods Dinner"

Chef Matt McCallister is known for his love of foraging. He's also known for having a bit of a temper. When a diner left some meandering and negative prose on Yelp after having dinner at his previous restaurant, Campo, the chef ate that Yelper for breakfast. On his Facebook page McCallister went off ... More >>

FT33 is Now Open in the Design District

Buzz-restaurant FT33 opened it's enormous glass doors to Dallas' 1 percent (and $30,000 millionaires) this past Saturday. The 80-seat restaurant, tucked between retailers in what can only be described as a glorified strip mall, has been eagerly awaited by Dallas' foodie community since chef Matt McC ... More >>

FT-33 Announces Its Long-Awaited Opening

Invites are flooding email servers everywhere. FT-33 has announced its long-awaited opening, next Saturday, October 13. The message was attached to an invitation to a media dinner to be held later this month. If you don't have a table already you can still snag one. Just a few moments ago I dialed ... More >>

Could Dallas' Three Newest High-Profile Restaurants Soon Be Involved In A Power Struggle?

While everyone prepares to take in another season of Top Chef this month, a different sort of battle will unfold in Dallas' dining season this fall. Three high-profile openings are scheduled in the coming weeks and each will compete for Dallas' discretionary dining dollars. John Tesar's Spoon, Ste ... More >>

Campo Closes, To Reopen as a New Concept in a Few Months

If you were planning on dining at Campo this weekend you'll need to find other plans. News of the restaurant's closure is spreading like and Internet bushfire on Eater, Escape Hatch and other food blogs. Owner John Paul Valverde is quoted as saying the restaurant is not gone for good, but will reop ... More >>

FT33 Plans to Open in October and a First Look at the Menu

Chef Matt McCallister is surely working fast these days to wrap up the final details for his new restaurant, FT 33, which we now know is set to open in October. The new spot at 1617 Hi Line Drive in the Design District will feature classic and modern techniques and will focus on a seasonally driven, ... More >>

Breakfast, Booze And Cookin' At The Grape: This Week In Dallas Dining

Restaurant week is wrapping up this weekend, and the weather promises to be a little more relaxed. Seems like a good time for a little patio drinking and perhapsa little pesticide bathing. Or maybe you're off to the Londoner tomorrow morning to watch the opening weekend of the English Premier League ... More >>

Matt McCallister's FT-33 Has a New No. 2: Former Oddfellows Chef Brady Williams

Since January of last year, chef Brady Williams has been manning the ship at the Spillers Group, the folks behind Union Bear, Oddfellows and Eno's. But Williams told me today that he's got a new gig: chef de cuisine for FT-33, the new Design District restaurant from Matt McCallister. "It's been in ... More >>

Chicken Scratch, McCallister's New Adventure and More Openings from a Busy March

As usual, last month was a busy one in the Dallas restaurant scene. Read on for the full slate of opening restaurants, and be sure to share tips about restaurant openings or closings in the comments section below or at dish@dallasobserver.com. Openings: Chicken Scratch (2303 Pittman St.): Tim Byre ... More >>

Can Campo Survive without Matt McCallister?

When Campo Modern Country Bistro first opened, it did so to much fanfare. Owners Miguel Vicéns and John Paul Valverde built a charming space from a rundown bungalow in Oak Cliff, and they hired Matt McCallister to consult as a temporary executive chef. In the weeks preceding the opening, McCalliste ... More >>

Dallas Chefs Support The Farm at Paul Quinn College with Culinary Cookout

Back in 2010, students at Paul Quinn College, Dallas' only historically black college, tilled up their football field to create an urban garden in a food desert. Since that time, the "We Over Me Farm" has cultivated over two thousand pounds of corn, squash, greens, tomatoes and other produce for the ... More >>

Matt McCallister Announces FT 33

While reviewing Campo, and bitching about truffles, I've been alluding to Matt McCallister's new restaurant but not coughing up the name. A server squeaked while I was reviewing Campo, and when I followed up with McCallister, he asked I not print it. I'm glad I didn't because I was just a smidgen of ... More >>

Mixin' It Up on the Boulevard Bring Chefs and Farmers Together

Years ago, when Matt McCallister was still working at Stephan Pyles, he would visit farms looking for new local products to source. Often his treks would conjure up something interesting, and he'd relay the stories to his wife, Iris. "Matt would meet these farmers," Iris said, "and then tell me all ... More >>

James Beard Awards: Stephen Pyles, Bruno Davaillon and Teiichi Sakurai are Semifinalists

Alison V. SmithTei An Chef Teiichi Sakurai​The James Beard Foundation just released this year's semifinalists, and to be honest they're a total snooze -- at least as far as Dallas is considered. Stephen Pyles is a finalist for Outstanding Chef for his work at his eponymous restaurant; Bruno ... More >>

Campo Names Josh Black its New Exec Chef; Matt McCallister Still on His (Long) Way Out

Earlier this week I heard that Matt McCallister, the chef at Oak Cliff's Campo, had put in his two weeks. I tried to call the chef to confirm, but we've been playing phone tag for days. I did get in touch with a manager there, who basically told me the same thing he did when I conducted interviews f ... More >>

Why Those Black Truffles You're Eating Don't Taste Like Truffles at All

FlickrBlack truffles don't really work like this, as I recently learned.​I remember my first encounter with truffles vividly, probably because it was a simultaneously euphoric and traumatic experience. I was on a date at Al Tiramisu, a basement Italian restaurant in Washington, D.C., which I p ... More >>

We Gave Campo's Matt McCallister a Big Box of Crap and He Made Us 14-Layer Dip

​​​Once a month or so, we invite a new lucky soul to attempt to conquer The Box. Their challenge: To create something awesome out of whatever ingredients are in the box. It's like Chopped plus Punk'd, only less terrible. This month, Campo's Matt McCallister attempts to make some Super Bowl app ... More >>

Tomorrow: Soup's On, Featuring a Load of Great Chefs and the Lady Who Wrote Glass Castle

Artist Cornelius Brackens Jr. "I Knew You Were There"​The fourth annual SOUP'S ON! Stewpot Alliance Luncheon and art sale is tomorrow at Union Station. Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle, will be the keynote speaker, and nine of Dallas' top chefs will serve up signature soups. The art ... More >>

The State of Dallas Dining, As Told By Its Chefs

Starring Stephan Pyles, John Tesar, Katherine Clapner, Kent Rathbun, Teiichi Sakurai and a dozen other local chefs.

Campo is One of Dallas' Best Restaurants -- For Now

Oak Cliff has one of the city's most daring restaurants. But will the chef stay put?

Campo Modern Bistro Serves Up Poetry, But How Long Will Its Poet Last?

It's odd putting time into a restaurant review when you know the restaurant you're writing about will most likely not exist as it does for very long. Campo Modern Country Bistro, the subject of this week's review, opened last year with Matt McCallister as its "consulting executive chef." After desig ... More >>

The Next Generation Of Dallas Chefs

​Forbes recently listed 30 movers and shakers in the national food scene who are under 30. The article highlights the new guard, the young chefs and food purveyors who promise to carry the torch for the next generation of restaurant patrons. Dallas has some younger chefs worth mention on the ... More >>

Booze Booze Booze Tacobots: This Week In Dallas Grubbing

​Ouch. Remember that whole Bar 828 thing in Oak Cliff? Seems like a distant memory. While milling around out back of the event, I asked a bartender (details fuzzy for obvious reasons) his best hangover cure. He told me a gin and tonic water poured over a couple of alka-seltzer tablets with som ... More >>

Piglet Alert: Crispy Pig Ears Spotted at Campo

Flickr​Back in August, I wrote about RedFork's snout to tail plate, and lamented the lack of offal on Ryan Carbery's menu. The chef told me a head cheese terrine was received with mixed reviews; customers were more likely to order it when he called the charcuterie a pork pate. Shame. Head chee ... More >>

The Must-Have Thanksgiving Dishes of Dallas' Top Chefs

We all have our favorite dish at Thanksgiving. Maybe it's sweet potato casserole, cheesy mashed potatoes, Jello salad or cornbread dressing. No matter that crazy great-aunt Melba came up with the recipe 47 years ago; if it's not on the table when the bird is served, then just call the whole thing of ... More >>

An Interview with Campo Chef and Stephan Pyles Vet Matt McCallister

Kevin Marple​Chef Matt McCallister worked his way up from line cook to executive chef at Stephan Pyles in Dallas, then took off around the country to stage at other top restaurants: Daniel in New York City, McCrady's in South Carolina and Alinea in Chicago. Now he's opening a new restaurant in ... More >>

Campo Opens in Oak Cliff

Rachel Laine​Campo Modern Bistro opened this week at 1115 N. Beckley Ave. in Oak Cliff. Owners Miguel Vicéns and John Paul Valverde of Coevál Studios recruited Matt McCallister, formerly of Stephan Pyles, to run the kitchen. McCallister has been dabbling in many different things lately, in ... More >>

For Fashion Week, Five Foods Just as Hard to Eat as Those Clothes are to Wear

Abacus​It's Fashion Week, which means lots of impractical clothes clothes on impractically shaped people. But designers aren't alone in their ability to turn something as functional as clothes into high art. Chefs often do the same with food, as demonstrated by the above dish -- a salad from ... More >>

The Week in Food: Lots of Lists,
Plus Some Cabbage for Roughage

​ Dallas blogs spent the week wrapping up 2010 in a series of lists and predicting food trends for 2011. City of Ate Hanna Raskin feels diminutive in the face of a face-sized bland chicken breast at Kenny's Italian Kitchen. Alice Laussade edits four-letter words out of her vocabulary to de ... More >>

Come "Play" With Matt McCallister

Matt McCallister​Matt McCallister, who helped inaugurate the extraordinarily popular Fuego concept at Stephan Pyles before tendering his resignation there, has announced a series of three limited-seating dinners. McCallister is planning to depart Dallas for a series of culinary apprenticeship ... More >>

Whatever Works: Eating to Feed the Hungry; Dominion Farms Going Au Naturel

Dominion FarmsInside Dominion's Store​This year has been one of charity and fund-raising in the North Texas food world. So much so, it's surprising chefs haven't been hospitalized for Hollywood's favorite "medical" condition, fatigue. One of this year's most notable events (for its locavore emphas ... More >>

From Farm to Table: Chef for Farmers Event
To Boost Local Producers

Photos by Robert BostickRandall Copeland, Bruno Davaillon, Janice Provost, Chad Houser, Nathan Tate and Matt McCallister​A unique twilight dinner has been scheduled at Eden's Garden Organic Garden Center and CSA Farm in Balch Springs that will pair seven chefs from five Dallas restaurants for ... More >>

Stephan Pyles Executive Chef Matt McCallister
Is Living Every Food Fan's Dream

Photo by Robert Bostick​With the crush of talented wizards working magic in Dallas kitchens, it pays to know just who is behind the saute pan at your favorite eatery. To help you keep track, City of Ate brings you Three-Course Meal, a three-part chat with some of the best, most inventive chefs ... More >>

Hash Over: Libertine Fights Brain Cancer, NBC Starts Fish Fight, and Stephan Pyles Holds Celebrity Dinner Sunday

​The Libertine Bar may have the Best Bar Food in Dallas, along with a great selection of beer and wine--and, of course, the monthly Playlister P local-music DJ nights. But beginning at 7 p.m. tomorrow night, the bar's brain cancer awareness event gives yet another reason to love the Lower Greenvil ... More >>

Just Who Is This Matt McCallister Guy?

The new executive chef at Stephan Pyles."I'm inexperienced. But my eagerness, I think, makes up for that." It's been almost two weeks since star Southwestern chef Stephan Pyles turned heads in the Dallas dining world by appointing Matt McCallister Executive Chef of his self-named restaurant downto ... More >>