Strauss Marketing, the Public Relations firm that represents Sissy's Southern Kitchen and Bar released an announcement today detailing a new lunch service that will begin September 18. The release describes pickled gulf shrimp, herb poached snapper and a New Orleans-style muffaletta but it neglects to mention who will be cooking. Jeffery Hobbs, the executive chef who helped open the fancy fried chicken restaurant, is not named. For good reason.
Hobbs confirms the split, saying he has fulfilled the promise he made to owner Lisa Garza when first opening the restaurant and is ready to move on to other things. He would say nothing else on the record. Strauss says Chris Ostlund, who has been sous chef since the opening, has been promoted and will run the kitchen.
Sissy's opened in early March and quickly received consistently positive coverage in the press. I wrote a gusher six weeks after the restaurant opened and shortly after The Dallas Morning News awarded four stars. D Magazine wrote not one, but two glowing reviews.
Sissy's has deserved the positive coverage. It's one of the very few restaurants I've patronized after completing a review, simply because the space and food are so enjoyable. I asked a spokesperson at Strauss why they would try to expand the restaurant's hours in the middle of such a large transition and was told Ostlund has been preparing for the new lunch service for some time and his kitchen is ready.
