Tim Byres

Burning Questions with Omar Flores of Driftwood, Including Extreme Requests and Barbacoa Tacos

Each week we track down a chef for a few burning questions. This week, Omar Flores at Driftwood shares some cookbook advice, spills on a few crazy requests and has a suggestion for a damn good margarita. What are a few of your favorite cookbooks? I love anything by Thomas Keller. Recently I've be ... More >>

Chef Burning Questions: Tim Byres on Cookbooks and Crazy Requests

Each week (or thereabout) we track down a chef for a few burning questions. This week, Tim Byres of Smoke and Chicken Scratch was willing to participate. He indulged us in a few of his favorite cookbooks and weird surprises in the walk-in. What are a few of your favorite cookbooks (feel free to in ... More >>

Austin Food & Wine Festival to be a Buffet of Food, Wine, Music and Stars

Andrew Zimmern. Marcus Samuelsson. Marc Murphy. Brian Malarkey. Tim Byres. Tre Wilcox. Tim Love. Aaron Franklin. Paul Qui. Where can you hang out with the likes of these national and local food greats all in one place? The answer is The Austin Food & Wine Festival, coming up at the end of the mont ... More >>

The Foundry Has Celebratory $5 Old Fashioneds Today, Plus New Turkey Wings at Chicken Scratch and a Nod from Brits

The Foundry was recently named by Southern Living magazine as one of the best bars in the South on account of its spacious, twinkle-light covered courtyard. This bar just opened last year and has quickly gained a lot of attention, primarily on account of said courtyard, which is more like a small co ... More >>

Meat Fight Tickets Are Now On Sale

Meat Fight is a barbecue competition and fundraiser that I'm throwing at Sons of Hermann Hall in Deep Ellum on November 4. In addition to mind-blowing meats for eating, there will be beers from Deep Ellum Brewing Company. There will be Knob Creek tastings. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Na ... More >>

Travel & Leisure Names The Foundry as One of America's Best Outdoor Bars

Another local gem is national news. Just a few months after opening, Travel and Leisure magazine has selected The Foundry in north Oak Cliff as one of "America's Best Outdoor Bars." Assests of a good bar, according to T&L, are sun, cold drinks and a dash of atmosphere. Can't argue with that. From ... More >>

At Chicken Scratch and The Foundry, Scratch the Chicken and You'll Be Fine

Oak Cliff's latest delivers decent sides, misses on the chicken and still manages a home run.

100 Favorite Dishes, No. 83: The Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes at Smoke

To prepare for this fall's Best of Dallas® 2012 issue, we're counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there's a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments or email Scott. "The best pancakes of my whole life!" That's what many people have heard me scream afte ... More >>

Quotable B-Sides With Chris Jeffers: "Centro-matic is Like a Four-Man Assassin Team"

Chris Jeffers, the subject of this week's music feature story, is a quote machine. It's tough to translate his enthusiasm to written word. Raspy sentences pour out of him like grand statements.I asked if I could follow him around for a day a few weeks back, and he politely obliged. We went to his ot ... More >>

The Overserved: There's A Patio in Dallas For Every One of Us.

Looking For a Patio To Sit On This Weekend? Check Out The Overserved's Handy Guide.

Spring Fever is casting her spell and I can already see the telltale signs. We all find excuses to quit a little earlier and our patio-dwelling hours get a little longer. But there is more to the Art of Patio than a nice deck and outdoor seating. Indeed, you can match one for every mood, so this spr ... 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 >>

Chicken Scratch, Tim Byres' New Chicken-and-Tetherball Joint, Opened in Oak Cliff Yesterday

Chef Tim Byres, chef and owner of upscale meat palace Smoke and the latest recipient of Food & Wine's People's Best New Chef award, opened his new fast-casual chicken joint on Monday at Pittman and Fort Worth Avenue in North Oak Cliff. Chicken Scratch is a small, corrugated-metal-and-glass buildin ... More >>

Tim Byers Is The People's Chef. Plus, Meat Photos!

Last week we told you about Food and Wine's People's Choice Contest featuring two local chefs, Tim Byres and Tre Wilcox out of 100 chefs across the nation. Yesterday, the news came out that Byres took the big prize. Not just best chef for the Southwest (is Dallas really the south west?) but the best ... More >>

Tre Wilcox and Tim Byres Nominated for People's Best New Chef by Food & Wine

Today Food & Wine magazine announced that two Dallas chefs have been included in the People's Best New Chef program, which is designed to recognize up-and-coming chefs who have run their own kitchens for no more than five years. Tre Wilcox at Marquee Grill & Bar in Highland Park Village and Tim Byre ... More >>

Chop House, OcaTaco and More Openings and Closings in February

February was a busy month in the Dallas food scene. The highly anticipated Off-site Kitchen finally opened its doors, along with a handful of other eateries. Read on for the full opening and closing slate and be sure to share tips about restaurant openings or closings in the comments section below ... More >>

Brisket Tacos, Crazy Sandwiches and Fernet: This Week In You Are Soooo Fat

Some winter, huh? I'm wearing short sleeves and it's still February. That means we're going to be eating peaches a little sooner, so long as a hard frost doesn't come in and burn those little blossoms. Before you get out there and enjoy the beautiful weekend weather (I'm ready for some patio drinki ... More >>

You Say Guanciale, I Say Delicious: This Week In Fatness

Well. Here we go. Hope your tree and other decorations are taken down and put away. The "New Year" is quickly becoming the plain old month of January. We've got a lot of eating to do. And we're starting with burgers. Alice Laussade and I both tackled Stackhouse this week. And we both liked it, too. ... More >>

Smoke's Tim Byres Tapped to Keep High-End DC Restaurant Rogue 24 Running

When Tim Byres visited Washington D.C. last summer in support of Share Our Strength, a non-profit seeking to end hunger and improve nutrition for American children, he bumped into R.J. Cooper, who was then the chef at Vidalia, a high-end concept devoted to Southern cooking. The two hit it off and ha ... More >>

Tim Byres Brings Cool Summertime Fun to the Supper Club

​Supper Club at The Kessler (presented by City of Ate) returns Wednesday with chef Tim Byres of Smoke. Byres' summer-inspired four-course-meal will be paired with four wines from California-based Wente Vineyards. Austin-based bluegrass/indie act MilkDrive will provide the tunes for party-goers to ... More >>

Supper Club! Smoke Chef Tim Byres Sends Along His Menu

Tim Byres of Smoke​Supper Club at the Kessler, (presented by City of Ate)our dinner series that features local chefs whipping up bad ass food alongside local tunes, is happening soon (June 8 y'all.) This month's chef is Tim Byres of Smoke. Oh yes, we're excited too. Chef Byres will prepare a four- ... More >>

In Honor of Supper Club: The Top 5 Meat Photos From Smoke

Sara KerensNot exactly meat, but we sure do like Smoke's "heavy handed" pancakes.​Next month's Supper Club, our monthly dinner and music series with local chefs, is showcasing the raw meat talent of Chef Tim Byres of Smoke. Later this week, we'll post Chef Tim's menu for those lookin' to get ... More >>

Tim Byres Sparks John T. Edge's Barbecue Epiphany

Smoke's Tim Byres may not have won Food & Wine's The People's Best New Chef contest earlier this year, but according to the current issue of Garden & Gun, he recently pulled off perhaps an even greater feat: He made John T. Edge rethink barbecue. ​If John T., the director of the Southern Food ... More >>

The Dining Public Chooses Tim Byres as the Southwest's Best New Chef

Tim Byres​The people have clicked, and Smoke's Tim Byres is the winner of the Southwestern division of Food & Wine's People's Best New Chef contest. But Byres didn't rack up enough online votes to claim the People's Best New Chef crown, which belongs to Jamie Bissonnette of Boston's Coppa, a ... More >>

Dallas Chefs Emerge as Leaders in Food & Wine Poll

​With one voting weekend left in Food & Wine's People's Best New Chef online poll, the Southwest category's shaping up as a three-way contest, with DFW darlings Casey Thompson and Tim Byres leading the pack. As of this morning, Thompson and Byres were locked in a vise-tight race, with Thompso ... More >>

Smoke's Tim Byres Knows What Voters Really Want

Tim Byres​Trounced in his first two campaigns for a seat in the Virginia House of Burgesses, George Washington adopted a winning strategy in 1758: He bought booze for voters. Treating is no longer tolerated in political elections, but there's nothing stopping contenders for Food & Wine's Peop ... More >>

Two DFW Chefs in the Running For Food & Wine Prize

Brownstone's Casey Thompson​Proving once again that Austin has a Justin Bieber-like hold on culinary chroniclers' heartstrings, chefs from the capital city scored four of the ten slots in Food & Wine's online "The People's Best New Chef" competition. For the first time ever, Food & Wine's add ... More >>

(30K) Millionaires: Where to Spend Your Cash This Week

If you have the cash, you could watch the Super Bowl with this old boat captain.​Let's pretend you're a big spender who can't score tickets to the Super Bowl. What do you do with all that cash next week? You could blow it all on one awesome party, perhaps the Leather & Laces event at Hotel Zaz ... More >>

Smoke's Pork Jowls Get a Kiss

​Food & Wine has showered some of its list-love on Smoke's Tim Byres, naming his smoked pork jowls with pickles a best restaurant dish of 2010. As Editor Kate Krader describes the dish: "He slowly smokes cured pork jowl over pecan wood and serves thin slices of the luscious meat as an appetiz ... More >>

Smoke: The Non-Steakhouse of Steakhouses

​When writers Janice Shay and Helen Thompson set out to find a Dallas restaurant doing right by beef, they thought they'd end up in a steakhouse. Instead, the pair of former Texas Monthly contributors was most impressed by Smoke, chef Tim Byres' upscale paean to down-home cooking. Byres share ... More >>

Tim Byres Big Reveal: How the Sausage Gets Made

Photos by Robert Bostick​As we learned from Smoke's Tim Byres earlier this week, he enjoys making his own charcuterie. The day we visited the chef he had just finished carving up half a hog for use in the restaurant's various barbecue recipes. And that was just for a single day's use. We w ... More >>

Smoke's Tim Byres on Why Good Barbecue Is About More Than Just the Food

Photo by Robert BostickTim Byres​Yesterday, we profiled Tim Byres, chef at Smoke, the restaurant in the Belmont Hotel that serves what Byres describes as "heritage inspired cuisine." (Traditional style cooking, smoking, canning a preserving updated for modern palates, served with a touch of So ... More >>

Chef Tim Byres Goes in Search of Himself and Finds Smoke

​Walk into Smoke early on any Saturday afternoon and you'll get the sense that the year-old restaurant hums along effortlessly. Simple preparations, a small, amiable kitchen crew, a mastery of the menu. Truth is, the food takes hours to prepare and there is meticulous care in the execution of wh ... More >>

Cedar Tequila and Homemade Grenadine: Smoke's New Cocktail Menu

Merritt MartinGirl Drink Drunk downed some Smoke Cocktails last year.​Smoke has extended its scratch-made philosophy to its bar, debuting a new cocktail menu heavy on house-made jams, preserves and syrups. "My focus is doing away with any purchased beverage bases," chef Tim Byres writes. "It ... More >>

David Uygur Flexes His Mussels To Win Bastille On Bishop Cook-Off

Photo by Kristy YangA beret and an accordion -- can't get more French than that, right?​As you can see in our slideshow, Go Oak Cliff and Alliance Francaise De Dallas celebrated Bastille Day yesterday with a Francophile street festival featuring crepes, wine, a mussel cook-off, French maid obstacl ... More >>

The Belmont's Smoke at the Beard Foundation is a Big, Hairy Deal

Danny FulgencioThe crew at Smoke: Chris Zielke, Tim Byres, Christopher and Jessica Jeffers​Celebrated local chef Tim Byres is en route to New York City as we speak with a hell of a carry-on: dinner for 80, plus booze. Executive chef of the Belmont Hotel's posh barbecue outfit Smoke, Byres will coo ... More >>

Artin's Grill Brings a Touch of the Sublime to Plano Dining

Why Do We Love Oprah? Because We Also Love McDonald's

​I've spent some effort avoiding this day, hoping it would never, ever come. But all of my valiant, last ditch efforts--a quick search for an apartment in Allen, begging to work from a Starbucks in Oklahoma City for a day or two--fell through.Now I'm trapped. Although I've spent much of my adult l ... More >>

The owners of Bolsa are at it again—launching another hot, new restaurant while keeping their demons in check.

Meat And Greet: The Grand Opening Of Smoke

​Best line overheard (well, shouted to our face) at the Smoke grand opening Friday night: "Who cares about resurrecting Deep Ellum when we've got this?!" The gushing party-goer was referring to the booming Oak Cliff renaissance, of course. Granted, a great big free shindig at a buzz-worthy new ... More >>

Hash Over: Bolsa And Smoke Celebrate, Dine On The Line, Raiser Grazer Resumes And More

​It's hard to believe Bolsa has only been open for a year, as it already feels like a Dallas institution for locavores and  those who enjoy fascinating food creations at reasonable prices. It's gotta be true, though, as the restaurant will celebrate its first year of business with "Bands, Bru ... More >>

Cliff Cafe Gets The Sack

Word on the street has Hotel Belmont's Cliff Cafe shuttering its doors for a couple of months while Bolsa partners Chris Zielke and Christopher Jeffers renovate the space.Their plan? Turn Cliff Cafe (or whatever they end up calling it) into a semi-upscale barbecue joint, adhering loosely to Bolsa's ... More >>

Dueling Boutiques

Pass the Salt Grains

Higher Standard

Byres' reborn restaurant still goes above and beyond

Ferré Chef: Cheerio

Plus: Standard Snafu; Drink This

Moving On

Deep Ellum crime sends Standard 2706 on its way

Starring Roles

Why don’t we have a nationwide restaurant rating system?

New Standard

Deep Ellum eatery masters "hang-time food"

Standard Setting

New bistro to open in Deep Ellum