Tim Byres

Standard Remnants Slowly Digesting

Dueling Boutiques

Pass the Salt Grains

Standard Setting

New bistro to open in Deep Ellum

Who's That Girl?

Kenyon Price offers a mysterious Isabella

Go Fish Go

All Aboard the Fish Express

Something Brewing

Big D taste in Big Sky country

Higher Standard

Byres' reborn restaurant still goes above and beyond

Ferré Chef: Cheerio

Plus: Standard Snafu; Drink This

Mongol Chuck

Tristan Simon unloads Genghis Grill

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"

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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

​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 >>

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 >>

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

​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 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

A Final Look at 48 Nights

Robert Bostick.Right to left: Chefs Nathan tate, Randall Copeland and Jeff Harris relaxing.​After eight months of charitable cooking, the chefs behind the ambitious 48 Nights project recently put the popular weekly event to bed. Dallas restaurateurs Chris Jeffers, Chris Zielke and Tim Byres r ... 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 >>

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 >>

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: 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 >>

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 >>

Foodways Texas and Smoke Let You
Step Out of Your Shell

​One of the best invitations I've received this year was an e-mail beckoning me to College Station for the founding of Foodways Texas. Now, you too have the opportunity to support the organization, as august a group of chefs, food writers, scholars, fishermen, pitmasters, chuckwagon cooks and ... More >>

Foodways Texas Offers a Tasty Road Trip to Gulf

​Foodways Texas, the new organization that aims to "preserve, promote and celebrate the diverse food cultures of Texas," has announced an event that should help make sense of all the fancy words in its ambitious mission statement. Tickets for the group's first symposium in Galveston go on sal ... More >>

Safety Tips for Smoke's Oyster Shucking Contestants

​If attendees at Foodways' Texas first-ever Dallas event at Smoke tonight are able to rouse themselves from their chairs after feasting on Tim Byres' lengthy menu of gumbo, roasted oysters, raw oysters, grilled shrimp and fried fish, they can compete to shuck the most oysters in one minute - a ... 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

Is BEE A Keeper? Bloggers Share Their Thoughts

​In-N-Out has poked its head out of the ground again, looking for its shadow. Besides that, muffins may be coming back in a big way. In case you missed either post or are hesitant to believe BEE's boastful name, Dallas blogs and writers are here to enlighten you. Dallas Observer Hanna Raskin fin ... 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 >>

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 >>

Week of the Iguana -- And Other Stuff

​Here are two things you haven't tried: taco-flavored chips and iguana tamales. For that, we have you covered. For all the things you might have tried (ie. Crossroads Diner, The Speedway Club, the wonder of vegan baking), Dallas blogs are happy to expand. Read on. City of Ate For Decanter in ... 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 >>

Photos: City of Ate Kicks Off Supper Club at the Kessler Theater

All photos by Nick RalloHi there, molten chocolate cake. ​After we finished a light salad, touched with olive oil and fresh goat cheese, Marc Cassel entered a halo of light at the Kessler to introduce his fine meal: beef tenderloin with wild mushroom stroganoff and bright parsley, followed by a ch ... More >>

Last Night: The City of Ate-Sponsored Supper Club at the Kessler

​The Kessler Theater in Oak Cliff threw its second Supper Club last night, inviting local hungry people to sample the culinary stylings of Kelly Hightower, recently announced as the new chef for something called Wild Salsa. The monthly event, which is sponsored by this very blog, opened with ... 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

What the Hell is Buckle? And Other Thoughts From City Of Ate Presents Supper Club Last Night

Photo by Leslie MinoraIf every night ended with buckle, the world would be a better place.​So, we're new around here. And in an effort to assimilate us into both Observer culture and make us less alien to the Dallas food scene, we were sent to the City of Ate-sponsored Supper Club at the Kessler T ... More >>

Tre Wilcox's Five Favorite Dallas Restaurants

Marquee Grill​Former Top Chef contestant and Marquee Grill chef Tre Wilcox recently revealed his "Guide to the Best Restaurants in Dallas" on Gogobot, a social networking travel site. November is Food Travel Month on the site, where 16 different celebrity chefs share their favorite restaurants ... More >>

Pig Parts, Happy Endings and More: The Week in the Dallas Food Scene

​I'm thinking the cool and damp weather warrants a pot of hearty braised lamb shanks and lots and lots of red wine. Or maybe I'll get around to making my first pot of chili since moving to Texas -- anything to counter the clouds and mist that looks down-right Xanax-inducing. But first there's ... 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 ... More >>

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

FlickrThis is what pig cheeks look like when they are turned into delicious.​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. ... 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.