StarChefs Rising Stars Magazine - Issue 35 (Dallas-Fort Worth)

ISSUE 35 | DALLAS-FORT WORTH

WHICH DFW CITY ARE YOU?

JUST LIKE MOM'S

$5.00 ISBN 978-1-7357675-5-0

50500>

9 781735 767550

MEZCAL MASHUP

A CANTALOUPE CONCERTO

THE EVOLUTION OF KHAO

CULTIVATING THE METROPLEX

always .

AT YOUR SIDE, S.Pellegrino is committed to supporting the culinary community.

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In This Issue 6

DEAR DALLAS-FORT WORTH

68 48

A letter from Chef Matt McCallister.

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JUST LIKE MOM’S

Chef Tiffany Derry’s gumbo honors her mother’s recipe— with some modern tweaks.

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42

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CULTIVATING THE METROPLEX

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With plentiful land, Dallas-Fort Worth chefs and restaurant owners sow their own gardens.

THE SECOND ACT OF AFIFA NAYEB

Chef Afifa Nayeb discusses changing careers, collaborating with her daughter, and pursuing dreams to their fullest extent.

OWNING IT

These nine female-identifying business owners are breaking the industry mold.

A CANTALOUPE CONCERTO

Maggie Huff accompanies a onenote melon with a harmony of salt, fat, and acid.

THE EVOLUTION OF KHAO

Donny Sirisavath and Nupohn Inthanousay modernize traditional Lao cuisine in order to get their culture noticed.

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MEZCAL MASHUP

Dallas bartenders are reaching for agave spirits with big botanicals.

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LETTER FROM TEAM STARCHEFS

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KITCHEN NOTEBOOK

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WE SUPPORT

82

I SUPPORT

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RISING STARS RESTAURANT MAP

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RECIPES

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ADVERTISERS GUIDE

SAIGON SPECIAL

With a thick deck of foie gras pâté, Carol Nguyen isn't cashing in on her labor-intensive bánh mì.

QUIZ: WHICH DFW CITY ARE YOU?

Ever wondered what your DallasFort Worth soul-city is? Now’s your chance to find out.

On the cover: Mariell Guzman is a DFW-based mixed media painter, muralist, illustrator, and installation artist.

For the cover, she depicted the complexities of the metroplex in all its pockets and hubs, and how they come together to create a landscape that is both grounded and unconventional. Find more of her work on bymariell.com and @mariellguzman on Instagram.

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2021 Dallas-Fort Worth Rising Stars 9

CHEFS CHRISTIAN DORTCH Georgie by Curtis Stone

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MATT FORD Billy Can Can

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JIMMY PARK Shoyo

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COMMUNITY ANDREA SHACKELFORD Harvest Seasonal Kitchen

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SOMMELIER LAUREN LOISELLE Homewood

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PASTRY CHEF MARICSA TREJO La Casita Bakeshop

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BARTENDER GEORGE KAIHO Jettison

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PITMASTER JOE ZAVALA Zavala's Barbecue

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MENTOR DEAN FEARING Fearing's Restaurant

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BUTCHER NATHAN ABEYTA Deep Cuts Dallas

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HOST CHEF CHARLES OLALIA Makeready Experience

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MISTI NORRIS Petra and the Beast

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GAME CHANGER JUNIOR BORGES Meridian

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CONCEPT EMMA & TRAVIS HEIM Heim Barbecue

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BAKERS JESSICA & SETH BRAMMER Lenore's Bagels

ANDREW CHEN Monkey King Noodle Company

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MATTHEW RAMIREZ Lucia

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Dallas-Forth Worth Rising Stars Partners

Symrise, Vnlla Extract Co., Vitamix Commercial, S.Pellegrino, Steelite International, True Aussie Lamb, Butter of Europe, Niman Ranch, Wines from Spain, TCHO Chocolate, Fresh Origins, Lone Mountain Wagyu, The Montague Company, Oktober, Ambrosi, Buffalo Trace, The Adolphus Hotel, Café Momentum

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Letter from Team StarChefs MOVING THE INDUSTRY FORWARD FOR 26 YEARS StarChefs' mission is to serve as a catalyst for food and beverage professionals to succeed at the highest possible standard and to give them the tools they need to meet and overcome the many industry challenges they face.

Antoinette Bruno CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Nicole Borden MARKETING DIRECTOR Amelia Schwartz ASSOCIATE EDITOR Bashel Lubarsky DESIGNER Lizzie Takimoto DIGITAL MEDIA ASSISTANT Gabby Romero EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Will Blunt MANAGING PARTNER Erin Lettera DIGITAL MEDIA DIRECTOR Olivia Hebrand MARKETING COORDINATOR Ania Cywińska PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Julia Abanavas CULINARY AMBASSADOR Whiskey Borden OFFICE MASCOT

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Cai Chen, Geoff Hauschild CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Eric Barton, Alice Laussade, Amelia Levin, Mai Pham CONTRIBUTING DESIGNERS & ILLUSTRATORS Rachelle Febrene, Mariell Guzman, Mari Pohlman

For advertising and event opportunities, please contact us at market@starchefsinc.com.

For subscription inquiries, email subscribe@starchefsinc.com.

PUBLISHED BY STARCHEFS, INC. COPYRIGHT © 2021 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THE BOOK OR PORTIONS THEREOF IN ANY FORM WHATSOEVER. STARCHEFS 217 HAVEMEYER STREET, 3RD FLOOR, BROOKLYN, NY 11211 212.966.3775 | STARCHEFS.COM

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LONG TIME, DFW! LAST TIME WE TOUCHED GROUND in Dallas was in 2007, before the Rising Stars print magazine even existed. Our class included culinary juggernauts like Anthony Bombaci, Lanny Lancarte, and Katherine Clapner who all went on to build legacies of their own. But back then, we were remiss to not consider what was going on in the outskirts of the big city. In the past 16 years, Fort Worth's hospitality industry has begun to catch up with its well-regarded modern arts scene. Suburbs like McKinney, Farmers Branch, and Richardson have become hosts to hundreds of small, independent restaurants with massively loyal followings.

So when the StarChefs team travelled down South last summer, we were excited to cover the entire DFW metroplex, meeting with nearly 100 food and beverage professionals. Although there is some friendly competition between towns, holding an unshakeable pride for their distinct characteristics and quirks (find out which DFW town you are with the quiz on page 78), the Dallas-Fort Worth hospitality industry has the collective goal to become a nationally respected culinary destination. These folks are ambitious as hell.

There’s an independent spirit sweeping through the area. In a traditionally male-dominated industry, women entrepreneurs are stepping out on their own to launch their dream businesses (read about it on page 30). There are career-changers—individuals like Afifa Nayeb who moved on from her family’s business at the age of 40 to become a chef (page 56). And there are nationally recognized chefs like Tiffany Derry, whose new restaurant, Roots Southern Table, pays homage to her family’s Louisiana farm and the evolution of Southern cuisine (page 12).

Dallas-Fort Worth is still known for its luxe steakhouses and elaborate barbecue platters. But chefs are now putting their own personal spins on these iconic cuisines. At steakhouse and saloon, Billy Can Can, Rising Star Chef Matt Ford swaps commodity beef for free-range, indigenous game. Over at Goldee’s Barbecue in Fort Worth, Co-owner Nupohn Inthanousay embraces DFW’s Laotian community by adding smoked Lao sausage to the classic, Texas-style menu.

Even with all this innovation, chefs are still upholding tradition.

They’re growing flowers in their planters, herbs in their garden, and, in some cases, raising cattle on their several acres of farmland.

Thanks to an abundance of open land, restaurant pros can see their produce from start to finish (page 42).

The 2021 class of Dallas-Fort Worth Rising Stars are true representations of the fire that is spreading through the metroplex.

These chefs, bartenders, sommeliers, bakers, pitmasters, and butchers are setting a new foundation, while staying true to the city that consistently garners their success. Dallas-Fort Worth, it’s been a privilege to share the stories of our 17 Rising Stars along with many of the faces that keep your hospitality community moving. It was worth the wait.

Kitchen Notebook PINEAPPLE SLINGER

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT, GEOFF HAUSCHILD

When Beverage Director Iluggy Recinos asked fellow Exxir Hospitality bartenders to give him some insight into the Dallas palate, all they had to say was, “Agave. They LOVE agave.”

So he hit the ground running at The Botanist, Exxir’s craft cocktail lounge, down a path that would eventually produce their number one selling cocktail, the Gunslinger (recipe on page 84). Recinos starts with sliced pineapple that gets coated in sugar and cooked in the wood fire oven until the center is juicy and tender with a brûlée-like finish. It’s seasoned with salt, cinnamon, chipotle, and cayenne, and returned to the oven. The tender, baked piña gets pushed through an extraction juicer then combined with tequila, simple syrup, lemon, lime, mezcal, and Ancho Reyes for subtle smoke.

The cocktail is finished with a Pasilla chile and a house-made 5 chile salt rim to drive home the pepper and spice. “It flies like crazy. It’s very umami.” says Recinos. “It has depth, acidity, beautiful spice, and aroma.”

CHICAGO STYLE With Chicago-style popcorn fresh on his palate, Rye’s chef, Taylor Rause, asked himself the question: “How do I create a vehicle for the taste of Chicago-style popcorn without just throwing some popped kernels on a plate?” Cue the crème. With a base of popcorn-kernel-infused cream, he layers on cheddar cake and cheddar fritters (recipe on page 85). For the cake, Rause goes heavy on powdered Cheez-Its and cheddar powder for that evocative tang, but fills the fritters with aged local cheddar for a sharp contrast. He springs the torched custard free from its ramekin for a composed plate-up, but the stability of the custard comes down to the clock. “It’s not crazy complex, but it took a lot of time to figure out,” Rause says. A crème brûlée order fire comes in, a square is removed from the freezer, and a timer is set for six minutes. Once the six minutes is up, the perfectly soft-set crème is sprinkled with sugar and brûléed until golden and glassy.

KROEUNG THREE WAYS Fresh out of Los Angeles, Café Modern Chef Jett Mora couldn’t wait to pickle and preserve every farmers market vegetable he could get his hands on. His porterhouse prime steak and tenderloin tartare plays with the contrast of fresh and fermented, with neighboring cuts of beef plated both raw and grilled (recipe on page 84). Inspired by his wife’s Cambodian heritage, a kroeung marinade with lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, and lime leaf works triple-duty. Aromatic and punchy, kroeung bathes the steak, acts as a dressing for the tartare, and a flavorful addition to a quick-pickle condiment of chiles, shishitos, red onion, and Asian pear. A final preserved element of cured egg yolk is shaved over the meat, melding with the electric flavors. Chef explains, “Out here, I am pleased to say that people love spicy, so you can’t be too shy on heat.”

AJO VERDE He has a garden, his parents have a farm, and his aunt and uncle raise cattle. So when planning his private, progressive tasting menus for Halff Culinaire, it’s a no-brainer for Chef Phillip Halff II to lean on whatever is currently sprouting from the earth. Back in July, it was cucumbers.

“With an abundance of cucumbers growing in my garden, I’m looking for new ways to push [them] on my guests,” he says. Halff stopped by his parents’ farm, harvested some almonds, and decided to make a refreshing ajo blanco (recipe on page 84). Contrary to the name, Halff’s ajo blanco goes green—fresh-pressed almond milk is blended with honeydew, celery vinegar, and cucumber juice. The chilled soup is mixed with an ultra-herbaceous Kermit-colored oil made from picked cilantro, parsley, and lemon verbena, then poured tableside over citric-acid-infused Granny Smith apple, honeydew, English cucumber, and grapes. With a swirl, little beads of oil emerge to the surface on make a trippy, visual treat.

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"For this city to continue to grow in our industry, more of us will need to go out and take risks."

By Matt McCallister of Homewood

Illustrated by Bashel Lubarsky

Dear Dallas-Fort Worth, What to say? Though my love for food and cooking has been with me since I was a child, I feel it really grew its roots here. Our city has come a long way. While I still feel we have much more room to grow, it has been impressive and satisfying to be along for the ride in the time that I have been here. While I’m not one of the OGs like Stephan Pyles and the like, I feel as though I’ve been here long enough to bridge the gap between the old guard and the new.

I remember back 11 years ago when I was opening FT33, I was full of excitement and equally terrified. I was embarking on what I called my “middle finger” to the status quo of what was then the current state of dining in Dallas-Fort Worth.

At that time, it just felt like everything was the same. No one was really pushing for something different. I wanted to show guests what they were missing instead of giving them something they had always had. Though I now look back at what I did then as naive and immature, it was an important part in me finding my voice—and DFW supported it.

It makes me happy to think that if I opened FT33 now, it would be just one of many great DFW restaurants in town.

The fun, the funky, the creative ideas, the genuine hospitality. Dallas-Fort Worth’s food and beverage community continues to push forward, setting far-reaching goals then smashing the shit out of them and pushing even further. For this city to continue to grow in our industry, more of us will need to go out and take risks.

It’s what we have needed to get this far and it’s something I have always said and supported.

Don’t play it safe. Sometimes we will fail, but all the greatest lessons to be learned in my life come from failures, not successes. Following your heart and being resilient are some of the most important virtues in life.

While these last couple years haven’t been ideal, I feel as though we will look back on them as turning points in the way we previously operated our businesses.

So to everyone out there in the food and beverage community, keep telling your story—because it’s what makes food tasty!

CHEF

Christian Dortch GEORGIE BY CURTIS STONE

WHEN CHRISTIAN DORTCH’S FAMILY MOVED from California to Hawaii in 2009, the high school transfer left him with enough credits to graduate. So Dortch decided to pack his schedule with electives: baseball and culinary arts. He didn’t care for cooking at first— he’d ditch class to go surfing and practice baseball, determined to become a college athlete. But Dortch’s culinary instructors saw his talent. One day, they surprised Dortch with a set of knives, a local chef to help train him, and a plane ticket to Southern California for the Best Teen Chef competition. With baseball playoffs the same week as the competition, Dortch was faced with a big decision. He went with his gut, cooked the best 3-course meal he could imagine, and won the first place prize of a $5,000 scholarship to The Art Institute of Orange County.

Immediately after graduating from culinary school, he became the executive chef of Hanna’s Restaurant & Bar. Hoping to further his learning, Dortch applied to Chef Curtis Stone’s Michelin-starred new American restaurant, Maude, through Craigslist and was hired as a sous chef. When meat-centric Gwen opened in 2018, Dortch joined their kitchen before becoming the head chef of SHARE by Curtis Stone, implementing Curtis Stone concepts on Princess Cruises across the globe.

When the coronavirus pandemic shut down restaurant operations overseas, Dortch was offered the head chef position at Georgie by Curtis Stone in Dallas. There, he embodies the new age of steakhouse chefs, bringing global inspiration, seasonality, and Texas’s best cuts to the white-clothed tables. christiandortch / georgie.dallas

PHOTO: GEOFF HAUSCHILD

Favorite kitchen tool: Wooden spoon Favorite cookbook: White Heat by Marco Pierre White Most important kitchen rule: Taste, taste, taste.

Where you eat on your nights off: I don’t get very many nights off but when I do, I like to go out and eat sushi or hibachi.

Advice to your younger self: When the going gets tough, dig deep.

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Leg of lamb ravioli, white pepper béchamel, orange gastrique

PHOTO: CAI CHEN

Chef Christian Dortch of Georgie by Curtis Stone Adapted by StarChefs

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INGREDIENTS For the Braised Lamb: Yield: 25 servings 30 grams chile powder 6 grams fennel seeds, toasted then ground 2 grams cardamom, ground 2 grams cloves, ground One 2.2-kilogram Australian leg of lamb, patted dry Olive oil 350 grams roughly chopped tomatoes 200 grams roughly chopped shallots 50 grams garlic cloves One 750-milliliter bottle of dry red wine 500 milliliters chicken stock 5 grams thyme 5 grams rosemary 1 bay leaf Lamb Filling Farce: 350 grams chicken breast, large diced 150 grams heavy cream

1 egg 5 grams chopped chervil 10 grams chopped chives Zest of 1 orange ¼ stick cinnamon, finely grated Kosher salt Ravioli: Yield: 10 servings 275 grams 00 flour 5 whole eggs 2 egg yolks 15 grams olive oil Egg wash Orange Gastrique: 750 milliliters fresh blood orange juice 1 stick cinnamon White Pepper Béchamel: 1 medium-sized shallot, halved

4 cloves 1 liter milk 60 grams butter 25 grams olive oil 50 grams flour ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg ⅛ teaspoon ground white peppercorn Salt To Assemble and Serve: Yield: 1 serving 50 grams butter 25 grams hazelnuts, toasted then roughly chopped 50 grams broccolini florets, blanched 20 seconds 3 grams thyme leaves, fried 12 times 5 grams smoked Kentucky bleu cheese, small crumbled Fresh Origins thyme blossom

METHOD For the Braised Lamb: Heat oven to 325°F. In a small bowl, mix to combine chile powder, fennel seeds, cardamom, and cloves. Generously rub the leg of lamb with the spice mixture until fully coated. In a medium-sized Dutch oven over medium flame, add enough olive oil to almost completely cover the bottom of the pot. Once the oil is hot, add lamb and sear on all sides until lightly caramelized. Remove lamb from Dutch oven and set aside. Add tomatoes, shallots, and garlic. Gently sauté until the tomatoes release their juices. Add red wine, chicken stock, and herbs. Return lamb to Dutch oven, cover, and place in the oven. Braise 4 hours and 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest 20 minutes. Place lamb in a large mixing bowl, pick out herbs, and transfer all residual braising liquid, tomatoes, and shallots to a Vitamix blender. Blend until smooth. Using a fork, shred the lamb. Add blended mixture to the lamb and mix to incorporate. Reserve.

For the Lamb Filling Farce: In a food processor, add chicken, cream, and egg and purée until smooth. Pass chicken farce through a tamis to remove any sinew. To the Braised Lamb, add chervil, chives, orange zest, and cinnamon and stir to combine. Season with salt. Add chicken farce to the Braised Lamb mixture and mix until well combined. Let chill in the fridge. Once cooled, portion farce into 25-gram discs, ensuring no air pockets. Reserve.

For the Ravioli: On a clean work surface, create a mound of flour with a well in the center. Add whole eggs, yolks, and olive oil to the well and slowly mix to incorporate into the flour. Bring dough together and knead until tight, about 10 minutes. Wrap and let rest 1 hour. Cut dough into quarters and keep them covered and wrapped until needed. Starting with the first quarter, put dough through a pasta roller until it can run through the smallest setting. Lay pasta out on a work surface and, using a 6.5-millimeter ring mold, cut out round shapes, keeping punch-outs covered so they don’t dry out. Repeat with remaining quarters of dough. Place 25-gram portions of Lamb Filling Farce between 2 dough punch-outs. Lightly brush with egg wash then seal ravioli around the Lamb Farce Filling, ensuring no air pockets. Lay on a semolina-lined sheet tray until ready to boil.

For the Orange Gastrique: To a medium-sized pot, add orange juice and cinnamon. Reduce slowly until the liquid becomes viscous and weighs 250 grams. Remove from heat and reserve.

For the White Pepper Béchamel: Using a blow torch, char shallot until it takes on color without burning. Stud charred shallot with cloves. In a pot, bring milk and studded shallots to a simmer. Remove from heat and reserve. In a separate, heavy-bottomed, medium-sized sauce pot, melt butter and olive oil. Add flour and, using a wooden spoon, cook roux until it takes on a touch of color and a nutty smell. Add half of the warm milk and whisk vigorously until combined. Add remaining milk and bring to a very light simmer. Once completely thick, strain through a chinois. Season with nutmeg, white peppercorn, and salt.

Add béchamel to an iSi gun and charge twice. Keep in a warm water bath until ready to use.

To Assemble and Serve: Bring a pot of water to a boil. Drop in 3 Ravioli and cook 4 minutes and 30 seconds. In a medium-sized sauce pot, bring butter to noisette. Add hazelnuts, broccolini, and Ravioli. Add about 50 grams of White Pepper Béchamel to the center of a serving plate. Place finished Ravioli on top and dress with 5 grams Orange Gastrique, fried thyme, and bleu cheese.

Featured ingredients: Australian leg of lamb, Fresh Origins thyme blossom Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender

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J U S T L I K E M O M' S

BY AMELIA LEVIN ILLUSTR ATED BY BASHEL LUBARSKY

A South Texas native who spent time growing up on her family’s Louisiana farm, Chef Tiffany Derry had gumbo at least twice a month. “Some people say they only have gumbo a couple times a year or when it’s cold out, but we had it all the time,” says the nationally acclaimed chef. “My grandmother had 11 children in Baton Rouge and I have 50 first cousins—gumbo feeds a large number of people. I love it so much that if someone asked me what my last meal would be, it would be my mother’s gumbo.”

To this day, Derry makes gumbo at her Farmers Branch restaurant, Roots Southern Table, just like her mom and grandmother did…with a few twists (recipe on page 85).

As she was taught, Derry cooks the okra separately by frying it on the stovetop or roasting it in the oven until browned, both done without a lot of stirring. “We don’t do slime,” she says, referring to the sometimes off-putting consistency that simmering okra can create.

“Gumbo is a very personal family recipe—everyone makes it slightly different and it depends on the area where you grew up,” Derry says. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for example, you might see chicken sausage, crab, and shrimp all added to the pot. Other recipes call for turkey necks, crawfish, duck, and even boiled eggs. Many serve their gumbo with rice; others serve it with a little potato salad.

Like her mom, Derry prefers to cook the rice separately, placing a little at the bottom of a serving bowl before ladling in the gumbo. “If you cook rice with the gumbo that can create a mushy texture and it causes the rice to swell too much,” she says. “You always want more gumbo than rice.”

In another spin, Derry simmers reserved duck and chicken parts from her signature duck-fat fried chicken into a rich stock. To save labor, rather than stirring the roux over the stove, Derry and her staff make it in a 400-degree oven—mixing the f lour and oil every 30 minutes for an hour and a half until dark brown and nutty. She’ll then transfer the roux to large pots over high heat where she fries aromatics and vegetables before adding the stock and crispy okra. She even roasts and dices the chicken to maintain a chunkier consistency.

Derry estimates they go through 25 to 30 gallons of gumbo a week at Roots Southern Table, but she never makes it on the same day, giving time for the f lavors to meld.

It’s one of the more popular items on her menu, sitting beneath the “Down Home Roots” section—simple, classic dishes with f lavors that guests can identify with. The “Modern Roots” section has more playful dishes like black-eyed pea hummus with XO chile sauce while the “Supper” section hosts large entrees like jerk lamb chops with hoppin’ John and pickled sweet peppers.

“Roots Southern Table is my homage to my mom and my family and ref lects the way we ate on the farm,” Derry says. “When you walked into the house, you would see cupboards lined with all types of pickles—pickled sweet potatoes and onions and other things grown on the farm—even pickled pigs feet. I loved sitting around a big table with my family, shelling peas and pulling greens and wanted to bring a little of that into the restaurant. If you go way back, our ancestors were mostly vegetarians out of West Africa who, over the years after they came here, worked with what they were given, like the ends and tails of pigs, or whatever else they had access to. When you dine at the restaurant, you’ll see a mix of old school and new school dishes as a representation of how Southern food continues to evolve.”

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CHEF

Matt Ford

BILLY CAN CAN

chefmattford / billycancansaloon Favorite kitchen tool: Pasta machine Favorite cookbook: Whichever one I’m reading. My wife gets onto me about how many cookbooks I have.

Most important kitchen rule: Behind!

Places you'd visit for culinary inspiration: San Francisco, Charleston, Chicago, and NYC

AS A CHILD IN THE Kansas coutryside, Matt Ford was often tasked with helping his parents cook and tend to their greenhouse. In sixth grade, he took an aptitude test that pointed him towards either becoming a pilot or a chef. But when he showed his results to the guidance counselor, they peered into Ford’s glasses and told him he could never be a pilot with corrective lenses. So naturally, Ford embarked on a career in the food industry, pursuing a degree at The American Culinary Federation in Kansas City, Kansas.

During culinary school, Ford apprenticed at The American Restaurant where he worked under James Beard Awardwinning Chef Celina Tio. After cooking with James

PHOTOS: GEOFF HAUSCHILD

Advice to your younger self: You better love this profession because it’s hard to make a living. It’s all about the amount of effort, not the amount of money you spend on culinary school.

Beard Award-winning chef Colby Garrelts at Bluestem post-graduation, a former coworker called Ford with an opportunity at Craft Dallas. He moved to Texas, joined Chef Tom Colicchio’s team, and remained there for six years. When Craft closed in 2012, Ford joined forces with Restaurateur Tristan Simon to help open CBD Provisions at The Joule hotel. Ford continued to work with The Joule as the executive chef of their Italian restaurant, Americano, before reconnecting with Simon in 2018 for his newest concept, Billy Can Can. As executive chef, Ford combines classic Texan flavors in a rustic, saloon setting with locally sourced ingredients and chef-driven dishes.

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Texas Venison Tartare Chef Matt Ford of Billy Can Can Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Plumped Dried Cherries: Simple syrup Red wine vinegar Ground fall spices Dried cherries Maldon Juniper Salt: Juniper berries Maldon salt

Smoked Aïoli: ¾ cup grapeseed oil 2 egg yolks 1 clove garlic ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons lemon juice Crispy Shallots: Shallots, thinly shaved Flour Neutral oil

Texas Venison Tartare: 3 ounces lean, small diced Texas venison 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon diced capers 1 teaspoon brunoise shallots 1 teaspoon minced parsley 1 teaspoon Texas extra virgin olive oil Black pepper To Assemble and Serve: 1 beautiful farm-fresh egg yolk

METHOD For the Plumped Dried Cherries: In a pot, bring simple syrup, a splash of red wine vinegar, and a few pinches of fall spices to a boil. Pour hot syrup over dried cherries. Let sit at room temperature until cherries become plump.

For the Crispy Shallots: In a bowl, coat shaved shallots in flour. In a pan over low flame, heat oil to 275°F. Fry shallots until they become nice and crispy. Using a slotted spoon, remove shallots from oil and let drain on a paper towel.

For the Maldon Juniper Salt: Using a spice grinder, pulverize juniper berries. Add salt to spice grinder and pulse a few more times. Set aside.

For the Texas Venison Tartare: In a mixing bowl, stir to combine venison, mustard, capers, shallots, parsley, olive oil, black pepper, 1 tablespoon Plumped Dried Cherries, and 1 teaspoon Maldon Juniper Salt. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

For the Smoked Aïoli: Using a smoker, cold smoke grapeseed oil about 30 minutes. In a Vitamix blender, add yolks, garlic, and mustard and blend until smooth. While blending, slowly add the smoked oil and emulsify. If needed, adjust thickness with 1 to 2 dashes of water. Stir in salt and lemon juice. Season to taste.

To Assemble and Serve: Spoon Texas Venison Tartare onto a chilled serving plate.

Garnish with egg yolk, Crispy Shallots, a few dots of Smoked Aïoli, and a sprinkle of Maldon Juniper Salt.

Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender

STARCHEFS 2022 MARKETS

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The StarChefs Rising Stars Awards celebrate up-andcoming industry professionals who represent the vanguard of the contemporary American dining scene.

To nominate a Rising Stars chef, pastry chef, bartender, sommelier, or artisan, email nominate@starchefsinc.com.

The E volution of K hao bb yy ee rr ii n n ll ee tt tt ee rr a a

Chef Donny Sirisavath is often asked why his food doesn’t stick to tradition. “I’m continuing the evolution of Lao food,” he answers. But although his Dallas restaurant, Khao Noodle Shop, is located in a city with one of the largest Lao communities in the country, Sirisavath has had a hard time reaching people who don’t know what Lao food is. “Some people lose the ability to create the story because they lose the roots of it. I’ve learned to be okay with doing things differently so I can get my culture noticed.”

For Sirisavath, the evolution of Lao food can be traced through Laotian papaya salad, Tham Mak Hoong. Back in Laos, his grandmother would use a push-and-pull technique to pound shredded green papaya, 10 to 15 bird’s eye chiles, fermented crab paste, sugar, regular fish sauce, and her own batch of padaek (unfiltered fish sauce) in a mortar and pestle, then top it with green veggies and pork rinds.

When Sirisavath’s mother moved to the United States before he was born, she had to adjust her recipe based on local availability. Not often having access to unripe papaya, she would use cucumber or vermicelli noodles with carrots instead. And her personal touch—swapping in fermented whole rice paddy crab and tamarind in place of lime.

Born and raised in Texas with summers spent in Laos, Sirisavath has soaked up the best of both cuisines. “Technique and ingredients are authentic to who you are,” he says, and both Texan and Lao flavors are authentic to who he is. Even though Lao ingredients are more available to him than they were to his mother, he still prefers to make use of local ingredients, replacing peanuts with Texas pecans for Khao Noodle Shop’s papaya salad (recipe on page 86). These types of contemporary additions do not go unnoticed. “The old aunties who come to eat at my shop always have something to say,” says Sirisavath. “I tell them all the time, the American palate is not used to Lao flavors, and while we enjoy the food we cook at home, we have to have a new way of doing things.”

This evolution of Lao food is also a consideration for Goldee’s Barbecue Co-owner Nupohn Inthanousay. When Inthanousay dipped his toes into the dry-rubbed world of Texas barbecue, he decided that in order to stand out, he would need to lean into his Laotian heritage. Smoked Lao sausage, with makrut lime, lemongrass, and jeow som has made its way onto the Goldee’s menu, seamlessly settling into their tray of classics (recipe on page 86).

With Goldee’s barbecue-diehard clientele so in tune with brisket, the Lao sausage serves as a subtle intro to Lao flavors, mimicking the style of his grandmother’s sausage, but adding more garlic and black pepper for a more approachable taste. “I used to be a traditionalist. I didn’t agree with changing the tradition of food, but my mindset has changed,” says Inthanousay.

“I think that Lao food needs to evolve. All things that are great need to evolve.”

CH E F

Jimmy Park SHOYO

JIMMY PARK’S FIRST JOB WAS dishwashing for a Chinese-Korean restaurant in Seattle—a job he took after dropping out of high school to provide for himself. After two months, he was handed a chef ’s jacket and his passion for cooking took off. Park bounced across the country for the next three years, and a combination of hard work, persistence, and a steady hand for knife-work landed him a role with his dream restaurant group, Nobu, cooking at Matsuhisa in Aspen. Two years later, Park transferred to Nobu San Diego where he built a relationship with Nobu’s corporate executive chef and now-mentor, Master Sushi Chef Shinichiro Kondo.

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After a stint at Kabuto Edomae Sushi in Las Vegas, Park moved to Dallas to reunite with the Nobu team. Park collaborated with two restaurateurs to open fast-casual poké bowl concept Pōk the Raw Bar in 2017, followed by laid-back temaki spot, Nori Handroll Bar. When Park learned that Kondo moved on from Nobu and was semi-retired, Park encouraged Kondo to move to Dallas, help open Park’s new concept, Shoyo, and carry on their legacy. Together they run the intimate, 12-seat, 17-course omakase restaurant—the only exclusively omakase restaurant in Dallas.

Park’s dishes demonstrate complex techniques and years of craftsmanship, accentuated by remarkably fresh fish and a playful approach to Texas cuisine.

chefjimmypark / shoyodallas Favorite kitchen tool: Knife Favorite cookbook: Nobu Now by Nobuyuki Matsuhisa Most important kitchen rule: Never be late.

What you eat on your nights out: Korean food Advice to your younger self: Never forget where you came from. Always strive, devote yourself, and become the best chef you can be.

Kanpachi sashimi yuzu honey mustard, sunflower seeds Chef Jimmy Park of Shoyo Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Yuzu Honey Mustard: ⅓ cup mustard 120 milliliters Texas honey ¼ cup yuzu juice To Assemble and Serve: 5 to 6 pieces kanpachi or hamachi 1 teaspoon grapeseed oil 1 teaspoon dry-roasted sunflower seeds Fresh Origins micro cilantro Fresh Origins edible flower Citrus juice

METHOD For the Yuzu Honey Mustard: In a bowl, whisk together mustard, honey, and yuzu juice.

To Assemble and Serve: In a mixing bowl, toss together kanpachi and grapeseed oil. Pour Honey Yuzu Mustard into the center of a serving bowl. Layer kanpachi on top and sprinkle with sunflower seeds. Garnish with micro cilantro and edible flower. Using a smoking gun filled with citrus juice, ignite the kanpachi so the fragrant citrus smoke fills the bowl.

PHOTOS: GEOFF HAUSCHILD

Featured ingredients: Fresh Origins micro cilantro and edible flower

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Misti Norris

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

CHEF

PETRA AND THE BEAST SUNDAYS AT MISTI NORRIS’S HOUSE were meant for chores.

But at the end of the day, her dad would switch on a blues record and cook a pot of rice and beans. When her Cajun maw maw came to visit her in Houston from Port Arthur, she’d make boudin bowls and dirty rice—and every time Norris took a bite, she was reminded how good food was capable of being. Since then, she has been determined to replicate those memories through cooking.

When Norris moved to Dallas as a teenager, she took on her first kitchen job at a Cedar Hill retirement home. Norris spent the next decade working at top restaurants around the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She spent five years under Rising Stars alum Chef Anthony Bombaci at Nana, followed by French restaurant Bijoux, then she strengthened her alreadyburgeoning fermentation skills as sous chef at FT33. In 2014, she ran her first kitchen at Small Brewpub, but left two years later to start planning a concept of her own.

Petra and the Beast opened in 2018 with a focus on whole animal butchery and local ingredients. Since its inception, Norris has mastered the skill of packing complicated, experimental techniques into unpretentious, approachable, and affordable dishes. Think hand-rolled cavatelli tossed in a Szechuan-stewed pecan ragú and charcuterie boards filled with slices of koji-inoculated bresaola and summer pepper sofrito scrapple. misti.j.norris / petra_and_the_beast Favorite kitchen tool: The dehydrator Favorite cookbook: Koji Alchemy by Rich Shih and Jeremy Umansky Most important kitchen rule: Keep your station clean.

Where you eat on your nights off: Cosmo’s and The Heights Advice to your younger self: Keep your head down and observe everything.

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INGREDIENTS Shishito Conserva: 300 grams shishito peppers 200 milliliters white vinegar 100 milliliters soy sauce 25 grams minced garlic 100 milliliters neutral oil Shallot XO: 500 milliliters grapeseed oil 25 grams minced garlic 25 grams minced shallot 2 grams chile flakes 2 grams fennel seeds 100 milliliters soy sauce 25 milliliters fish sauce 50 milliliters red wine vinegar Tongue Chips: 1 beef tongue 3 percent salt by weight of beef tongue 2 percent sugar by weight of beef tongue 0.25 percent Insta Cure #1 by weight of beef tongue 2 grams toasted fennel powder 1 gram fenugreek powder

Barley Chips: 200 grams barley 0.2 grams xanthan gum Oil for frying Salt Pickled Poblano: 6 poblanos, charred then cut into ½-inch slices ½ cup neutral oil 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 1 cup soy sauce 1 cup fish sauce Smoked Beef Tongue: 1 beef tongue 2 cloves garlic, minced Salt Sugar Curing salt Stock

Curried Poblano: 300 grams diced onion 40 grams diced garlic 500 grams poblanos ½ star anise 3 grams fenugreek seeds 11 grams cumin seeds 4 grams fennel seeds 8 grams caraway seeds 30 grams fig leaves 2 grams ground turmeric 3 grams coriander berries 1 gram cardamom Grapeseed oil 650 grams milk 230 grams cooked barley 200 grams butter 100 grams lemon juice 0.5 grams xanthan gum 50 grams fish sauce Salt To Assemble and Serve: Mint, torn

METHOD For the Shishito Conserva: Heat a cast iron skillet until smoking. Add shishitos and cook until charred, but not burned through. Remove from heat and let cool. In a vacuum bag, add shishitos and remaining ingredients. Seal. Let pickle at least 12 hours.

For the Shallot XO: In a pot, combine oil, garlic, shallot, chile, and fennel. Bring to a simmer. Continue simmering until garlic and shallots are golden in color, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Let cool at room temperature. The longer it sits, the better.

For the Tongue Chips: Heat an immersion circulator to 149°F. Cure beef tongue in all remaining ingredients for 24 hours. Place tongue in a vacuum bag, seal, and cook in the circulator for 16 hours.

About an hour before removing from circulator, let the tongue cool in the bag. Transfer tongue to a rack to dry at least 4 hours. Place it in a 225°F smoker and smoke 3 hours. Let cool then thinly slice. Heat oven to 350°F. Bake chips until crispy.

For the Barley Chips: In a large pot, cover barley in water. Bring to a boil and continue cooking until the seeds pop open. Transfer barley and water to a Vitamix blender and purée, adding enough water to create a vortex. Add xanthan and blend until smooth.

Spread a thin layer of the mixture out on a Silpat and let dry uncovered, overnight at room temperature. The following day, break dried barley into pieces. Heat oil to 350°F. Fry chips until crispy and golden brown. Season with salt.

For the Pickled Poblano: Place poblanos in a resealable plastic bag. In a sauté pan, heat oil. Add garlic and simmer until golden brown. Add fish sauce and soy. Remove from heat and let cool. Pour soy mixture over poblanos, roll out air, and seal. Let marinate at least 12 hours.

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For the Smoked Beef Tongue: Scale beef tongue and record weight. In a pot, submerge beef tongue in plenty of water. Bring water to a boil. Continue boiling until skin starts to bubble and peel off, about 1 hour.

Remove beef tongue from water and let cool. In a bowl, mix garlic with 3 percent salt, 2 percent sugar, and 0.5 percent curing salt, by weight of beef tongue. Rub mixture all over beef tongue. Vacuum pack or roll in a large sealable bag with as little air as possible. Let marinate 24 hours. Transfer beef tongue to a braising pan with enough stock to cover. Braise at 400°F until tender, about 3 hours. Place beef tongue on a rack to cool completely and form a pellicle. Prepare a smoker at 180°F. Smoke beef tongue for about 2 hours. Pull from smoker and let cool until needed.

For the Curried Poblano: In a 4-quart pot, combine onion, garlic, poblanos, and spices.

Add a small amount of grapeseed oil and let sweat until onions are translucent and the mixture is fragrant. Add milk and barley then bring to a simmer. On low heat, continue simmering 10 minutes. Transfer mixture to a Vitamix blender and blend until smooth. Season with remaining ingredients.

To Assemble and Serve: Spread Curried Poblano out onto the bottom of a serving bowl. Add Smoked Beef Tongue then top with Tongue Chips, Shishito Conserva, Pickled Poblano, 1 Barley Chip, and mint.

Drizzle with Shallot XO. Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender

Smoked beef tongue, curried poblano, shishito conserva, shallot XO Chef Misti Norris of Petra and the Beast Adapted by StarChefs

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GA ME C HANG ER

Junior Borges MERIDIAN

While in Houston for a Brazilian food event, a Facebook post of his meal at Uchi led to a job offer. Borges became opening executive chef of Uchi’s Dallas outpost, earning the restaurant a five-star review from The Dallas Morning News. He later took on executive chef roles at Matt McCallister’s FT33, followed by The Joule hotel, helping develop many of the group’s restaurant concepts, such as Mirador and CBD Provisions. In 2019, Borges became vice president of culinary at the upscale apartment complex, The Village, where he opened Meridian in 2021. With modern Brazilian dishes like blue prawn moqueca and tapioca cheese fritters, Borges succeeds in his vision to represent a culmination of his experience as a chef and his Bahian heritage.

chefjuniorborges / thevillagemeridian Favorite kitchen tool: Knife Favorite cookbook: The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller Most important kitchen rule: Work clean.

Places you’d visit for culinary inspiration: Brazil and Europe Advice to your younger self: Never take no for an answer. I had to overcome a lot of obstacles to be where I am. Sometimes I felt I had to wait longer than most for my opportunity but I never lost sight. Always look to be better and improve. Be available for your team and the hard work will pay off.

PHOTOS: GEOFF HAUSCHILD

GROWING UP AS A MEMBER of a large family in Rio de Janeiro, Junior Borges valued the culturally-rich food that his grandmother cooked. Borges was studying to be a teacher until 2001, when he and his family moved to New York City. Unable to speak English, he spent days studying cookbooks in the aisles of Barnes & Noble and watching cooking shows until he felt comfortable enough with kitchen terminology to knock on restaurant doors. After a stint at Sony Club, Borges was hired as a cook at retro American restaurant, Diner. He then cooked under James Beard Award-winning chef Missy Robbins at A Voce followed by Tom Colicchio at Colicchio & Sons. Borges enrolled in the International Culinary Center and soon after graduating, became executive chef at Mediterranean restaurant, Amali.

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Blue Prawn Moqueca Chef Junior Borges of Meridian Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Cilantro Oil: Yield: 400 grams 275 grams roughly chopped cilantro 420 grams grapeseed oil Farofa de Dende: Yield: 10 servings 80 grams dende oil 200 grams farinha 4 grams salt Moqueca Broth: Yield: 50 servings 250 grams red palm oil 150 grams shrimp shells 20 grams black peppercorns 15 grams coriander seeds 10 grams fennel seeds 4 grams bay leaves 15 grams thyme 40 grams sliced garlic

50 grams shrimp paste in bean oil 50 grams sliced red Fresno peppers 350 grams sliced white onion 100 grams sliced celery 100 grams sliced red bell peppers 200 grams plantains, grilled whole then sliced 10 liters fish fumet 1 liter coconut milk 10 grams mint 20 grams Thai basil 30 grams cilantro 4 grams xanthan gum Roasted Campari Tomatoes: Yield: 5 servings 454 grams Campari tomatoes, cored and halved 7 grams Maldon salt 4 grams fennel pollen 10 grams coriander seeds, toasted and coarsely cracked

To Assemble and Serve: Yield: 1 serving 4 head-on prawns, peeled and deveined 5 grams grapeseed oil Salt 10 grams dende oil 10 grams lime juice Fried garlic 15 grams cherry tomatoes, peeled 5 grams Arbequina olive oil 20 grams plantains, grilled and sliced in ¼-inch rounds 10 grams pearl onion cups, charred 2 grams cilantro 1 gram bronze fennel fronds 1 gram Thai basil buds

METHOD For the Cilantro Oil: To a Vitamix blender, add cilantro and oil.

Purée on high speed until oil reaches 160°F. Strain through a chinois and chill over an ice bath. Strain again through a coffee filter. Cover and reserve in refrigerator up to 5 days.

For the Farofa de Dende: In a pan over medium-high heat, warm dende oil. Add farinha and gently toast until oil is fully absorbed. Season with salt. Transfer to a sheet pan lined with parchment and cheesecloth. Let cool.

For the Moqueca Broth: In a stock pot over medium-high heat, warm 150 grams red palm oil. Add shrimp shells, peppercorns, coriander, fennel, bay leaves, thyme, and garlic. Cook until shells are toasted and garlic is golden. Add shrimp paste and red Fresno peppers and cook until fragrant,

1 to 2 minutes. Then add onion, celery, and bell pepper and cook until onions are soft and translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Add plantains and fumet and bring mixture to a simmer. Continue simmering for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add coconut milk, mint, Thai basil, and cilantro. Cover and let steep 15 minutes. Strain through a chinois, lightly pressing the solids enough to increase yield but not enough to push solids through. Add remaining palm oil and whisk to emulsify. In batches, transfer sauce to a Vitamix blender with xanthan gum and blend on high speed. Pass blended sauce through a chinois and cool to room temperature. Reserve.

For the Roasted Campari Tomatoes: Heat oven to 275°F. On a parchment-lined sheet tray, lay out tomatoes, cut-side up. Season tomatoes with salt, fennel pollen, and coriander.

Roast 1 hour. Let cool.

To Assemble and Serve: Brush prawns with grapeseed oil and season with salt. Over medium-high heat, grill prawns until heads are cooked through and blistered.

Dress prawns in dende oil, lime, and fried garlic.

Place prawns on the left side of a serving bowl.

In two separate bowls, dress cherry tomatoes and 20 grams Roasted Campari Tomatoes in olive oil. Next to the prawns, shingle plantains and Roasted Campari Tomatoes. Place pearl onions and cherry tomatoes on and around the plantains and Roasted Campari Tomatoes. Add a drop of Cilantro Oil to each pearl onion cup.

Garnish vegetables with cilantro, fennel fronds, and Thai basil buds. Pour 100 grams Moqueca Broth into serving plate tableside. Serve with Farofa de Dende.

Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender

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owning it

By Alice Laussade with Amelia Schwartz The hospitality industry in Dallas-Fort Worth is progressing, but for some, change cannot come fast enough. These individuals are stepping away from established restaurants, large-scale F&B groups that open outlets on every corner, and male-dominated hierarchical structures. And this movement—the urge to break from the industry mold—is led by women. “Quarantine showed us how much we loved the industry, but hated how it was run,” says Paloma Hinahon, co-owner of the pop-up, Bahay. “Why can’t we have our dream job? As women, be our own bosses and make our own schedule?” The next wave of DFW business owners are not going to hide in a restaurant where they are unable to have a voice. With the strong influence of heritage and heart, these six up-and-coming small businesses are determined to set the new standard for hospitality.

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In March of 2020, Denise Apigo, Paloma Hinahon, and Sarah Rañola connected while scrambling to serve the thousands of attendees at the first annual Dallas Filipino Food Festival.

“We immediately saw the hunger and need for [Filipinx] food,” says Apigo. When the coronavirus pandemic left them all furloughed, their two Filipinx pop-ups (Hello Lumpia and Bilao) joined forces to launch Bahay, meaning “home” in Tagalog. The “Titas of Dallas'' host monthly pop-ups across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where they serve quirky plays on traditional Filipinx cuisine. Think fried chicken and ube Belgian waffles with spicy banana ketchup. Recently they’ve expanded into serving communal, Kamayan-style feasts. They have very strong ideas about what they want Bahay to be, and maybe stronger ideas of what they don’t want it to be. “We don’t want to put pressure on each other. We want to stay true to ourselves. Remove the toxicity that is known to be in the restaurant industry.”

Denise Apigo, Paloma Hinahon, & Sarah Rañola of Bahay

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT, GEOFF HAUSCHILD

Minji & Jahee Son of Teasom Growing up, sisters Minji and Jahee Son drank herbal and barley tea in place of tap water or juice. So when Minji was living in Korea as a young adult, she decided to become a tea sommelier. “Because we didn’t grow up in Korea, she wanted to learn Korean culture through tea,” says Jahee. Minji moved to Dallas in 2018, recruited her hospitality-savvy sister, and opened Teasom in the West Village neighborhood one year later.

“We want to be the gateway into the tea world.” While their brick and mortar, featuring house-blended hot tea, iced teas, and frozen teas on tap, closed in 2021, their online business remains strong.

With flavors ranging from hibiscus punch with berries and a slight hint of licorice to their white-tea-based “Piña Colacha,” boxes of Teasom tea bags are sold on their website and at coffee shops and hotels around the city.

Ace Gonzalez of Maravilla Cacao While working 8-hour shifts at FT33 as a cook, Acenette “Ace” Gonzalez was anxious to fill her days with a gig on the side. She found a spot as a chocolate-maker at Kate Weiser Chocolate, and quickly fell in love with the art of bon bons.

Gonzalez went full-time at Kate Weiser before becoming the chocolatier for The Joule hotel.

By 2018, she went solo, hand-making Mexicaninspired bon bons and confections to be sold online under the name, Maravilla Cacao. “I always wanted to do Mexican-inspired chocolate,” says Gonzalez. “I love my culture.” She draws on seasonally-related memories to select flavors for her quarterly boxes—autumn means spiced candied pumpkin with a pepita crunch bottom. Armed with a $10,000 grant from PepsiCo Juntos Crecemos, Gonzalez is gearing up to open the chocolate shop of her dreams.

Diana Zamora of Nena Postreria Diana Zamora is the renaissance woman of the Dallas-Fort Worth pastry world. After cutting her teeth at José, Thunderbird Station, Encina, and the Second Floor at The Exchange Hall, she started her own pastry company from the ground up. Nena Postreria, named after Zamora’s mother, boasts gorgeous, flower-covered pastries available for wholesale, custom orders, and at popups at Cultivar Coffee and CocoAndré Chocolatier & Horchateria. Zamora leans into her Latin American heritage with many of her desserts, like “Fresas con Crema” strawberry cake and almond mazapán cookies. On top of Nena Postreria, Zamora is the head chef of Harvest Project Food Rescue and the founder of one of their pop-ups, Project La Familia.

Using 100 percent rescued produce, she prepares a plant-based, zero-waste menu with proceeds going directly to Harvest, which works to combat food insecurity and food waste in the city of Dallas.

Jinny Cho of Detour Doughnuts “Detour is quite literally a detour I took in my life,” says Jinny Cho, baker and owner of Detour Doughnuts. When her father was sick and she was pregnant, Cho returned home to open a doughnut shop in Frisco, Texas. Though her parents had several “run-of-the-mill” doughnut shops across DFW, Cho wanted her concept to be more radical. “[My parents] thought I was crazy to sell a doughnut over three dollars,” she says. “But with smartphones and social, I knew I could draw a crowd.”

She opened shop in 2018 at the age of 24, serving whimsical yeasted, gourmet doughnuts—always with at least one Koreaninspired flavor a month, such as injeolmi with soy bean powder, toasted almonds, and mochi. “What I hold onto from my parents is the work ethic and grit that it takes to show up every day,” says Cho. “We actually aren’t open every day anymore because I had to set a work/life balance for myself and my kid. I want people to know what it takes to run a business and I want to heal the owner-customer relationship.”

Olivia Lopez of Molino Olōyō After years cooking at some of Dallas’s top restaurants like Craft, Charlie Palmer, and CBD Provisions, Olivia Lopez returned to her hometown of Colima, Mexico to study corn. “I realized that the area I’m from has at least 20 different types of heirloom corn,” says Lopez. “I went and got to know the farmers—getting to know heirloom corn.” In 2021, Lopez and her boyfriend, Chef Jonathan Percival, locked down a commissary space and debuted Molino Olōyō. Her nixtamalized corn tortillas, tamales, and fresh-ground masa are sold direct to consumer, through Instagram, and to restaurants around the metroplex. Lopez and Percival also host multi-course, private dinners, using local ingredients to serve classic Mexican dishes such as mushroom tamales with white mole and bayo beans and pinole (dried corn) ice cream garnished with oxalis and lemon balm.

CO NC E PT

Emma Heim, Travis Heim HEIM BARBECUE emmacheim / travischeim / heimbarbecue Favorite cookbooks: We're kind of cookbook collectors. Neither one of us went to culinary school so we love learning about other cuisines and restaurants through cookbooks. Some of our favorites are anything by Francis Mallmann, Sean Brock, and Edna Lewis.

Favorite kitchen tool: For barbecue? A shovel. A shovel for hot coals and a sharp boning knife for butchery.

Place to visit for culinary inspiration: Mexico City has always been a dream. To try out real deal, authentic Mexican cuisine when we’ve grown up on Tex-Mex all our lives.

When Travis was laid off from his job in 2014, he and Emma pooled together their savings to lease out a food truck parked behind a run-down bar, buy a trailer and as much meat as they could afford, and launch Heim Barbecue. Local support for Heim skyrocketed in their first year, allowing them to open their first brick-andmortar location in 2016 in Fort Worth. Now the Heims run three locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, serving classic Texas-style barbecue with some creative riffs like a double smash burger smothered in bacon burnt end jam and crispy loaded potato skins. Although they are ever-growing, Emma and Travis’s dedication to quality service and community continues to echo their humble beginnings.

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

Advice to your younger selves: Don't be afraid to fail. Follow your dreams and what you're passionate about, but be prepared to work harder than you've ever worked in your life. Put everything you have into your food/restaurant and treat people with dignity and respect, and success will follow.

TRAVIS HEIM COOKED HIS FIRST brisket at age 12 using his granddad’s old offset Oklahoma Joe. Travis wasn’t happy with the result but his mom still believes that it was the best brisket he’s ever made. Travis met his future wife and business partner, Emma, in junior high, and as they grew up, they continued to barbecue using a smoker that Travis’s uncle welded by hand. While Travis cooked at a Mexican restaurant and Emma worked in the oil and gas industry, they daydreamed about opening their own barbecue spot. On Saturday nights, Travis and Emma threw barbecue parties for friends and family—appropriately named the T & E MEATclub. Their four-course menus (always starting with their signature bacon burnt ends) became so popular that they had to host MEATclub at a friend’s restaurant and eventually sell tickets.

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Crispy Loaded Potato Skins Restaurateurs Emma and Travis Heim of Heim Barbecue Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

Brisket: 1 Niman Ranch prime brisket, trimmed Yellow mustard Pickle juice Heim BBQ Brisket Rub Smoked beef tallow

For the Brisket: Slather brisket with mustard and pickle juice then rub thoroughly with Brisket Rub. Smoke brisket 6 to 8 hours. Wrap in smoked-beef-tallowsoaked butcher paper then continue to cook 4 to 6 more hours until internal temperature reaches 204°F. Let brisket rest at room temperature or in a warming cabinet until internal temperature drops to 145°F.

Green Chile Queso: Butter Onion, chopped Roasted green chiles, chopped American cheese Sharp cheddar Monterey Jack Heavy cream Sour cream Salt Black pepper To Assemble and Serve: Peeled potato skins, double-fried Monterey Jack Pico de gallo Green onion, sliced

For the Green Chile Queso: In a pot with butter, sauté onion and roasted chiles until soft. Add cheeses and heavy cream and stir often until melted and combined. Add sour cream and season with salt and black pepper.

To Assemble and Serve: In a serving bowl, smother fried potato skins in Green Chile Queso. Top with shredded Brisket, Monterey Jack, pico de gallo, and green onion.

Featured ingredient: Niman Ranch brisket

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Andrew Chen

PHOTOS: GEOFF HAUSCHILD

CO NC E PT

MONKEY KING NOODLE COMPANY BEING A TAIWANESE-AMERICAN BORN and raised in Dallas, Andrew Chen’s exposure to Chinese and Taiwanese food was limited to small enclaves in immigrant communities and family visits to Taipei. After graduating from college in 2008, Chen picked up a job at Ten Times Cellars. The holistic experience brought him from their West Texas vineyard to their tasting room in the Lakewood neighborhood of East Dallas.

In 2013, Chen and his friends flirted with the idea of opening a bar. But after crunching the numbers, they realized that they needed to scale back.

They still wanted their concept to accomplish two things—to fill a hole in the Dallas-Fort Worth market and to reflect something that was unique to them and their experiences. Chen tapped into his memories of Taiwan night markets and the answer was clear: They would open a Chinese street food concept. But first, Chen needed to learn how to hand-pull noodles. He connected with an expert, and for 90 days, he taught Chen the ins and outs of noodle-making. Chen opened Monkey King Noodle Company later that year: a 300-square-foot kiosk in Deep Ellum. At the time, his first location was one of a few spots to find Chinese food in a 20-mile radius. Now Chen’s business has expanded to three storefronts and two food hall kiosks. His beef noodle soup recipe, directly from his grandmother, brings a taste of Taiwan to North Texas.

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mknoodleco Favorite food resource: My grandmothers Most important kitchen rule: Understand and care about the food you're making. And clean as you go.

What you eat on your nights off: I'm a sucker for any restaurant where I can't read the menu. That includes mom and pop Chinese restaurants but Dallas also has an amazing number of restaurants started by immigrants and first gen cooks.

Advice to your younger self: Put in the time while you're young and ask questions. The service industry can be the greatest lesson in business and humanity if you stay curious about your craft.

Dan Dan Pork Noodles Restaurateur Andrew Chen of Monkey King Noodle Company Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Chinese Wheat Noodles: 20 grams lye water 2.5 kilograms all-purpose flour 2.5 kilograms high-gluten flour Spicy Pork Ragù: 1 cup canola oil 1 ½ cups minced garlic 1 ½ cups minced ginger 5 pounds Niman Ranch ground pork 1 ½ cups chile oil 1 ½ cups soy sauce 1 cup Shaoxing wine 2 cups chopped green onions ¼ cup sesame oil ½ cup hoisin sauce To Assemble and Serve: Chicken broth Cilantro, chopped Green onions, chopped

METHOD For the Chinese Wheat Noodles: In a large mixing bowl, combine lye water and 3.2 kilograms warm water. Add flours and mix. Knead dough thoroughly. Let rest 15 minutes. Run dough through a sheeter, fold, then sheet and fold at least 5 more times, binding the gluten molecules together and developing the QQ chew. Cut dough into long noodles. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Drop in noodles and cook 90 to 120 seconds. Immediately plunge the noodles into an ice bath. Strain and set aside.

For the Spicy Pork Ragù: In a wok over the highest heat possible, heat canola oil. Add garlic and ginger and toast to release aromatics. Remove and reserve garlic and ginger then add ground pork. When pork begins to brown, return garlic and ginger to pan and add chile oil. Continue to cook, tossing frequently to prevent burning. Deglaze with soy sauce in ¼-cup increments and continue to cook on high heat. Deglaze a second time with Shaoxing. Mix in green onions. Add sesame oil and toss. Add hoisin, toss again, and remove from heat.

To Assemble and Serve: Bring a pot of water to boil. Add Chinese Wheat Noodles and blanch 1 to 2 seconds to warm through.

Toss Chinese Wheat Noodles with 4 ounces Spicy Pork Ragù and a little chicken broth. Transfer to a serving plate. Top with more Spicy Pork Ragù. Garnish with cilantro and green onions.

Featured ingredient: Niman Ranch ground pork

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COMMUNITY

Andrea Shackelford HARVEST SEASONAL KITCHEN

ANDREA SHACKELFORD ALWAYS KNEW SHE wanted to be a chef. Born in Houston and raised in Dallas, she worked at bakeries, pastry shops, and little cafes through high school and college. After graduating from Southern Methodist University in 2007, she got hired to work at the salad station at Hotel ZaZa under Chefs Tim Bevins and Graham Dodds. When Bevins took a job at Craft Dallas later that year, Shackelford followed. Over her five years there, Shackelford fell in love with the atmosphere and hustle of a restaurant kitchen and worked her way up to AM cook. In 2012, Shackelford and Bevins connected with McKinney, Texas Restaurateur Rick Wells, sharing a mutual passion for sustainability and locally sourced ingredients. Wells offered Shackelford and Bevins head chef roles at each of his two restaurants: Bevins at the Rick’s Chophouse and Shackelford at Sauce on the Square, a cozy neighborhood Italian restaurant.

In 2014, Wells and Shackelford closed Sauce and decided to open a restaurant that better fit their ethos. They wanted a place where they knew precisely where the food was coming from, where they could buy locally, support the McKinney community, and have an approachable, unfussy menu. Since opening, Harvest Seasonal Kitchen continues to meet and go beyond that mission. Almost all of their ingredients are sourced from farms within a 150-mile radius—a good chunk of which comes from the restaurant’s Water Boy Farms, overseen by Shackelford, a master gardener herself. In 2015, Shackelford and Wells started The Seed Project Foundation to support local growers and promote sustainable farming through educational, agricultural, and community initiatives.

andra_chef / harvestmckinney Favorite kitchen tool: Spoon Tool you wish you had: Sheeter Most important kitchen rule: No position is above another position. We all work as a team to be successful.

Place you'd visit for culinary inspiration: Central Mexico Advice to your younger self: Be less timid and show your creative side more often. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

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Sugar snap peas, roasted red potato, crispy chickpeas, pecan pesto Chef Andrea Shackelford of Harvest Seasonal Kitchen Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

Pecan Pesto: Yield: 2 quarts 3 cups pecans 3 cups arugula 2 cups vegetable oil 3 tablespoons lemon juice 3 cups spinach 5 cloves garlic Salt Black pepper

For the Pecan Pesto: To a Vitamix blender, add all ingredients.

Blend until desired consistency is achieved, about 2 minutes.

Crispy Chickpeas: 1 cup cooked chickpeas Oil for frying Pickled Carrots: 1 cup white vinegar 1 cup white sugar 1 tablespoon turmeric 3 cups coin-sized sliced baby carrots 5 cloves garlic Salt Black pepper To Assemble and Serve: 1 ½ cups sugar snap peas, blanched 1 ½ cups roasted red potatoes Fresh Origins micro parsley curled Mixed microgreens Sumac powder Edible flower petals

For the Crispy Chickpeas: Heat a deep fryer to 275°F. Fry chickpeas until crispy, about 2 minutes.

For the Pickled Carrots: To a pot, add all ingredients and 1 cup water. Bring to a simmer then continue simmering for 10 minutes until carrots are tender. Transfer to a nonreactive container and chill. Serve cold.

To Assemble and Serve: In a sauté pan, mix the sugar snap peas and roasted red potatoes with 1 cup Pecan Pesto until all ingredients are warmed through.

Add about 2 tablespoons water to emulsify the sauce. Transfer snap peas and potatoes to a serving plate. Garnish with all microgreens, sumac powder, Crispy Chickpeas, Pickled Carrots, and flower petals.

Featured ingredient: Fresh Origins micro parsley curled Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender

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CULTIVATING CULTIVATING THE METROPLEX THE METROPLEX

By Eric Barton ILLUSTRATED BY BASHEL LUBARSKY

With plentiful land, Dallas-Fort Worth chefs and restaurant owners sow their own gardens.

Andrea Shackelford was the chef of a neighborhood Italian restaurant when she and the owner decided to open a new place—a place where she’d cook using produce they’d grow themselves. The one catch: Shackelford had to learn how to pull it off.

Having just a backyard vegetable garden on her farming résumé, she enrolled in a 12-week master gardener program.

In 2015, she and Restaurateur Rick Wells sowed a halfacre farm in Lucas to supply her new restaurant, Harvest Seasonal Kitchen in McKinney. Now at the height of the summer, about ten percent of the restaurant’s produce grows on the farm.

Even after spending six years working the soil, Shackelford says most everyone who works for her knows more about farming. “I’m definitely the least farmy person who works here,” she says with a laugh.

There’s a reason her staff knows so much about working the soil. A remarkable amount of Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants have farms of their own. But that’s not as easy of a lift in most metropolitan cities, where suburbs have gobbled up farmable land. In DFW, open tracts on the outskirts of the metro allow restaurants to set up beds of produce that will become that night’s special.

It’s not that farming will necessarily save a restaurant money, considering it’s often cheaper to simply buy produce from suppliers. It’s about buying into an ideal and the benefits they get from telling that story to customers. This past year, Shackelford says the farm has cost the restaurant $53,916.

Her harvest will return $12,156 in savings, with about half of that from the flowers she grows to adorn tables. Taking $27,000 of labor into account, the cost of the farm after savings amounts to $68,760. But for Shackelford, the added value of serving ingredients directly from Harvest’s farm is worth the cost.

hatchery and a classroom where kids learn about farming on what’s now 60 acres. In October, they converted their former dim sum restaurant in Plano into Farm Fresh Cafe, an American diner with some Asian touches, like pork bao buns. Their goal is to only serve products they grow or raise themselves—much of the produce and all of the eggs, sausage, bacon, and beef come from their farm. While many farm-to-table restaurants are on the pricier side, the Lengs keep everything on their menu under $20. “We want our people to eat healthy and live well,” she says. “We also want our people to eat well at an affordable price.”

Many say this trend began thanks to Homewood ChefOwner Matt McCallister, who learned to garden from his mother—her backyard garden full of asparagus, peaches, plums, citrus, and olives that they’d cure themselves. He’s had gardens attached to his Dallas restaurants since 2012, when he first opened FT33. Over the years, McCallister taught line cooks how to grow plants and produce, and when they graduated to their own restaurants, they put in planter beds of their own.

Chefs Olivia Lopez and Jonathan Percival, owners of Molino Olōyō, now have their own farm, something Lopez never would have considered prior to her experience working at CBD Provisions. “I was just a line cook and they would ask who wants to volunteer and go to a farm, and I would always raise my hand,” she says. In April 2021, Lopez and Percival began growing produce and keeping chickens on a half acre of land near the University of North Texas at Dallas. They now distribute heirloom corn tortillas to local restaurants and direct to consumers. “This isn’t just farm to table,” Percival says. “It’s homestead to table." In Mexico, Lopez says, the idea of selling food right next to where it was farmed is as old as the hills. But chef-run farms in a major U.S. city, that’s certainly novel.

Farms run by restaurants can now be found in the corners of the metro. Ellen and David Leng have a farm in Leonard, Texas where they raise chickens, ducks, goats, pigs, and sheep. Repurposed school buses serve as a chicken

"When I tried the 68% Fruity Dark Chocolate from TCHO, it started singing to me in a sense that I wanted to pair it with something that had a lovely citrus flavor, yet not as sour as a lemon."

StarChefs Rising Stars Award Winner, 2015 TCHO Pro Erin Kanagy-Loux, Pastry Chef

THE DELICIOUS IS IN THE DETAILS. TCHO IS GIVING AWAY 30 CHOCOLATE TASTING KITS!

Enter at TCHO.com/samples

PAST RY CHEF

Maricsa Trejo

LA CASITA BAKESHOP

TEXAS NATIVE MARICSA TREJO KNEW she was going to work in the food industry from an early age. Fresh out of high school, she studied culinary arts at Dallas College El Centro Campus, but learned more by observing the kitchen at her Omni Dallas Hotel job. In 2013, she took a garde manger position at Oak where Pastry Chef Lucía Merino took Trejo under her wing. When an email exchange with Pastry Chef Stephen Collucci landed her a stage at Colicchio & Sons, Trejo bought a car, packed up her things, and moved to New York City.

Over her year in the Big Apple, Collucci taught Trejo to learn from her mistakes—to not dwell over flour, water, and sugar.

She spent the next year travelling around the world, baking at Grand Central Bakery in Portland, Oregon, reconnecting with Merino to open Lucía Pâtisserie in Puerto Rico, and staging in Thailand. When she returned to Dallas in 2016, she took over Small Brewpub's pastry program where her now husband and business partner, Alex Henderson, worked as executive chef. She traded fresh bread for kitchen space, and launched La Casita Bakeshop (a "Spanglish" name that pays homage to Trejo’s Mexican-American heritage) out of the back of the restaurant. In 2020, Trejo and Henderson moved their pastry shop to a brick and mortar location in Richardson, Texas and by 2022, La Casita Bakeshop will expand down the block to a second, larger location, continuing to sell Trejo’s Mexican-inflected pastries and bread. mixi10 / lacasitabakeshop

PHOTOS: GEOFF HAUSCHILD

Favorite kitchen tool: A little white KitchenAid mixer that my partner, Alex, got for me for our first Christmas together Tool you wish you had: I wish we had a croissant shaping machine. I recently found out that I have carpal tunnel in my wrists and this would make it so much easier to produce the amount of croissants that we do day in and day out.

Most important kitchen rule: Be respectful of each other.

What you eat on your nights off: Dumplings from Mr. Dumpling in Carrollton Advice to your younger self: Be humble and know that every job you take you will learn something from.

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Smoked chocolate tart, honey caramel, honeycomb Pastry Chef Maricsa Trejo of La Casita Bakeshop Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

Honey Caramel: 170 grams honey 190 grams brown sugar 230 grams heavy cream 56 grams butter 2 grams salt

For the Honey Caramel: In a pot over medium heat, cook honey and sugar until dark brown. Carefully whisk in heavy cream then add butter and salt. Cook another 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Remove from heat and let cool.

Chocolate Tarts: 562 grams butter 375 grams sugar 4 eggs 7.5 grams salt 7.5 grams baking powder 1 kilogram all-purpose flour 112 grams TCHO Pro natural cocoa powder Smoked Chocolate Ganache: 255 grams TCHO Pro 60.5% dark chocolate 180 grams heavy cream Honeycomb Candy: 340 grams sugar 160 grams honey ¼ teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon baking soda To Assemble and Serve: TCHO Pro 60.5% dark chocolate, melted Maldon salt

For the Chocolate Tarts: In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add eggs, and mix until just combined. While continuing to mix, slowly add all dry ingredients. Once dough forms, wrap in plastic and allow to rest 1 hour or overnight. Heat oven to 350°F. Press dough into tart molds, fill with pie weights, and bake 20 minutes. Remove pie weights and bake for another 5 minutes.

For the Smoked Chocolate Ganache: Using a smoker, smoke chocolate for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a separate pot, simmer cream. Pour warm cream over smoked chocolate, whisking to combine.

When ready to use, make sure ganache is soft and almost pourable.

For the Honeycomb Candy: In an extra large saucepan, add sugar, honey, salt, and 115 milliliters water. Gently stir to combine. Heat over medium-high flame until sugar is dissolved. Using a pastry brush dipped in cold water, brush sides of the pan to dissolve any residual sugar crystals. Do not stir. Continue cooking the mixture until it evenly reaches 300°F. Immediately remove from heat and whisk in baking soda, making sure to reach all corners of the pot. Once the syrup expands into a foam-like consistency, scrape it into a parchment-lined, 9-inch square pan. Allow the honeycomb mixture to harden for a few hours.

To Assemble and Serve: Pipe room temperature Honey Caramel into Chocolate Tarts. Place Chocolate Tarts in freezer to set Honey Caramel. Meanwhile, break Honeycomb Candy into small pieces. Dip them into semi-sweet chocolate then place on a parchment-lined sheet tray. Once Honey Caramel is set, carefully place a scoop of Smoked Chocolate Ganache into each Chocolate Tart,. Using a small spatula, evenly spread Smoked Chocolate Ganache until smooth. Return Chocolate Tarts to freezer and chill until Smoked Chocolate Ganache is set. Top each Chocolate Tart with chocolate-coated Honeycomb Candy and sprinkle with Maldon salt.

Featured ingredients: TCHO Pro 60.5% dark chocolate and natural cocoa powder

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Cantaloupe Concerto

by Amelia Schwartz Cantaloupe Sorbet The humble cantaloupe—a fruit that is hidden in plain sight.

It’s always available, always affordable, but rarely the center of attention. It’s sweet, sometimes boringly sweet, but with a squeeze of acid, a drizzle of fat, a sprinkle of herbs, and maybe even a little spice, cantaloupe can exude main character energy. Exhibit A: The cantaloupe sorbet at Homewood (recipe on page 86). When Texas melons came into season, Pastry Chef Maggie Huff constructed a refreshing, parfaitlike dessert that highlights the cantaloupe’s versatility.

“Cantaloupe has a naturally velvety texture to begin with, so it’s beautifully showcased in a sorbet,” says Huff. She blends the melon into a purée, stirs it with simple syrup, and seasons it with lemon and salt. It’s made into a creamy, scoopable, bright orange sorbet.

Shiso Labneh Surrounding and sitting beneath the sorbet is a dramatic swoosh of tangy labneh infused with shiso. “Shiso has a bright freshness and we had mountains of it growing in our garden at the restaurant,” Huff says. The labneh, made from Homewood’s house-made yogurt, brings on a slight acidic contrast to the cantaloupe’s signature sweetness.

Basil Granita Right next to the shiso plant grows long stems of basil. Huff purées the leaves with simple syrup and shiso syrup (what grows together goes together!), lemon, and salt. The herbaceous mixture is frozen on a sheet pan then scraped into a crumble and spooned over the sorbet. “[The granita] adds texture and some more interesting complexity to the dish.”

Sourdough Breadcrumbs Huff sprinkles the dessert with a borderline-savory sourdough breadcrumb, bursting with black pepper. “A little black pepper elevates everything, in my opinion,” Huff says. Tossed with salt and a fruity, Texas-made Arbequina olive oil, the toasted breadcrumbs offer a second layer of crunch.

Olive Oil

“Fat is a good thing for desserts,” says Huff. “A lot of my desserts have finishing salts and olive oil added.” In this case, she gives the sorbet an additional drizzle of the Arbequina olive oil.

Honeydew

For a refreshing contrast in texture, Huff places diced honeydew around the sorbet. “It’s a play on textures because I think melon can be one-note,” she says. But all dressed up, Huff ’s cantaloupe sorbet is the whole goddamn orchestra.

Joe Zavala

PHOTOS: GEOFF HAUSCHILD

PI T MASTER

ZAVALA'S BARBECUE JOE ZAVALA COOKED AS A side hobby from his job as an IT consultant. His father and father-in-law were the pitmasters of the family, so every family gathering, Zavala was banned from touching the smoker. But in 2015, he did it anyway. He stole a smoker from his father-in-law and decided to make his first-ever brisket. It was then that his barbecue obsession began. After a year of smoking meat for friends and family, he officially launched Zavala’s Barbecue through social media. His business was growing slow and steady: no orders the first week but more and more orders every week after, until lines of people waited outside.

jamz56 / zavalasbarbecue Favorite kitchen tool: 1000-gallon smoker Favorite food resource: Google Most important kitchen rule: Cook with love. It shows.

Places you'd visit for culinary inspiration: New York and Chicago Advice to your younger self: Don’t burn yourself out.

In 2018, Zavala and his wife, Christian, (along with the help of some friends,) began selling barbecue out of a small alleyway next to the local coffee shop, The Brass Bean. After several months, Joe and Christian took out a loan and decided to buy a brick and mortar of their own. To keep up with his full-time IT job, they opened only on Saturdays, but due to the increased demand, eventually added in more days, including Thursday fajita nights. Joe was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2019 and through chemotherapy and treatments, he continued to run his business from the sideline. Since June of 2020, Joe has been in remission and continues to capture the hearts of locals with his South-Texas-influenced barbecue. Zavala’s Barbecue acts as a love letter to his hometown, Grand Prairie, and the community that has invested in him since day one.

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INGREDIENTS Fajita Seasoning: 3 tablespoons kosher salt 3 tablespoons paprika 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper ½ tablespoon black pepper 1 tablespoon onion powder 1 tablespoon garlic powder Pico de Gallo: 8 Roma tomatoes, seeds removed, diced 1 large white onion, diced 3 jalapeños, seeds removed, diced 1 bunch cilantro, chopped Lime Salt Black pepper

To Assemble and Serve: 2 pounds skirt steak 1 green bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch slices 1 red bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch slices 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch slices 1 orange bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch slices 1 large onion, cut into ¼-inch slices 4 tablespoons butter Salt Black pepper 12 flour tortillas from your favorite taqueria 2 limes, cut into wedges Hot sauce

METHOD For the Fajita Seasoning: In a small bowl, combine all ingredients.

For the Pico de Gallo: In a bowl, combine tomatoes, onion, and jalapeños. Add cilantro, a squeeze of lime, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix and set aside.

Steak Fajitas Pitmaster Joe Zavala of Zavala’s Barbecue Adapted by StarChefs

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PHOTO: BRADLEY DANNER

To Assemble and Serve: Heat grill using mesquite wood. Liberally season skirt steak with Fajita Seasoning. To a foil pouch, add bell peppers and onion, top with butter, and season with salt and pepper. Grill steak, flipping every 2 minutes until internal temperature reaches 135°F. Add the pouch of bell peppers and onions to the grill and cook until tender. Remove steak from grill and let rest 10 minutes. Meanwhile, warm tortillas on the grill. Serve steak on a platter beside warmed tortillas, grilled vegetables, Pico de Gallo, lime, and your favorite hot sauce.

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Finest Tasting Meat in the World

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PHOTOS: GEOFF HAUSCHILD

B UTCHER

Nathan Abeyta DEEP CUTS DALLAS

BORN IN CALIFORNIA AND RAISED in North Texas, Nathan Abeyta and his father would spend their fall hunting deer, hogs, and birds and bringing them home to process and eat. In 2010, when he decided to drop his masters program at Texas A&M University-Commerce, Abeyta chose to pursue a trade he was already familiar with. He walked into Hirsch’s Meat Market in Plano, and asked the owner, Gary Hirsch, for an apprenticeship. For the next several years, Hirsch taught Abeyta the tricks of the trade, working his way from sausage-making to fabrication on the butcher block.

He moved on to a position behind the meat counter at Whole Foods, where he met his future wife and business partner Deena. Nathan and Deena would have dinner at the best restaurants in and around Dallas, especially anywhere that served local and responsibly-sourced meat. They quickly noticed a giant gap in the market— why couldn’t they find the same quality product in any nearby grocery stores? This realization catalyzed the birth of Deep Cuts Dallas. Nathan travelled across the United States and Europe to discover what makes for a true neighborhood butcher shop that’s more than just a commodity. Two years later, he and Deena opened the doors of their brick and mortar. Since then, Deep Cuts has become a hub for sustainably-sourced beef, pork, and game as well as house-cured charcuterie, and flavor-packed sausages. With a now expanded space, Abeyta continues to make high-quality meat available to families across the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

carnicero_nate / deepcutsdallas Favorite kitchen tool: Probe thermometer for nailing those perfect temps on my steaks Favorite cookbooks: Charcuterie and Salumi by Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman Most important kitchen rule: Cleanliness is close to godliness!

What you drink on your nights off: Fuzzy’s Taco Shop’s cheap margaritas have a special place in my heart.

Advice to your younger self: Times will get stressful beyond what you can imagine. Hang in there and remember why you got started!

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Broccolini Cheddar Pork Sausage Butcher Nathan Abeyta of Deep Cuts Dallas Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

Sausages: 5 pounds boneless Niman Ranch pork shoulder, chilled and cut into cubes 1.25 ounces salt 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon onion powder 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 cup dried milk powder 2 cups roughly chopped broccolini 2 cups high melt cheddar Pork sausage casings

For the Sausages: Using the coarse grind plate, send pork shoulder through a meat grinder, 1 cube at a time. Add salt, pepper, onion, garlic, nutmeg, dried milk, and 1 cup water to the ground pork, mixing thoroughly to ensure an even distribution of spices and a sufficient bond. Add broccolini and cheddar and mix to combine. Case sausages into pork casings.

To Assemble and Serve: Hotdog buns Sauerkraut

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To Assemble and Serve: Bake, grill, or fry sausage until cooked through and lightly charred. Serve in a hotdog bun with sauerkraut.

Featured ingredient: Niman Ranch pork shoulder

"For as heavy of a presence that meat has in Texas, there are so few butcher shops.

Historically, meat was grown and raised here in Texas and then shipped up north from the Chisholm Trail to Chicago where it was processed in the Meatpacking District and then shipped to the coasts. There are historic butcher shops here but they're just so spread out. ...That was our barrier to entry."

~Nathan Abeyta

INTERVIEW BY MAI PHAM

THE SECOND ACT OF AFIFA NAYEB

After 20 years working in real estate and retail, Afifa Nayeb told her daughter, Sabrina, that she was going to enroll in Le Cordon Bleu. When Sabrina asked why, Afifa frankly told her that it had always been her dream. One degree in French culinary arts, and three fast casual concepts later, Afifa opened Âme, an upscale French-Indian restaurant in the Bishop Arts District of Dallas. Food and Travel Writer Mai Pham chats with Afifa about changing careers, collaborating with her daughter, and pursuing dreams to their fullest extent.

You are Afghan, but your new restaurant is French-Indian. Can you give us a little bit of background on how you came to be where you are today?

In 1985, when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, our family immigrated to India.

I fell in love with Indian food and Indian culture during our time there. In 1987, we were able to move to Dallas. Of course I went to school, and then after, I started my career at the Nayeb Group [my family business].

My background was real estate and retail for 20 years. We were an investment company. I was a single mom. I raised my daughter all by myself. When she went to college, I pursued my dream, and went to culinary school at the age of 40.

Âme is your newest restaurant, but you have several others, correct?

Yes. In 2015, I opened my first restaurant, Laili. After Laili, I opened 8 Cloves and it really took off well. Everyone loved my food, a marriage of Afghan and Indian food. From there, I opened Juice Babe, a juice bar, with my daughter, Sabrina. So that went really well, and we were working on the second Juicebabe. Then this opportunity came, which was a good location, so I said, “Okay, this is a good time to launch my fine-dining concept.” I signed the lease last year, and Sabrina helped me a lot with this project— she did all the design and decor and construction and the branding, so I focused a lot on the kitchen menu, and here I am.

And thankfully we are packed all week long, reservation only.

How challenging was it switch careers at age 40?

Actually, I was looking forward to that day. Because I’m a planner. I always plan the next five years ahead of time. For me, when my daughter was a freshman in high school, I was counting the days. “When she goes to college, I’m going to culinary school,” I told myself. And as far as shifting gears, I was always comfortable with culinary. Cooking has been my passion all my life. With being an immigrant from a family of six, each one of us had to grab a department and contribute. At age 12, I would go in the kitchen and make a meal for them. And that’s where I found my comfort, my creative side. So It wasn’t a chore, it was a joy. With all of that, it was an easy transition.

When you told your family that you wanted to pursue this path, did you have any push back?

Âme is located in a prime location. Did you go after it, or did they come to you?

Bishop Arts District is a very iconic, historic destination square. It is a top location with an L-shaped corner.

The previous owner, Hattie’s, had been there for two decades. There were 11 applicants for this location.

Somehow, they trusted my concept after a food tasting. It was during Covid—I had to invite them to my residence, let them see the business plan and concept.

I guess one thing that topped the other applicants was that I told them, “This will not be a neighborhood restaurant. This will not be your typical steak or burger or taco place. It’s going to be a chef-driven FrenchIndian place, and it’s going to be a destination restaurant.” And that’s what it’s become. We track our customers, and many drive 30 to 40 miles for a seat at our table.

I wouldn’t say push back. For them, it was, “You worked so hard, you should enjoy your life from now on.”

That was the only push back [I received] from them, because the restaurant industry takes all your life away.

I work seven days a week, I don’t even know how many hours I work anymore. And I wanted my restaurant to be a true chef-driven restaurant. So with that, they know my personality. For them, it was the worry that, “You are going to lose your life.” On the other hand, I said, “This is not about money. This is my dream. This is something I was looking forward to. My daughter is grown up, so now I have to pursue my dream.”

‘Cause I always say to women —I have participated in a lot of this, and I believe in all women empowerment.

Don’t ever end up in a rocking chair by a window, and say, “I wish I could have done it, I wish…” Always go do it. If you like it, you like it. If you don’t like it, you can always stop.

Let’s talk about Âme . It’s interesting that you’re doing French-Indian as opposed to French-Afghan.

Can you speak to that?

I had to do Indian. I had a little training with 8 Cloves and I brought Afghan twists to that. This had to be a fresh new concept. That’s why I did a marriage of French and Indian. Also, the spices, curries, and sauces of Indian food and the French mother sauces go very well together.

Indian flavors and French techniques collide for Afifa Nayeb's tandoori fish curry with green pea, lemongrass, and leek purée.

BAK E RS

Jessica Brammer, Seth Brammer

LENORE'S BAGELS JESSICA AND SETH BRAMMER MET in 2015 working night shifts at the

Westin Galleria Dallas. While Jessica ran the front desk and Seth managed the hotel restaurant, they bonded over their love of food and dreams of owning their own businesses. They both had a go-getter spirit from day one.

Seth started cooking and binging episodes of Iron Chef Japan by age 7—he knew he needed to become a chef. In 2005, he left his Dallas home for Rhode Island’s Johnson and Wales University, where he studied nutrition.

He spent the next several years moving around the nation to cook: Nick’s on Broadway in Providence, a wine bar in Denver, then Apple’s culinary program in Austin. He returned to Dallas and shifted to bartending. For the following ten years, Seth worked front of house jobs which eventually grew into his consulting business, Brammer Hospitality.

Jessica, on the other hand, spent a decade in the hotel industry after graduating from Arizona State. She worked her way up from the front desk at the Sheraton Grand Phoenix to director of the front office at PM Hotel Group. When the hospitality industry took a hit in 2020, the Brammers both lost their jobs. Stuck at home, Jessica developed some major bagel cravings.

Unable to find any local bagels that satisfied her, Jessica and Seth became determined to perfect their own recipe. Their (not-so) secret ingredient: Using 100% Austin-based Barton Springs Yecora Rojo flour. Later that year, they launched Lenore’s Bagels, named after Jessica’s grandmother. Jessica and Seth moved their operation to a commissary kitchen where they hand roll, boil, and bake their bagels fresh, five days a week. Their bagel bundles, sandwiches, and boards—featuring locally sourced produce and housecured fish—are sold online and at pop-ups around the city.

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yesterdaysbagels / sethbrammer / lenoresbagels Jessica Favorite kitchen tool: The 60-quart mixer!

Tool you wish you had: A tool that would seed the bagels automatically on both sides Favorite cookbook: The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

It got me started in bread baking.

Most important kitchen rule: Have fun.

Advice to your younger self: Find something you are passionate about and do it! Don’t be afraid to start!

Seth Tool you wish you had: We are really interested in innovating around the area of boiling bagels. Large vats of boiling water are so inefficient.

Most important kitchen rule: It’s not about you.

Where you eat on your nights off: Tex-Mex from Mia’s, Thai from Ka-Tip, and pizza from Zoli’s Place you'd visit for culinary inspiration: Italy Advice to your younger self: Become a professional as soon as you can and never look back. You decide how successful you are.

INGREDIENTS Everything Aïoli: 1 cup mayonnaise 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard 1 tablespoon Maldon sea salt 1 tablespoon poppy seeds 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds 2 tablespoons dried onion 2 tablespoons dried garlic To Assemble and Serve: Yield: 1 sandwich 1 Lenore’s everything bagel, sliced Butter or olive oil 2 eggs Salt Black pepper ¼ cup thinly sliced scallion Red onion, thinly shaved Tomato, thinly sliced Arugula 1 tablespoon capers, marinated in olive oil

METHOD For the Everything Aïoli: Using a Vitamix blender, purée all ingredients until mostly smooth.

To Assemble and Serve: On a hot griddle, toast everything bagel with butter or olive oil. Crack eggs onto the griddle, break the yolks, and season with salt, pepper, and scallions. After 2 minutes, flip eggs to finish cooking egg whites. Fold 1 egg over the other, showing scallions on both sides. Spread 2 tablespoons Everything Aïoli on both sides of the toasted bagel. Layer with eggs, red onion, tomato, arugula, and marinated capers. Close sandwich and slice to serve.

Everything Bagel Egg Sandwich

Bakers Jessica and Seth Brammer of Lenore’s Bagels Adapted by StarChefs

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PHOTOS: CAI CHEN

Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

BAKER

Matthew Ramirez LUCIA

blazinfrijolero / lucia_dallas Favorite kitchen tool: These hands Tool you wish you had: Sometimes I want a portioning machine.

Most important kitchen rule: Communication What you eat on your nights off: We usually make food at home or order from some local ma and pa shop.

Advice to your younger self: Have a sense of urgency.

WHEN MATTHEW RAMIREZ MOVED TO Dallas from El Paso in 2012, he had no plans to cook professionally. But his wife was earning her PhD in biology and he needed a new job, so he started taking cooking classes at The Art Institute of Dallas while picking up gigs to cater charity events around the city. It was at one of these fundraisers that he met Chef Tom Fleming of Crossroads Diner and asked for a job right there on the spot. In 2014, he traded the culinary school kitchens for hands-on learning under Fleming's tutelage as a prep cook, before working his way up to an egg cook.

When Ramirez had time off, he’d stage at Lucia, Chef David Uygur’s rustic Italian restaurant.

By 2016, Ramirez was hired as a line cook. He gradually took on more and more baking tasks, eventually morphing into the restaurant's designated “bread guy”. He was fascinated by the whole process—making something so beautiful out of just two ingredients. Now as Lucia’s head baker, he churns out pillowy-soft sourdough on the daily, as well as focaccia and breadsticks to go with the restaurant’s signature salumi boards, and shareable, tearable babkas to end the meal on a sweet note.

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Pistachio Babka Baker Matthew Ramirez of Lucia Adapted by StarChefs Yield: 8 babkas

INGREDIENTS Burnt Cinnamon Anglaise: 1 quart cream 1 to 2 sticks cinnamon, torched until charred ¼ teaspoon vnlla Extract Co. pure vanilla extract 1 cup sugar 3 grams salt 14 egg yolks Pre-ferment: 294 grams milk, warmed 5.5 grams yeast 123 grams sourdough discard 73.5 grams bread flour Dough: 416 grams bread flour 74 grams French butter 28 grams salt 53 grams sugar To Assemble and Serve: 4 to 6 ounces pistachio butter, depending on thickness 8 ounces pistachios, coarsely ground Simple syrup

METHOD For the Burnt Cinnamon Anglaise: In a pot over medium heat, bring cream, cinnamon, vanilla, sugar, and salt to a simmer. Remove pot from heat and temper in eggs. Return to heat and cook until the mixture reaches 180°F. Strain through a chinois into a bowl then place over an ice bath to chill. Keep refrigerated.

For the Pre-ferment: In a bowl, add all ingredients. Let sit and bloom until doubled in size, 15 to 20 minutes.

For the Dough: Dump Pre-ferment and bread flour into a stand mixer fitted with a hook attachment. Mix on low speed until fully combined, 5 minutes. Add butter, salt, and sugar and mix on medium speed, 10 minutes. Split dough into 2 portions, cover, and let double in size.

To Assemble and Serve: Roll each Dough portion out to 18 by 24 inches. Spread pistachio butter on the surfaces of each portion from edge to edge then sprinkle with pistachios. Roll up tight then cut into 4 equal logs. Split each log lengthwise. With the layers facing up, make an X and twist ends. Bring end to end to make a circle then place one end under the other. Place into baking vessels and let proof 25 percent. Heat oven to 185 to 190°F. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Brush babkas with simple syrup. Let cool. Serve with Burnt Cinnamon Anglaise.

Featured ingredients: vnlla Extract Co. pure vanilla extract, Butter of Europe

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SOM M ELIER

Lauren Loiselle HOMEWOOD

WHEN LAUREN LOISELLE BEGAN WORKING in Dallas, her prior restaurant experience centered around food service. Her first job was at Babe’s Chicken Dinner House, where she served fried chicken and occasionally danced the Hokey Pokey. But with her new home base came a new passion for the beverage industry. In 2012, Loiselle took on a job behind the bar at Meddlesome Moth where she got to explore Dallas’s burgeoning craft beer scene.

Loiselle decided to move to San Francisco in 2015 to further advance her career in the hospitality industry. She continued to bartend at BVHospitality's indie music venue and supper club, Cafe du Nord, followed by Belgian pub, The Monk’s Kettle. Loiselle then joined Che Fico as a bartender where she worked under Wine Director Francesca Maniace. Their cellar of thoughtfully curated Italian wine pushed Loiselle to learn about wine herself. She returned to Dallas in 2019 and started serving at Homewood, a New American restaurant from Chef Matt McCallister. Within the year, she was promoted to the restaurant’s sommelier, wine buyer, and general manager. Whether it be with a punchy Austrian off-dry riesling or minimal-intervention Australian pet-nat, Loiselle takes pride in sharing her non-traditional wine knowledge with her talented floor team and adventurous clientele.

laurenloiselle / homewooddallas Favorite wine region: Hard to say, but I would narrow it down to Northern Italy—honestly anywhere where nebbiolo is grown.

Favorite wine resource: Whoever I’m tasting with! I love collaborative learning.

Most important pairing rule: Matching intensity and complexity. Also... is it yummy?

What you drink on your nights off: Modelo, mezcal, and sometimes water.

Wine list you admire from afar: Fool’s Errand and Che Fico in San Francisco

PHOTO: WILL BLUNT

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Wagyu coulotte, sweet potato pavé, Brussels sprouts Chef Matt McCallister of Homewood Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Sweet Potato Pavé: 4 ½ pounds sweet potatoes, shaved thin on a mandoline 5 ounces butter, melted 1 tablespoon salt Coffee Rub: 2 tablespoons freshly ground coffee ½ tablespoon smoked paprika ½ tablespoon yellow mustard powder 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons Aleppo pepper 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon chile powder

Coulotte: 8 cipollini onions, peeled and sliced 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced 3 tablespoons shio koji 1 ½ teaspoons white miso 1 pound Lone Mountain wagyu coulotte Pecan and Fermented Honey Relish: 2 tablespoons butter 2 cups Texas pecans 1 ½ teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 ¼ cups Texas extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar 2 tablespoons fermented or regular honey 1 tablespoon minced thyme

Red Wine Jus: 2 shallots, minced 2 ½ tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons Cognac 1 cup dry red wine 1 cup beef stock Salt Freshly ground black pepper To Assemble and Serve: 1 pound Brussels sprouts, blanched then some halved and some quartered, outer leaves included Olive oil Salt Lemon Oil for frying

METHOD For the Sweet Potato Pavé: Heat oven to 250°F. In a bowl, toss together all ingredients. Transfer sweet potatoes to a parchment-lined loaf pan or shallow thirdsize pan. Bake 3 hours. Remove from oven and cover sweet potatoes with parchment.

Using cardboard wrapped in aluminum foil, make a lid for the pan and set snugly on top.

Top with weights and refrigerate overnight. The following day, slice sweet potatoes into uniform rectangles. Reserve in fridge.

For the Coffee Rub: In a bowl, mix to combine all ingredients.

For the Coulotte: In a bowl, mix to combine onion, garlic, shio koji, miso, and 2 tablespoons Coffee Rub. Generously rub beef with the marinade. Let marinate at least 1 hour.

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For the Pecan and Fermented Honey Relish: In a pan over medium flame, heat butter.

Add pecans, salt, and pepper and slowly toast until fragrant and nutty. Transfer pecans to a paper towel to cool. Once cooled, add pecans to a food processor and pulse until roughly broken up. Transfer to a bowl and toss with remaining ingredients.

For the Red Wine Jus: In a pot, sauté shallots in butter. Deglaze with Cognac and reduce. Add wine and beef stock and reduce again until there is roughly ½ cup of liquid. Season with salt and a little black pepper. Strain and set aside.

To Assemble and Serve: In a bowl, toss Brussels sprouts in olive oil.

Grill until warm and a little black and crispy.

Return sprouts to the bowl and season with salt, Pecan and Fermented Honey Relish, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Toss to incorporate.

In a deep-fryer, fry 1 rectangle of Sweet Potato Pavé until crispy and warmed through.

Sprinkle with salt. Meanwhile, grill Coulotte to a medium then slice thin. Add fried Sweet Potato Pavé to a serving plate and place sliced Coulotte by its side. Add a spoonful of Brussels sprouts over the Coulotte and spoon Red Wine Jus next to it. Pair with a glass of Garnatxa, Joan d’Anguera, “Altaroses,” Montsant, Spain, 2019.

Featured ingredient: Lone Mountain Wagyu coulotte

PHOTOS: CAI CHEN

“For this pairing, we went with Joan d'Anguera's ‘Altaroses’ Garnatxa from Darmos in Montsant, Spain. This medium-bodied wine is expressive of rich red fruit and strawberries, with warm fall spices on the nose. The ripe red fruit qualities and warm spice pairs well with the deep, roasty flavors of the coffee and heat from the Aleppo spice. Altaroses has the perfect mouthwatering acidity to cut through the buttery sweet potato pavé, and easy tannins to stand up to the coulotte, but not overwhelm the subtle flavors of the beef. Lovely herbaceous aromas of lavender and thyme complements the pecan and fermented honey relish. All in all, this is an approachable wine with great drinkability and interesting complexity.”

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MEZCAL MASHUP BY: LIZZIE TAKIMOTO

Only once in a blue moon does a mashup really work, bringing two equally strong entities together to form a harmonious union. After a swift gain in popularity beyond Mexican borders over the past couple of decades, mezcal has solidified its position as one of the most popular spirits on back bars around the world. And naturally, with heightened awareness comes opportunity for experimentation and abstraction. Mezcal gin starts as any other mezcal would. The agave plant is broken down, roasted, and distilled, with the sole focus of maintaining the flavor of the agave plant while highlighting the smoky char from the pit-fire-roast. After the initial distillation, the smoky-sweet sip takes a turn into the world of botany. The smoked agave base is infused with herbs, flora, and spices to develop an aromatic, hybrid spirit true to its namesake: mezcal and gin.

The process was inspired by pechuga, which infuses an agave-based spirit with chicken before the second distillation for added savoriness and body. Producers of agave gin ditch the protein and keep their infusions juniper-forward, while staying true to Mexican flavor profiles thanks to indigenous botanicals. Mezcal MG, produced in Durango, was the first to export the spirit to the United States. While MG leans on hibiscus, ancho chile, lemongrass, and avocado leaf to flavor their spirit, Mezcal Macurichos’ Gin Abrojo, made in Oaxaca, uses hoja santa, cilantro, and corn. In all its variations, mezcal gin tells a story of Mexican terroir, maintaining the structure of the agave and authentic methods of production while spotlighting more specific locales and producers' perspectives.

REVIVAL For Bar Manager Heather Poile of Lounge Here in the Old East Dallas neighborhood, agave spirits were always a priority. She says, “I wanted the bar program to reflect the nuance of Texan identity, which, because of our close proximity to Mexico, has a heightened awareness of agave culture.” She had always been interested in mezcal gin, but after her first sip of Mezcal MG, Poile became determined to add the beautiful spirit to the Lounge Here menu. “This one shines really bright,” she says. “Citrusy and floral.” So when developing an espresso martini that played on the classic espresso and candied citrus pairing, Mezcal MG was a natural fit (recipe on page 87). She combines the espresso with a split base of mezcal gin and Irish whiskey, fortified with lemon bitters and agave syrup. “I wanted it to be balanced, interesting, and a little weird.”

ALGO LEVE Over in Uptown at speakeasy La Viuda Negra, a love of traditional botanical spirits led Bartender Hugo Osorio to reach for mezcal gin. The agave-centric bar forced Osorio to think creatively when it came to recreating gin-based classic cocktails, but mezcal gin made for an easy substitution. “When I first started serving it to guests, it was an opportunity to educate them on agave and show that there are more opportunities for the spirit,” says Osorio. His Algo Leve cocktail shakes up the spirit with green apple, kiwi, and mint for a seasonal sip that is equally approachable to gin die-hards and mezcal fanatics alike. “The way I see it, this cocktail is more of a gin gimlet—a little refreshing and fruit-forward but not sweet.” Whether through martini or margarita, the new-age distillate offers playful versatility while continuing to shine light on the traditions of agave distillation, and Dallas-Fort Worth is drinking it up.

PHOTOS BY WILL BLUNT, GEOFF HAUSCHILD

BARTE NDE R

BORN IN DALLAS AND RAISED in Japan, George Kaiho wanted to be a bartender before he could even drink. After getting his hands on his sister’s cocktail book, Kaiho became enthralled by the vibrant colors and playfulness of bartending.

He turned to YouTube to study the classics, watching an endless stream of his favorite Japanese bartenders mixing flawless martinis, old fashioneds, and gimlets. Kaiho returned to the States at age 18 to study at the University of North Texas, but his passion for cocktails persisted.

In 2010, Kaiho started as a server at Lava 10 and worked his way up to pilot their cocktail program.

Three years later, a bar manager position at the fine dining Japanese restaurant, Tei-An, brought him from the suburbs to Dallas. The opportunity transported him into the world of high-end spirits and wine, selling bottles of Japanese whisky and decades-old vintages to their member-only clientele.

He left in 2016 for a manager role at the second location of Dallas cocktail destination, Parliament.

When the bar shuttered, Kaiho connected with Houndstooth Coffee Founder Sean Henry, who was in search of the right person to lead his speakeasystyle cocktail bar. With an adventurous spirit and a drive to create a variety of sophisticated, coffee-, mezcal-, and Sherry-centric cocktails, Kaiho was perfect for the job. At Jettison, Kaiho has been able to draw from Japanese cocktail culture, infusing the technical precision and ingredients of his homecountry with American flavors. When he’s not mixing drinks at Jettison, Kaiho helps run Ka-Tip Thai Street Food with his wife and business partner, Yuyee. georgekaiho / jettisonaway PHOTOS: GEOFF HAUSCHILD

Favorite bartending resource: YouTube Favorite bartending tools: YUKIWA 3-piece shaker, Trident bar spoon, and ice knife Favorite cocktail: Manhattan

George Kaiho JETTISON

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What you drink on your nights off: I drink Scotch on the rocks at home Cocktail trend you'd like to see: I am trying to make Japanese shōchū more popular Cocktail culture you’d like to explore: I simply would love to travel to more places to explore what other cities are doing, especially Singapore and London.

BLVD P.O. Bartender George Kaiho of Jettison Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS 15 grams ground medium roast coffee 1 ounce Nikka Yoichi single malt whisky 1 ounce Campari 1 ounce Carpano Antica Formula vermouth Flamed orange peel

METHOD Set a coffee-filter-lined Kalita-style coffee dripper over an old fashioned glass with a large ice cube.

Add ground coffee to the filter. In a mixing glass filled with ice, add whisky, Campari, and vermouth.

Stir 40 times then pour over coffee grounds. Let drip until no liquid remains in the filter. Garnish with flamed orange peel.

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M E NTO R

Dean Fearing

FEARING'S RESTAURANT

The 2021 class of Dallas-Fort Worth Rising Stars anonymously voted on a Mentor Chef Award, presented by Vitamix Commercial.

The award goes to the chef who supports and inspires young chefs in their community. For his ability to nurture talent, combined with his generosity, skill, and vision, Dean Fearing is the recipient of the 2021 Dallas-Fort Worth Rising Stars Mentor Award.

DEAN FEARING GREW UP IN the kitchens of his father’s inns across the Midwest with dreams of becoming a rockstar. Thanks to some encouragement from his father, Fearing was pushed towards taking a cooking course taught by Chef Harvey Colgin. Colgin saw Fearing’s potential as a chef and, after a twoyear apprenticeship, helped him enroll in The Culinary Institute of America in 1976. After graduation, Fearing made a name for himself as the chef at Dallas’s historic Mansion on Turtle Creek. During his 26-year tenure, he earned the title of Best Chef: Southwest from The James Beard Foundation, made multiple television appearances, published two cookbooks (Mansion on Turtle Creek Cookbook and Dean Fearing’s Southwest Cuisine), and became nationally recognized for pioneering modern Southwestern cuisine. In 2007, Fearing partnered with The Ritz Carlton to open his American dining destination, Fearings Restaurant. He has since released a third cookbook titled, The Texas Food Bible, and continues to make a lasting impact on Texas’s ever-evolving dining scene.

PHOTO: DAVID WOO

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PHOTO: GEOFF HAUSCHILD PHOTO: GEOFF HAUSCHILD

Foie Gras Crème Brûlée INGREDIENTS Red Wine Glaze: Yield: 1 cup 1.48 kilograms red wine 275 grams sugar 2 sticks cinnamon 4 grams cloves 3 grams allspice berries Juice of 2 oranges and zest of 1 orange Foie Gras Powder: Yield: ½ cup 2 ounces foie gras scraps 5 ounces tapioca maltodextrin Salt Crème Brûlée: Yield: 4 crème brûlées 1 cup half and half 100 grams foie gras 3 egg yolks Salt

METHOD To Assemble and Serve: Sugar Foie gras, cut into ¾-inch pieces Salt Black pepper Granola Poached rhubarb or any fresh fruit, medium-diced Pomegranate seeds Fresh Origins micro sorrel Fresh Origins edible flowers

For the Red Wine Glaze: In a pot over medium heat, bring all ingredients to a simmer. Reduce until it thickens to a glaze-like consistency. Pass through a fine mesh strainer and set aside.

For the Foie Gras Powder: In a pan over medium-high heat, sear foie until well caramelized. Strain rendered fat from solids and discard solids. In a food processor, add fat and tapioca and pulse to combine. Season with salt and pulse again. Transfer to an airtight container and reserve.

For the Crème Brûlée: Heat oven to 200°F. In a pot, bring half and half to just below a simmer then remove from heat. In a pan over medium-high heat, sear foie. Add foie, warm half and half, and egg yolks to a Vitamix blender.

Blend on low speed to ensure no air bubbles are formed. Season with salt. Pass mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Using a ladle, skim off any foam.

Ladle desired amount of mixture into ramekins.

Place ramekins in a hotel pan filled with enough water that the ramekins are halfway submerged.

Tightly cover the pan with plastic wrap, place in oven, then cook until the center of each crème brûlée is set and it looks like a firm Jell-O. To check for doneness, jiggle the pan. If the center looks liquidy and ripples out, they aren’t done yet. Remove plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Chef Mike Matis of Fearing’s Restaurant Adapted by StarChefs

To Assemble and Serve: Sprinkle a thin layer of sugar across the top of the Crème Brûlée. Using a blow torch, hold the flame high above the Crème Brûlée’s surface, melting at least half of the sugar. If you start to see color, hold the flame higher. Move the flame closer to start brûléeing the sugar. Let cool.

Season foie with salt and pepper. In a medium-sized pan over medium-high heat, sear one side of the foie until golden in color. Using a spatula, strain off excess fat then toss foie to flip. Sear the other side, keeping the inside raw, then strain off excess fat once more. Pour in 2 ounces Red Wine Glaze and reduce until it becomes thick and glossy. Transfer glazed foie to a paper towel to collect grease and excess glaze.

Top Crème Brûlée with foie pieces and a heaping amount of granola followed by rhubarb. Finish with Foie Gras Powder, pomegranate, sorrel, and flowers.

Featured ingredients: Fresh Origins micro sorrel and edible flowers Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender

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Discover a diverse culinary scene at The Adolphus that draws inspiration from the greatest epicurean destinations in Europe. From breakfast to a cozy dinner or decadent pastry, dining at The Adolphus features inspired dishes and attentive service. The thoughtfully curated menus from City Hall Bistro, Otto’s Coffee and The French Room all strive to deliver a thoughtful, unique experience customized menus to your tastes.

BY LAND THE ADOLPHUS 1321 COMMERCE STREET DALLAS, TEXAS 75202

BY WIRE ADOLPHUS.COM 214-651-3637 @THEADOLPHUSHOTEL

Saigon Special

By Amelia Schwartz Foie Gras Pâté When Carol Nguyen decided to open Ngon in Dallas’s Lower Greenville neighborhood, she felt that the restaurant needed to act as an introduction to Vietnamese cuisine. 13 years after moving from Hanoi, Nguyen opened her first concept, The Crazee Crab. But while the casual Viet-Cajun seafood restaurant offers a menu inspired by her family in New Orleans, Ngon is a love letter to her home-country. “I want to bring a piece of Vietnamese [cuisine] to Dallas so people know more about our Vietnamese community,” says Nguyen. “I’m proud of my homeland and I’m proud of my roots.”

Although most items on her menu come from Northern Vietnam, Nguyen couldn’t resist serving a Saigon-style bánh mì (recipe on page 87). Her version, though classic, is anything but simple. Every component is house-made, even the crusty, French-style baguette. This labor-intensive process—and a thick layer of her decadent Cognac-infused foie gras pâté—means Nguyen isn’t cashing in on the $9 sandwich. But she isn’t phased. She knows the sandwich is essential to the Vietnamese food experience. “I don’t care how much profit I can make, because I treat my customers as my friends and family,” she explains. She also makes up any lost profit by cross-utilizing the bánh mì ingredients. Char siu is added to bánh canh. Pickled carrots and daikon top the broken rice alongside a sunny-side up egg. But the foie gras pâté—that is exclusive to the fresh, umami-packed Saigon Special Bánh Mì.

After soaking duck liver and cubed bread in milk overnight, Nguyen sautés it in butter with onion, white pepper, and chicken bouillon. It gets a splash of Hennessy, it’s blended up until smooth and creamy, and then it’s smeared on one side of a freshly-baked and split baguette.

Mayonnaise Egg yolks are whisked with salt, lime, and sugar, then emulsified with avocado oil. The soft, bright yellow mayo is spread on the other side of the baguette.

Char Siu Nguyen marinates pork belly in the consistently reliable Lobo roast red pork seasoning mix. It’s roasted for three hours before being wrapped, refrigerated, sliced, then placed atop the pâté.

Pickled Vegetables Carrots and daikon are treated to a mild pickling mixture of vinegar, sugar, and salt. They’re refrigerated overnight then packed into the sandwich.

Garnishes The Saigon Special Bánh Mì is finished with fresh cucumber and jalapeño, a bit of shredded chicken, and a sprinkle of Maggi Seasoning. And, of course, it wouldn’t be a bánh mì without a heap of cilantro leaves.

HOST

Charles Olalia

MAKEREADY EXPERIENCE

HAILING FROM THE PHILIPPINES, CHARLES OLALIA was on the path to becoming a doctor, but wanted to learn how to cook before starting med school. He quickly realized that, like medicine, food was a way to help people. He enrolled in a cooking program in Quezon City, then moved to the United States after graduation.

At 21, he joined the brigade at Restaurant Guy Savoy in Las Vegas, then worked at The French Laundry two years later.

PHOTO: WILL BLUNT

By the age of 30, Olalia was the executive chef of famed fine dining spot Patina and had a decade of classical French experience under his belt—but was still missing the Filipino flavors of his childhood. This feeling of homesickness inspired him to open Ricebar in 2015, his first solo venture that infused Olalia’s technical precision with Filipino flavors. Three years later he opened his critically acclaimed next concept, Ma’am Sir, and took center stage in the boom of Filipino cuisine in the United States. In 2021, Olalia relocated to Dallas to join Makeready Experience as the culinary director, overseeing all of the United States' properties including the historic Adolphus Hotel.

PHOTOS: CAI CHEN

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Brown butter bibingka, Parmigiano Reggiano, bottarga Chef Charles Olalia of Makeready Experience Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

6 cups grated cassava 4 cups grated coconut meat 4 cups sugar 1 cup brown butter, cooled 8 eggs Butter or oil for greasing 1 cup grated White Gold™ Parmigiano Reggiano Black pepper Bottarga

Heat oven to 350°F. In a bowl, mix to combine cassava, coconut, sugar, and brown butter. Transfer the batter to a greased casserole dish and bake 45 minutes. When almost done, sprinkle with Parmigiano Reggiano. Return to oven and continue baking until golden brown.

Let cool. Slice and finish with black pepper and bottarga.

PHOTO: CAI CHEN

Featured ingredient: Ambrosi White Gold™ Parmigiano Reggiano

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WHICH DALLAS-FORT WORTH CITY ARE YOU? 1. After a long shift, what do you want to drink? 5. What tool could you not live without?

A. A Lone Star and a shot B. An old fashioned C. A pot of tea at home D. A swig from the bottle

2. How do you take your beef?

A. Ground beef B. Prime top C. Brisket D. Ribeye

3. What’s your uniform looking like these days?

A. Always wearing my apron B. Never in the kitchen without my chef’s coat

C. I throw on my place’s custom t-shirts D. I wear whatever the fuck I want to wear

4. It’s a Sunday morning and you’re craving a doughnut. What are you in the mood for?

A. A doughnut breakfast sandwich from Dough Boy Donuts

B. The passion fruit cruller at Carte Blanche C. Gimme something even more decadent:

the cinnamon bun bread pudding from The Heritage Table

D.

Detour Doughnuts injeolmi doughnut

A. Butcher’s knife B. Tweezers C. Big metal tongs D. A good ol’ spatula

6. Food’s ready. What are you plating on?

A. Wooden slab B. Charger plates C. Metal tray D. Directly in a cast iron skillet

7. Look at you with a night off. Where are you going out to eat?

A. I’ll go in on a salumi board B. Sushi C. Tacos D. Korean barbecue

8. Time for some BBQ! What’s your side of choice?

A. Crunchy coleslaw (vinegar based) B. Bring on the cornbread C. Potato salad smothered in Duke’s D. Beans. Even better if the beans have beef tallow in them.

If you got mostly A's:

If you got mostly B's:

FORT WORTH

DALLAS

A lot of people think that you're a cowboy. You are, but you are also capable of sliding right out of those muddy boots directly into your waxed apron. As an up-and-comer, you feel a sense of responsibility for being the cool kid, but you'll never lose that Cowtown funk.

You didn’t choose the city life, you chose the Dallas city life. You’re a social butterfly. You know all the cool spots to take your friends and like a true local, you’ve got all the hacks for avoiding high tourist times. You’re fastmoving, always up to something new, and man, do you cook a mean steak.

If you got mostly C's:

If you got mostly D's:

GRAND PRAIRIE

PLANO

Laid back and easy like Sunday morning, you march to the beat of your own drum. You’ve got crazy hometown pride. As soon as you get off work, you go straight to that local taqueria that is the best taqueria but you don’t want anyone else to know about it because it’s YOUR taqueria.

You may not be the type to casually stroll around town but you know how to get in your car and go; go down the block to H-Mart, the local butcher, and awesome familyowned restaurants. You might not be going out every night but when the time is right, you know how to throw down. People are still talking about your staff holiday party of 2018.

StarChefs is partnering with Chef Chad Houser to benefit Café Momentum. The Dallas-based restaurant and 12-month paid internship program provides teens that have recently been released from juvenile facilities with practical skills, education, and employment opportunities to help them achieve their full potential.

For every bison pastrami and tomato salad ordered during the Rising Stars Restaurant Week from December 2nd to 16th, StarChefs will donate $3 to Café Momentum.

Bison pastrami and tomato salad, arugula, and caraway crème fraîche (recipe on page 87)

WE SUPPORT

A conversation with Chef Chad Houser, founder of Café Momentum How does the Café Momentum restaurant and internship program work?

[We’re] standing in a restaurant that's six and a half years old and it's been consistently ranked as one of the top restaurants in Dallas since the day we opened. And we take a lot of pride in that because it proves that the young men and women that comprise our entire staff, can and will rise to whatever level of expectation you set for them, as long as we're giving them the tools and resources to do so. We are a 12-month paid, post-release internship for young men and ladies exiting Dallas County Juvenile Department. So once they're released, they're all welcome.

Over the course of 12 months, they’ll work their way through every station in the restaurant. They’ll work pantry or garde manger and pastry, and then they’ll work sauté and grill. They’ll be a dishwasher, they’ll be a host or hostess, food runners, expo, busser, and server.

What are the interns learning from this program?

We’re doing three things: Number one is they’re learning new life skills and social skills and they’re applying them to make environmental decisions. So the way in which you appropriately disagree with a fellow line cook when you’re trying to get food out for 15 tables at once is different than the way in which you appropriately disagree with a customer that sat down three minutes ago and has already complained they’ve waited 45 minutes.

The second thing we're learning is what their strengths are and what they're good at. We ran a special on Saturday night and we told the interns that whoever sells the most specials gets to order a free entrée. Typical restaurant gimmick. A young man named DJ sold us out of every single special we have in the restaurant the first 45 minutes we were open. He wasn't even waiting tables.

He was a busser. It's a great example of a skill that he is honing in on that translates outside of this industry.

Third thing is they're learning what it means to be on a team. When you're washing dishes, if you don't get your job done, you literally affect the restaurant's ability to succeed. But we also highlight the fact that for them, it's the first time a lot of them that have teams actually rallied around them and said, I'm doing everything in my power to do my best job so that you can be able to do your best job, too.

What other services do you provide for Café Momentum interns?

We have a Community Services Center adjacent to the restaurant. We have an entire team of case managers that are doing things that a social worker would do. They’re addressing housing instability which affects 42 percent of our youth. They help [the interns] get government-issued IDs, help secure medical care, getting them to go get physicals and dental exams and vision exams, food insecurities, legal advocacy. We also have a staff psychologist. She provides services in the form of trauma care, group therapy, individual therapy, and she sometimes tackles couples therapy. We also have a group services coordinator, Sais Daniel. Her role is to help build a solid foundation for each young person once they leave the program. Our Community Services Center also just functions as a safe space.

How do you prepare the interns for what comes after Café Momentum?

On average, you will have two restarts in the program. So they’ll be here until they’re finally ready to make it through. So Sais focuses on things like resume writing, mock interviews, taking tours of different companies, and seeing behind-the-scenes so they can familiarize themselves with what different career paths look like; as well as things like financial literacy training and sex education to help round out their foundation. We put a big premium on education. 54 percent of the young people that enter this program have already dropped out of high school. I would argue that 45 out of the other 46 percent are completely disengaged.

We worked diligently to get our kids enrolled in different schools around the county that actually worked with them, and then they would never show up because of public transportation, so we built our own high schools. Because of [our education manager’s] amazingness, 100 percent of our youth are either already graduated or in school with her every day, and one third have already enrolled in college. We talk about building an ecosystem of support so that we are holistically addressing issues and barriers that affect our young people’s ability to achieve their true potential.

ILLUSTRATION BY BASHEL LUBARSKY

RISING STARS AND THE CAUSES THEY BELIEVE IN

CANE ROSSO RESCUE | canerossorescue.org

MENT'OR BKB | mentorbkb.org

SEED PROJECT FOUNDATION | spftx.org

Through foster and adoption programs, Cane Rosso Rescue finds homes for abandoned dogs in Dallas.

Andrew Chen

Through education, mentorship, and professional opportunities, Ment’or empowers the next generation of American chefs.

Junior Borges

By funding educational, agricultural, and community initiatives, Seed Project Foundation promotes sustainability in North Texas.

Andrea Shackelford

CHRYSALIS | changelives.org Chrysalis creates pathways to self-sufficiency for unhoused and low-income individuals by providing employment training, resources, and support.

Christian Dortch

DALLAS 24 HOUR CLUB |

dallas24hourclub.org

Dallas 24 Hour Club offers transitional housing and professional assistance to people struggling with addiction and homelessness.

Junior Borges

LENA POPE HOME | lenapope.org For almost 100 years, Lena Pope has offered mental health counseling, social services, and education for at-risk youth in Tarrant County.

Travis Heim

THE LEUKEMIA AND LYMPHOMA SOCIETY|

lls.org

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is the largest organization searching for a cure for blood cancers.

Nathan Abeyta, Joe Zavala

THE LOVE PIT RESCUE | thelovepitrescue.org Dallas-based nonprofit The Love Pit rescues pitbulls and helps them find their forever homes while also fighting the stigma against the breed.

Andrew Chen

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MULTIPLE MYELOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION | themmrf.org Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation is committed to finding a cure for multiple myeloma with immunotherapy initiatives, data gathering for widespread use, and investments in emerging therapies.

Joe Zavala

NORTH TEXAS FOOD BANK | ntfb.org As a part of Feeding America’s national network, North Texas Food Bank distributes meals to food insecure Texans across 13 counties.

Nathan Abeyta, Maricsa Trejo

RAICES | raicestexas.org RAICES offers free or low-cost legal services as well as community resources to empower immigrants to the United States.

Maricsa Trejo

RUTLEDGE CANCER FOUNDATION |

rutledgecancerfoundation.org

Rutledge Cancer Foundation is dedicated to helping teens and young adults who are fighting cancer by launching patient programs to address unmet emotional and physical needs, increasing cancer awareness and early detection, and funding safer treatment options.

Emma Heim

SLOW FOOD DFW | slowfooddfw.org The local chapter of Slow Food USA is a grassroots organization that works to preserve local food cultures and traditions, counteracts the rise of the fast life, and combats people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat.

Jessica and Seth Brammer

WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN | wck.org World Central Kitchen supports communities in crisis by serving meals and investing in local economies through grants and culinary training.

Maricsa Trejo

R EC I PES

CAMBODIAN PORTERHOUSE DUO

Kitchen Notebook Letter from Team StarChefs MOVING THE INDUSTRY FORWARD FOR 26 YEARS StarChefs' mission is to serve as a catalyst for food and beverage professionals to succeed at the highest possible standard and to give them the tools they need to meet and overcome the many industry challenges they face.

Antoinette Bruno EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Nicole Borden MARKETING DIRECTOR Amelia Schwartz ASSOCIATE EDITOR Bashel Lubarsky DESIGNER Lizzie Takimoto DIGITAL MEDIA ASSISTANT Gabby Romero EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Will Blunt MANAGING PARTNER Erin Lettera DIGITAL MEDIA DIRECTOR Olivia Hebrand MARKETING COORDINATOR Ania Cywińska PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Julia Abanavas CULINARY AMBASSADOR Whiskey Borden OFFICE MASCOT

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Cai Chen, Geoff Hauschild CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Eric Barton, Rachelle Febrene, Alice Laussade, Amelia Levin, Mai Pham CONTRIBUTING DESIGNERS & ILLUSTRATORS Rachelle Febrene, Mariell Guzman, Mari Pohlman

For advertising and event opportunities, please contact us at market@starchefsinc.com.

For subscription inquiries, email subscribe@starchefsinc.com.

PUBLISHED BY STARCHEFS, INC. COPYRIGHT © 2021 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THE BOOK OR PORTIONS THEREOF IN ANY FORM WHATSOEVER. STARCHEFS 217 HAVEMEYER STREET, 3RD FLOOR, BROOKLYN, NY 11211 212.966.3775 | STARCHEFS.COM

4

Chef Jett Mora of Café Modern Adapted by StarChefs

Kitchen Notebook PINEAPPLE SLINGER

LONG TIME, DFW! LAST TIME WE TOUCHED GROUND in Dallas was in 2007, before the Rising Stars print magazine even existed. Our class included culinary juggernauts like Anthony Bombaci, Lanny Lancarte, and Katherine Clapner who all went on to build legacies of their own. But back then, we were remiss to not consider what was going on in the outskirts of the big city. In the past 16 years, Fort Worth's hospitality industry has begun to catch up with its well-regarded modern arts scene. Suburbs like McKinney, Farmers Branch, and Richardson have become hosts to hundreds of small, independent restaurants with insanely loyal followings.

So when the StarChefs team travelled down South last summer, we were excited to cover the entire DFW metroplex, meeting with nearly 100 food and beverage professionals. Although there is some friendly competition between towns, holding an unshakeable pride for their distinct characteristics and quirks (find out which DFW town you are with the quiz on page 78), the Dallas-Fort Worth hospitality industry has the collective goal to become a nationally respected culinary destination. These folks are ambitious as hell.

There’s an independent spirit sweeping through the area. In a traditionally male-dominated industry, women entrepreneurs are stepping out on their own to launch their dream businesses (read about it on page 30). There are career-changers—individuals like Afifa Nayeb who moved on from her family’s business at the age of 40 to become a chef (page 56). And there are nationally recognized chefs like Tiffany Derry, whose new restaurant, Roots Southern Table, pays homage to her family’s Louisiana farm and the evolution of Southern cuisine (page 12).

Dallas-Fort Worth is still known for their luxe steakhouses and elaborate barbecue platters. But chefs are now putting their own personal spins on these iconic cuisines. At steakhouse and saloon, Billy Can Can, Rising Star Chef Matt Ford rejects commodity beef in lieu of free-range, indigenous game. Over at Goldee’s Barbecue in Fort Worth, co-owner Nupohn Inthanousay embraces DFW’s Laotian community by adding smoked Lao sausage to the menu.

Even with all this innovation, chefs are still adopting traditional practices. They’re growing flowers in their planters, herbs in their garden, and, in some cases, raising cattle on their several acres of farmland. Thanks to an abundance of open land, restaurant pros can see their produce from start to finish (page 42).

The 2021 class of Dallas-Fort Worth Rising Stars are true representations of the fire that is spreading through the metroplex.

These chefs, bartenders, sommeliers, bakers, pitmasters, and butchers are setting a new foundation, while staying true to the city that consistently garners their success. Dallas-Fort Worth, it’s been a privilege to share the stories of our 18 Rising Stars award winners along with many more of the faces that keep your hospitality community moving. It was worth the wait.

When Beverage Director Iluggy Recinos asked fellow Exxir Hospitality bartenders to give him some insight into the Dallas palate, all they had to say was, “Agave. They LOVE agave.”

So he hit the ground running at The Botanist, Exxir’s craft cocktail lounge, down a path that would eventually produce their number one selling cocktail, the Gunslinger (recipe on page 84). Recinos starts with sliced pineapple that gets coated in sugar and cooked in the wood fire oven until the center is juicy and tender with a brûlée-like finish. It’s seasoned with salt, cinnamon, chipotle, and cayenne, and returned to the oven. The tender, baked piña gets pushed through an extraction juicer then added to tequila, simple syrup, lemon, lime, mezcal, and Ancho Reyes for subtle smoke. The cocktail is finished with a Pasilla chile and housemade 5 chile salt rim to drive home the pepper and spice. “It flies like crazy. It’s very umami.” says Recinos. “It has depth, acidity, beautiful spice, and aroma.”

INGREDIENTS

CHICAGO STYLE With Chicago-style popcorn fresh on his palate, Rye’s chef, Taylor Rause, asked himself the question: “How do I create a vehicle for the taste of Chicago-style popcorn without just throwing some popped kernels on a plate?” Cue the crème. With a base of popcorn-kernel-infused cream, he layers on cheddar cake and cheddar fritters (recipe on page TK). For the cake, Rause goes heavy on powdered Cheez-Its and cheddar powder for that evocative tang, but fills the fritters with aged local cheddar for sharp contrast. He springs the torched custard free from its ramekin for a composed plate-up, but the stability of the custard comes down to the clock. “It’s not crazy complex, but it took a lot of time to figure out,” Rause says. A crème brûlée order fire comes in, a square is removed from the freezer, and a timer is set for six minutes. Once the six minutes is up, the perfectly soft-set crème is sprinkled with sugar and brûléed until golden and glassy.

KROEUNG THREE WAYS Fresh out of Los Angeles, Café Modern Chef Jett Mora couldn’t wait to pickle and preserve every farmers market vegetable he could get his hands on. His porterhouse prime steak and tenderloin tartare plays with the contrast of fresh and fermented, with neighboring cuts of beef plated both raw and grilled (recipe on page 84). Inspired by his wife’s Cambodian heritage, a kroeung marinade with lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, and lime leaf works triple-duty. Aromatic and punchy, kroeung bathes the steak, acts as a dressing for the tartare, and a flavorful addition to a quick-pickle condiment of chiles, shishitos, red onion, and Asian pear. A final preserved element of cured egg yolk is shaved over the meat, melding with the tongue-tingling flavors. Chef explains, “Out here, I am pleased to say that people love spicy, so you can’t be too shy on heat.”

STA RCH EFS RISI NG STA RS

AJO BLANCO He has a garden, his parents have a farm, and his aunt and uncle raise cattle. So when planning his private, progressive tasting menus for Halff Culinaire, it’s a no-brainer for Chef Phillip Halff II to lean on whatever is currently sprouting from the earth. Back in July, it was the cucumbers. “With an abundance of cucumbers growing in my garden, I’m looking for new ways to push [them] on my guests,” he says. Halff stopped by his parents’ farm, harvested some almonds, and decided to make a refreshing ajo blanco (recipe on page 84). Contrary to the name, Halff’s ajo blanco goes green—freshpressed almond milk is blended with honeydew, celery vinegar, and cucumber juice. The chilled soup is mixed with an ultra-herbaceous Kermitcolored oil made from picked cilantro, parsley, and lemon verbena, then poured tableside over citric-acid-infused Granny Smith apple, honeydew, English cucumber, and grapes. With a swirl, little beads of oil emerge to the surface to make a trippy, visual treat.

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GUNSLINGER

Bartender Iluggy Recinos of Exxir Hospitality Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Roasted Pineapple Juice: 1.2 kilograms pineapple, cored and cut into long thin strips 50 grams sugar 2 grams freshly ground cinnamon 2 grams kosher salt 3 grams ground chipotle 1 gram ground cayenne Botanist Chile Salt: 14 grams ground sumac 10 grams ground chipotle 35 grams kosher salt 12 grams ground black peppercorns 27 grams Aleppo pepper flakes To Assemble and Serve: Yield: 1 cocktail 1/4 ounce evaporated cane simple syrup 1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice 1/2 ounce Ancho Reyes 1/2 ounce mezcal 1 1/2 ounces reposado tequila 1 dried pasilla chile

METHOD For the Roasted Pineapple Juice: In a large bowl, toss pineapple in sugar. Transfer pineapple to a sheet tray. Blast in a woodfire oven until pineapple achieves a nice brûlée and center is cooked through, 3 minutes. Heat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, toss brûléed pineapple with cinnamon, salt, chipotle, and cayenne. Transfer pineapple to a clean sheet tray and cook 25 minutes. Let cool completely.

Using an extraction juicer, juice pineapple. Transfer to quart containers and reserve in fridge.

For the Botanist Chile Salt: In a bowl, mix to combine all ingredients. Transfer to a quart container and reserve.

To Assemble and Serve: To a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add simple syrup, lemon, lime, Ancho Reyes, mezcal, tequila, and 1 ounce Roasted Pineapple Juice. Shake. Double strain into a double old fashioned glass filled with ice cubes.

Garnish with pasilla chile and a sprinkle of Botanist Chile Salt.

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Hot Sauce: 18 grams salt 400 grams roughly chopped Fresno chiles 400 grams roughly chopped garlic Kroeung Marinade: 100 grams peeled and roughly chopped fresh galangal 100 grams roughly chopped lemongrass 100 grams roughly chopped garlic 100 grams roughly chopped shallot 25 grams peeled and roughly chopped fresh turmeric 25 grams roughly chopped makrut lime leaves 25 grams soybean oil 20 grams kosher salt Quick Pickles: 100 grams palm or coconut vinegar 40 grams sugar 20 grams salt 10 grams fish sauce 20 grams julienned Fresno chiles 20 grams julienned red onion 20 grams julienned Asian pears Steak Tare-Tare Marinade: 20 grams egg yolks 10 grams Chinese mustard 5 grams fish sauce 5 grams lime juice 5 grams scallion rings 5 grams chopped cilantro 3 grams sesame oil To Assemble and Serve: One 48-ounce bone-in porterhouse steak Salt Black pepper Cilantro sprigs Cured egg yolks Rice Rice crackers

METHOD For the Hot Sauce: In a bowl, mix to combine salt with 600 grams water.

Fill a mason jar with chile, garlic, and saltwater brine. Allow to lacto-ferment for 2 weeks at room temperature, burping the jar every other day to release the gases. When desired fermentation is achieved, drain and reserve brine and transfer to a Vitamix blender. Purée until smooth. Reserve.

For the Kroeung Marinade: Using a mortar and pestle, grind all ingredients into a paste.

For the Quick Pickle: In a pot, heat vinegar, sugar, salt, fish sauce, and 20 grams Kroeung Marinade until sugar is dissolved.

Remove from heat and add 40 grams ice to cool. In a nonreactive container, submerge chiles, red onion, and pear in the marinade. Cover and let marinate overnight.

For the Steak Tare-Tare Marinade: In a large bowl, mix to combine all ingredients and 10 grams Kroeung Marinade.

To Assemble and Serve: Slice tenderloin portion of porterhouse, leaving the bone-in New York steak portion intact. Marinate New York steak in Kroeung Marinade overnight. The following day, season the New York steak portion with salt and pepper. Grill it over hot coals until desired doneness. Allow to rest. Meanwhile, mince the sliced tenderloin. In a small bowl, fold the Steak Tare-Tare Marinade into the tenderloin. On a serving plate, spoon tare-tare tenderloin into a ring mold.

Remove ring mold and garnish with cilantro sprigs and Quick Pickled red onion. Cut grilled steak off the bone and into slices. Arrange steak next to tenderloin, reforming the shape of the porterhouse. Garnish steak with Quick Pickled chiles and pear. Microplane cured egg yolks over the entire dish. Serve with Hot Sauce, rice for the steak, and rice crackers for the tare-tare tenderloin.

AJO BLANCO

Chef Phillip Halff II of Halff Culinaire Adapted by StarChefs Yield: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS Green Oil: 50 grams cilantro, blanched 50 grams parsley, blanched 25 grams lemon verbena or lemon balm 250 grams neutral oil Garnishes: 1 Granny Smith apple, core and skin removed 1 honeydew, seeds and rind removed 1 English cucumber, seeds and skin removed 20 green grapes, halved Citric acid or lemon juice Ajo Blanco: 500 grams honeydew juice 450 grams skinless cucumber juice 100 grams celery vinegar or white wine vinegar 2 large cloves garlic 1 kilogram almond milk 75 grams extra virgin olive oil Salt Xanthan gum To Assemble and Serve: Lemon juice Salt Edible foliage and flowers

METHOD For the Green Oil: Pat dry greens then add to a Vitamix blender with oil.

Blend on high speed until you see steam rising from the top, 5 minutes. Strain through a cheesecloth-line chinois. Transfer mixture to a piping bag and allow oil to separate. The usable oil will be on top, the water will sink to the bottom. Discard water and transfer oil to a nonreactive container. Reserve in fridge.

For the Garnishes: Using a 10-millimeter melon baller, shape apple, honeydew, and cucumber into spheres. Transfer spheres to a nonreactive container. Add grapes, and cover with ice cold water and a bit of acid. Reserve in fridge.

RECIPES For the Ajo Blanco: To a Vitamix blender, add juices, vinegar, garlic, and almond milk. Blend and slowly drizzle in olive oil.

Adjust seasoning with salt and more vinegar. Weigh mixture and add 0.15 percent xanthan gum by total weight. Blend on low speed for 1 minute. Strain through a chinois into a nonreactive container, cover, and chill until ready to serve.

hydrate. Cook on medium heat until golden brown then whisk in baking soda. Moving quickly, pour caramel over popcorn and use 2 greased spatulas to mix. Once every piece is well coated, transfer popcorn to a parchment-lined, greased sheet pan and spread out. Using gloved hands, separate popcorn pieces as best as possible. Let cool completely. Reserve in quart containers with Silica.

To Assemble and Serve: In a chilled serving bowl, place several spoonfuls of Garnishes and season with some lemon juice and salt. Using a small pitcher, pour Ajo Blanco and 1 tablespoon Green Oil over Garnishes. Gently stir to create little beads of Green Oil in the Ajo Blanco. Top with edible foliage and flowers.

For the Cheddar Cake Crumble: Heat oven to 325°F. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter, cream cheese, sugar, and salt. Scrape down sides of the bowl with a spatula. While mixing on low speed, add eggs one at a time. Scrape bowl then mix again for 1 minute. Add milk, allow to fully incorporate, then add Cheeze-It powder and baking powder. Scrape bowl then mix for another minute. Pour batter into a parchment-lined, greased half sheet tray. Bake until springy to the touch. Allow to cool completely.

Crumble cake into bits and toss in cheddar powder.

Reserve in court containers.

CHICAGO-STYLE POPCORN CRÈME BRÛLÉE

Chef Taylor Rause of Rye Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Caramel Popcorn: 57 grams oil 140 grams popcorn kernels 765 grams sugar 2 tablespoons salt 57 grams butter 2 teaspoons baking soda Cheddar Cake Crumble: 170 grams butter 85 grams cream cheese 298 grams sugar ¾ teaspoon salt 5 eggs 43 grams milk 170 grams powdered Cheez-Its 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 tablespoons cheddar powder Cheddar Fritter Mix: 93 grams cornstarch 45 grams tapioca starch ¼ teaspoon baking powder 25 grams sugar 200 grams small-diced cheddar Salt 1 tablespoon milk 2 eggs Popcorn Crème Brûlée: 28 grams blended oil 45 grams popcorn kernels 750 grams cream 250 grams milk 330 grams sugar 12 egg yolks To Assemble and Serve: Neutral oil for frying Caramel sauce Sugar Salt

METHOD For the Caramel Popcorn: In a large pot, heat oil until smoking. Add popcorn kernels, cover, and shake until all kernels are popped.

Dump popcorn into a greased bowl. In a separate pot, add sugar, salt, butter, and just enough water to

For the Cheddar Fritter Mix: In a bowl, whisk to combine cornstarch, tapioca starch, baking powder, sugar, cheddar, and a pinch of salt. In a separate bowl, whisk milk and eggs until smooth. Mix wet and dry ingredients together until fully hydrated. Reserve in quart containers.

For the Popcorn Crème Brûlée: Heat oven to 325°F. In a saucepan, heat oil until it begins to smoke. Moving quickly, add kernels and cover, shaking the pot until all kernels are popped.

In a separate pot, heat cream and milk. Add popcorn and stir to dissolve. Cover and allow to steep 30 minutes. Transfer steeped cream to a Vitamix blender and blitz. Strain through a chinois. Return liquid to the saucepan, add sugar, and bring to a boil. Temper in egg yolks then strain again. Pour liquid into a parchment-lined, greased, shallow half hotel pan.

Bake in a water bath until set. Allow custard to cool until room temperature, refrigerate until 40°F, then transfer to the freezer and chill until frozen.

Cut into 2-inch squares and freeze until ready to serve.

To Assemble and Serve: Pull a Popcorn Crème Brûlée and immediately start a timer for 6 minutes. While the timer is running, scoop 2 balls of Cheddar Fritter Mix using a melon baller then, using your hands, roll balls to ensure they are tightly packed. Fry Cheddar Fritter Mix 1 minute and 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Remove from fryer and slice Cheddar Fritters in half. Drizzle caramel sauce onto the bottom of a serving plate. On each end of the plate, place a pile of Cheddar Cake Crumble and 3 pieces Caramel Popcorn. Once the timer goes off, liberally dust Popcorn Crème Brûlée with sugar, torch until golden and glassy, then sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Plate torched Popcorn Crème Brûlée in the center of the serving plate. Place 1 half Cheddar Fritter on each end of the plate. Place remaining halves and 1 piece Caramel Popcorn on top of the Popcorn Crème Brûlée.

Just Like Mom's J U S T L I K E M O M' S

WRITTEN BY: AMELIA LEVIN ILLUSTR ATED BY: BASHEL LUBARSKY

A southern Texas native who spent time growing up on her family’s Louisiana farm, Chef Tiffany Derry had gumbo at least twice a month. “Some people say they only have gumbo a couple times a year or when it’s cold out, but we had it all the time,” says the nationally acclaimed chef. “My grandmother had 11 children in Baton Rouge and I have 50 first cousins—gumbo feeds a large number of people. I love it so much that if someone asked me what my last meal would be, it would be my mother’s gumbo.”

To this day, Derry makes gumbo at her Dallas restaurant, Roots Southern Table, just like her mom and grandmother did… with a few twists (recipe on page 85).

As she was taught, Derry cooks the okra separately by frying it on the stovetop or roasting it in the oven until browned, both done without a lot of stirring. “We don’t do slime,” she says, referring to the sometimes off-putting consistency that simmering okra can create.

“Gumbo is a very personal family recipe—everyone makes it slightly different and it depends on the area where you grew up,” Derry says. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for example, you might see chicken sausage, crab, and shrimp all added to the pot. Other recipes call for turkey necks, crawfish, duck, and even boiled eggs. Many serve their gumbo with rice; others serve it with a little potato salad.

Like her mom, Derry prefers to cook the rice separately, placing a little at the bottom of a serving bowl before ladling in the gumbo. “If you cook rice with the gumbo that can create a mushy texture, and it causes the rice to swell too much,” she says. “You always want more gumbo than rice.”

In another spin, Derry simmers reserved duck and chicken parts from her signature duck-fat fried chicken into a rich stock. To save labor, rather than stirring the roux over the stove, Derry and her staff make it in a 400-degree-oven—mixing the f lour and oil every 30 minutes for an hour and a half until dark brown and nutty. She’ll then transfer the roux to large pots over high heat where she fries aromatics and vegetables before adding the stock and crispy okra. She even roasts and dices the chicken to maintain a chunkier consistency.

Derry estimates they go through 25 to 30 gallons of gumbo a week at Roots Southern Table, but she never makes it on the same day, giving time for the f lavors to meld.

It’s one of the more popular items on her menu, sitting beneath the “Down Home Roots” section—simple, classic dishes with f lavors that guests can identify with. The “Modern Roots” section has more playful dishes like black-eyed pea hummus with XO chile sauce while the “Supper” section hosts large entrees like jerk lamb chops with hoppin’ John and pickled sweet peppers.

“Roots Southern Table is my homage to my mom and my family and ref lects the way we ate on the farm,” Derry says. “When you walked into the house, you would see cupboards lined with all types of pickles—pickled sweet potatoes and onions and other things grown on the farm—even pickled pigs feet. I loved sitting around a big table with my family shelling peas and pulling greens and wanted to bring a little of that into the restaurant. If you go way back, our ancestors were mostly vegetarians out of West Africa who, over the years after they came here, worked with what they were given, like the ends and tails of pigs, or whatever else they had access to. When you dine at the restaurant, you’ll see a mix of old school and new school dishes as a representation of how Southern food continues to evolve.”

SEAFOOD GUMBO

Chef Tiffany Derry of Roots Southern Table Adapted by StarChefs Yield: 3 gallons

INGREDIENTS Okra: 2 pounds okra, cut to ¼-inch slices 2 tablespoons olive oil Gumbo: 1 1/2 cups neutral oil 2 cups flour 2 cups diced onion 2 cups diced celery 2 cups diced green bell pepper 4 cloves garlic, minced 4 quarts shrimp stock 4 quarts duck or chicken stock 1 quart puréed tomatoes 3 bay leaves 1 teaspoon thyme 1 tablespoon ground cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon onion powder ½ tablespoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon paprika 4 tablespoons salt 2 tablespoons black pepper 2 pounds chicken breasts and/or thighs, ovenroasted and medium diced 1 pound andouille sausage, sliced into half moons 6 dashes Tabasco hot sauce 1 blue crab, cleaned and cut into large pieces ¼ cup gumbo filé 2 pounds 16/20 shrimp, peeled 1 bunch green onion, sliced Parsley, chopped To Assemble and Serve: Cooked jasmine rice Chopped parsley Gumbo filé Louisiana-style hot sauce

METHOD For the Okra: Heat oven to 375°F. Add okra to a sheet tray and toss with olive oil. Bake 15 minutes. Set aside.

For the Gumbo: In a pot over medium flame, heat oil. Add flour and cook, stirring frequently until the color reaches a dark chocolate brown, 30 minutes. Add onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic and sauté until soft.

Add stocks, tomatoes, bay leaves, thyme, spices, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Simmer 20 minutes, skimming off any impurities that rise to the surface.

Add Okra, chicken, and sausage and simmer another 25 minutes. Adjust seasoning as needed and add Tabasco. Add crab, cook 5 minutes, then add gumbo filé, stirring quickly to prevent lumps from forming.

Stir in shrimp, green onion, and parsley. Remove pot from heat and let sit 5 minutes while shrimp cooks through.

To Assemble and Serve: In a serving bowl, add a ladle-full of Gumbo with chicken, sausage, shrimp, and crab. To the center of the bowl, add a spoonful of rice. Garnish with parsley, gumbo filé, and hot sauce.

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The Evolution of Khao STARCHEFS 2022 MARKETS

The E volution of K h ao w w rr ii tt tt ee nn bb yy ee rr ii nn ll ee tt tt ee rr a a Chef Donny Sirisavath is often asked why his food doesn’t stick to tradition. “I’m continuing the evolution of Lao food,” he answers.But although his Dallas restaurant, Khao Noodle Shop, is located in a city with one of the largest Lao communities in the country, Sirisavath has had a hard time reaching people who don’t know what Lao food is. “Some people lose the ability to create the story because they lose the roots of it. I’ve learned to be okay with doing things differently so I can get my culture noticed.”

For Sirisavath, the evolution of Lao food can be traced through Laotian papaya salad, Tham Mak Hoong. Back in Laos, his grandmother would use a push-and-pull technique to pound shredded green papaya, 10 to 15 bird’s eye chiles, fermented crab paste, sugar, regular fish sauce, and her own batch or padaek—Lao fish sauce—in a mortar and pestle. She’d top the spicy, funky salad with green veggies and pork rinds.

When Sirisavath’s mother moved to the United States before he was born, she had to adjust her recipe based on local availability. Not often having access to unripe papaya, she would use cucumber or vermicelli noodles with carrots instead. And her personal touch—swapping in fermented whole rice paddy crab and tamarind instead of lime.

D.C.-CHESAPEAKE MARCH

The StarChefs Rising Stars Awards celebrate up-andcoming industry professionals who represent the vanguard of the contemporary American dining scene.

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To nominate a Rising Stars chef, pastry chef, bartender, sommelier, or artisan, email nominate@starchefsinc.com.

NEW ORLEANS SEPTEMBER SAN FRANCISCO DECEMBER

Born and raised in Texas with summers spent in Laos, Sirisavath has soaked up the best of both cuisines. “Technique and ingredients are authentic to who you are,” he says, and both Texan and Lao flavors are authentic to who he is. Even though Lao ingredients are more available to him than they were to his mother, he still prefers to make use of local ingredients, replacing peanuts with Texas pecans for Khao Noodle Shop’s papaya salad. These types of contemporary additions do not go unnoticed. “The old aunties who come to eat at my shop always have something to say,” says Sirisavath. “I tell them all the time, the American palate is not used to Lao flavors, and while we enjoy the food we cook at home, we have to have a new way of doing things.”

This evolution of Lao food is also a consideration for Goldee’s Barbecue Owner Nupohn Inthanousay. When Inthanousay dipped his toes into the dry-rubbed world of Texas barbecue, he decided that in order to stand out, he would need to lean into his Laotian heritage. Smoked Lao sausage, with makrut lime, lemongrass, with jeow som has made its way onto the Goldee’s menu, seamlessly settling into their tray of classics.

With Goldee’s barbecue-diehard clientele so in tune with brisket, the Lao sausage acts as a subtle intro to Lao flavors, mimicking the style of his grandmother’s sausage, but adding more garlic and black pepper for a more approachable taste. “I used to be a traditionalist. I didn’t agree with changing the tradition of food, but my mindset has changed,” says Inthanousay. “I think that Lao food needs to evolve. All things that are great need to evolve.”

PAPAYA SALAD

Chef Donny Sirisavath of Khao Noodle Shop Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Caramelized Fish Sauce: 1 ½ cups sugar 1 ½ cups fish sauce 2 tablespoons padaek (unfiltered fish sauce) 4 tablespoons toasted rice 1 to 3 tablespoons dried Thai chile flakes 1 to 2 whole shallots, peeled and diced 1 green onion, thinly sliced To Assemble and Serve: 1 unripe green mango, peeled and shredded 1 unripe papaya, peeled and shredded 4 to 6 dried shrimps 4 to 6 small dried anchovies 1 Texas grapefruit, peeled and chopped 5 to 6 pumpkin seeds Microgreen salad mix Green onion, sliced Fried shallots 1 to 2 fresh Thai chiles, sliced

METHOD For the Caramelized Fish Sauce: In a small pot, stir together sugar and fish sauce. Place over medium-high heat then reduce heat to low and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool 2 minutes. Add padaek, toasted rice, and chile flakes and stir thoroughly to combine. Add shallots and green onion. Adjust seasoning to taste. Reserve at room temperature.

To Assemble and Serve: Toss together mango and papaya. Drizzle with 2 to 3 tablespoons Caramelized Fish Sauce. Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with remaining ingredients.

CANTALOUPE SORBET

0.5 pounds cubed pork fat or beef fat 1.6 ounces salt 0.2 ounces pink curing salt #2 1 tablespoon freshly ground black peppercorns 3 stalks lemongrass, diced 15 makrut lime leaves, sliced 5 shallots, diced 6 green onions, sliced 6 Thai chiles, stems removed then diced 35 grams sliced garlic ¾ cups milk powder

Pastry Chef Maggie Huff of Homewood Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS

Shiso Syrup: 1 cup sugar 15 to 20 shiso leaves Shiso Labneh: Labneh Salt

To Assemble and Serve: Sticky rice Cilantro, chopped

METHOD For the Jeow Som: Using a mortar and pestle, pound garlic, chiles, and salt until it forms a paste-like consistency. Add sugar, fish sauce, and lime and mix with pestle until sugar dissolves. Transfer sauce to a container, cover, and refrigerate.

For the Lao Sausage: Rinse sausage casings 3 times, ensuring the salt is removed. Transfer to a sealed container with enough water to completely cover and let soak in fridge overnight. The following day, one hour before stuffing, transfer casings to a new container with fresh water and soak.

In a large, nonreactive container, combine meat, fat, salts, and black pepper. Let sit overnight in the fridge. The following day, freeze meat mixture for 30 minutes, then grind. Combine ground meat with lime leaves, shallots, onion, chiles, and garlic and grind again, slowly to not overwhelm the meat grinder. Mix ground meat mixture by hand for 1 minute. Add milk powder and 1 to 1 ½ cups water and mix again until it becomes sticky. Stuff sausage into casings, avoiding any air bubbles. Air-dry in fridge overnight.

Heat smoker to 150°F. Without using too many logs, build a small coal bed. Cold smoke sausages, flipping frequently, until there is color on both sides. Increase temperature to 175°F to 200°F and cook until sausages reach an internal temperature of 155°F. Transfer cooked sausages to an ice bath until their internal temperature decreases below 100°F. Let bloom on a wire rack for 2 hours to dry and gain color.

Transfer sausages to dry fridge to chill overnight.

The following day, heat smoker to 250°F to 275°F or oven to 300°F to 350°F. Smoke or cook sausages until internal temperature reaches 145°F, 20 to 30 minutes.

Rest 5 minutes before serving.

LAO SAUSAGE

To Assemble and Serve: Place Lao Sausage on a serving platter with a baggie of sticky rice and a small ramekin of Jeow Som. Garnish Jeow Som with cilantro.

INGREDIENTS

Cantaloupe Concerto

Pitmaster Nupohn Inthanousay of Goldee’s Barbecue Adapted by StarChefs

P I T M AST E R

Lao Sausage: Yield: 5 pounds Sausage casings 4.5 pounds cubed pork butt or beef chuck

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Cantaloupe Concerto by: Amelia Schwartz Cantaloupe Sorbet The humble cantaloupe—a fruit that is hidden in plain sight.

It’s always available, always affordable, but rarely the center of attention. It’s sweet, sometimes boringly sweet, but with a squeeze of acid, a drizzle of fat, a sprinkle of herbs, and maybe even a little spice, cantaloupe can exude main character energy. Exhibit A: The cantaloupe sorbet at Homewood (recipe on page TK). When Texas melons came into season, Pastry Chef Maggie Huff constructed a refreshing, parfaitlike dessert that highlights the cantaloupe’s versatility.

“Cantaloupe has a naturally velvety texture to begin with, so it’s beautifully showcased in a sorbet,” says Huff. She blends the melon into a purée, stirs it with simple syrup, and seasons it with lemon and salt. It’s made into a creamy, scoopable, bright orange sorbet.

Shiso Labneh Surrounding and sitting beneath the sorbet is a dramatic swoosh of tangy labneh infused with shiso. “Shiso has a bright freshness and we had mountains of it growing in our garden at the restaurant,” Huff says. The labneh, made from Homewood’s house-made yogurt, bringing on a slight acidic contrast to the cantaloupe’s signature sweetness.

Basil Granita Right next to the shiso plant grows long stems of basil. Huff purées the leaves with simple syrup and shiso syrup (what grows together goes together!), lemon, and salt. The herbaceous mixture is frozen on a sheet pan then scraped into a crumble and spooned over the sorbet. “[The granita] adds texture and some more interesting complexity to the dish.”

Sourdough Breadcrumbs Huff sprinkles the dessert with a borderline-savory sourdough breadcrumb, bursting with black pepper. “A little black pepper elevates everything, in my opinion,” Huff says. Tossed with salt and a fruity, Texas-made Arbequina olive oil, the toasted breadcrumbs offer a second layer of crunch.

Olive Oil

“Fat is a good thing for desserts,” says Huff. “A lot of my desserts have finishing salts and olive oil added.” In this case, she gives the sorbet an additional drizzle of the Arbequina olive oil.

Honeydew

For a refreshing contrast in texture, Huff places diced honeydew around the sorbet. “It’s a play on textures because I think melon can be one note,” she says. But all dressed up, Huff ’s cantaloupe sorbet is the whole goddamn orchestra.

Joe Zavala

PHOTOS: GEOFF HAUSCHILD

Jeow Som: 3 cloves garlic 2 chiles ½ teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons fish sauce 4 tablespoons fresh lime juice

ZAVALA'S BARBEQUE JOE ZAVALA ALWAYS HAD AN interest in cooking—a side hobby from his job as an IT consultant. His father and father-in-law were the pitmasters of the family, so every family gathering, Zavala was banned from touching the smoker. But in 2015, he did it anyway.

He stole a smoker from his father-in-law and decided to make his first-ever brisket. It was then that his barbecue obsession began. After a year of smoking meat for friends and family, he officially launched Zavala’s Barbecue through social media. His business was growing slow and steady: no orders the first week but more and more orders every week after, until lines of people waited outside.

jamz56 / zavalasbarbecue Favorite kitchen tool: 1000 gallon smoker Favorite food resource: Google Most important kitchen rule: Cook with love. It shows.

Places you'd visit for culinary inspiration: New York and Chicago Advice to your younger self: Don’t burn yourself out.

In 2018, Zavala and his wife, Christian, (along with the help of some friends,) began selling barbecue out of a small alleyway next to the local coffee shop, The Brass Bean. After several months, Joe and Christian took out a loan and decided to buy a brick and mortar of their own. To keep up with his full-time IT job, they opened only on Saturdays, but due to the increased demand, eventually added in more days, including Thursday fajita nights. Joe was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2019 and through chemotherapy and treatments, he continued to run his business from the sideline. Since June of 2020, Joe has been in remission and continues to capture the hearts of locals with his South-Texas-influenced barbecue. Zavala’s Barbecue acts as a love letter to his hometown, Grand Prairie, and the community that has invested in him since day one.

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Cantaloupe Sorbet: Yield: 5 pounds 1 cantaloupe, peeled, seeded, then cut into cubes Simple syrup Lemon Salt Sourdough Breadcrumbs: 1 loaf sourdough bread, crust removed, cut into cubes Olive oil Salt Black pepper Basil Granita: 15 grams basil, blanched 200 grams simple syrup Lemon juice Salt To Assemble and Serve: Yield: 5 pounds Honeydew, small diced Olive oil Shiso leaves Basil leaves

METHOD For the Shiso Syrup: In a pot over medium heat, bring sugar and 1 cup water to a boil. Pour syrup over shiso leaves and let steep overnight.

For the Shiso Labneh: In a bowl, season labneh with Shiso Syrup and salt.

For the Cantaloupe Sorbet: In a Vitamix blender, purée cantaloupe until smooth.

Weigh cantaloupe purée. Using a 2 to 1 ratio of simple syrup to purée, stir to combine simple syrup and purée. Season with lemon and salt. Transfer mixture to an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s instructions to freeze.

For the Sourdough Breadcrumbs: Heat oven to 300°F. In a food processor, blend sourdough cubes until small crumbs are formed.

Transfer crumbs to a bowl, toss with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Spread breadcrumbs out on a baking sheet. Bake until golden brown.

For the Basil Granita: In a Vitamix blender, purée basil, simple syrup, and 200 grams Shiso Syrup. Add 500 grams water and season with lemon and salt. Transfer mixture to a pan and freeze until set. Using a fork, scrape the frozen mixture to create the granita. Keep frozen.

To Assemble and Serve: Smear Shiso Labneh around the sides and bottom of a serving cup. Place a small amount of honeydew on top of the Shiso Labneh. Add 3 scoops Cantaloupe Sorbet and a sprinkle of Sourdough Breadcrumbs.

Top with Basil Granita, a drizzle of olive oil, shiso leaves, and basil leaves.

RECIPES

Mezcal Mashup REVIVAL For Bar Manager Heather Poile of Lounge Here in the Old East Dallas neighborhood, agave spirits were always a priority. She says, “I wanted the bar program to reflect the nuance of Texan identity, which, because of our close proximity to Mexico, has a heightened awareness of agave culture.” She had always been interested in mezcal gin, but after her first sip of Mezcal MG, Poile became determined to add the beautiful spirit to the Lounge Here menu. “This one shines really

MEZCAL MASHUP

bright,” she says. “Citrusy and floral.” So when developing an espresso martini that played on the classic espresso and candied citrus pairing, Mezcal MG was a perfect fit (recipe on page TK). She combined the espresso with a split base of mezcal gin and Irish whiskey, fortified with Lemon Bitters and Agave syrup. “I wanted it to be balanced, interesting, and a little weird.”

BY: LIZZIE TAKIMOTO

work, bringing two equally strong entities together to form a harmonious union. After a swift gain in popularity beyond Mexican borders over the past couple of decades, mezcal has solidified its stance as one of the most popular spirits on back bars around the world, and naturally, with heightened awareness comes opportunity for experimentation and abstraction. Mezcal gin starts as any other mezcal would. The agave plant is broken down, roasted, and distilled, with the sole focus of maintaining the flavor of the agave plant while highlighting the smoky char from the pit fire-roast. After the initial distillation is where the smoky-sweet sip takes a turn hybrid spirit true to its namesake: mezcal and gin.

ALGO LEVE

The process was inspired by pechuga, which infuses an agave-based spirit with chicken before the second

Over in Uptown at speakeasy La Viuda Negra, a love of traditional

into the world of botany. The smoked agave base is infused with herbs, flora, and spices to develop an aromatic,

distillation for added savoriness and body. Producers of agave gin ditch the protein and keep their infusions

botanical spirits led Bartender Hugo Osorio to reach for mezcal gin.

juniper-forward, while staying true to Mexican flavor profiles thanks to indigenous botanicals. Mezcal MG,

The agave-centric bar forced Osorio to think outside of the box when

produced in Durango, was the first to export the spirit to the United States. While MG leans on hibiscus, ancho

it came to recreating gin-based classic cocktails, but mezcal gin made

chile, lemongrass, and avocado leaf to flavor their spirit, Mezcal Macurichos’ Gin Abrojo, made in Oaxaca,

for an easy substitution. “When I first started serving it to guests, it

uses hoja santa, cilantro, and corn. In all its variations, mezcal gin tells a story of Mexican terroir, maintaining

was an opportunity to educate them on agave and show that there

the structure of the agave and authentic methods of production while spotlighting more specific locales and

are more opportunities for the spirit,” says Osorio. His Algo Leve

producer’s perspective.

cocktail shakes up the spirit with green apple, kiwi, and mint for a seasonal sip that is equally approachable to gin die-hards and mezcal fanatics alike. “The way I see it, this cocktail is more of a gin gimlet—a little refreshing and fruit-forward but not sweet.” Whether through martini or margarita, the new-age distillate offers playful versatility while continuing to shine light on the traditions of agave distillation, and Dallas-Fort Worth is drinking it up.

REVIVAL

Bartender Heather Poile of Lounge Here Adapted by StarChefs Yield: 1 cocktail

INGREDIENTS

3/4 ounce espresso 1/2 ounce agave 1/2 ounce Mezcal MG mezcal gin 1 1/2 ounces Teeling Irish whiskey 1 dash Dashfire lemon bitters Lemon twist Peychaud’s bitters

METHOD

METHOD To a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add espresso, agave, mezcal gin, whiskey, and lemon bitters.

Shake. Double strain into a Nick and Nora glass.

Express and garnish with lemon twist and finish with 3 drops of Peychaud’s.

Saigon Special Saigon Special

What goes into it?

By Amelia Schwartz

Foie Gras Pâté When Carol Nguyen decided to open Ngon in Dallas’s Lower Greenville neighborhood, she felt that the restaurant needed to act as an introduction to Vietnamese cuisine. 13 years after moving from Hanoi, Nguyen opened her first concept, The Crazee Crab. But while the casual Viet-Cajun seafood restaurant offers a menu inspired by her family in New Orleans, Ngon is a love letter to her home country. “I want to bring a piece of Vietnamese [cuisine] to Dallas so people know more about our Vietnamese community,” says Nguyen. “I’m proud of my homeland and I’m proud of my roots.”

Although most items on her menu come from Northern Vietnam, Nguyen couldn’t resist serving a Saigon-style bánh mì (recipe on page TK).

Her version, though classic, is anything but simple. Every component is housemade, even crusty, french-style baguette. This labor-intensive process—and a thick layer of her decadent cognac-infused foie gras pâté—means Nguyen isn’t cashing in on the $9 sandwich. But she isn’t phased. She knows the sandwich is essential to the Vietnamese food experience. “I don’t care how much profit I can make, because I treat my customers as my friends and family,” she explains. She also makes up any lost profit by cross-utilizing the bánh mì ingredients. Char siu is added to bánh canh. Pickled carrots and daikon top the broken rice alongside a sunny-side egg. But the foie gras pâté—that is exclusive to the fresh, umami-packed Saigon Special Bánh Mì.

After soaking fatty duck liver and cubed bread in milk overnight, Nguyen sautés it in butter with onion, white pepper, and chicken bouillon. It gets a splash of Hennessy, it’s blended up until smooth and creamy, and then it’s shmeared on one side of a freshly-baked and split baguette.

Mayonnaise Egg yolks are whisked with salt, lime, and sugar, then emulsified with avocado oil. The soft, bright yellow mayo is spread on the other side of the baguette.

Char Siu Nguyen marinates pork belly in the consistently reliable Lobo roast red pork seasoning mix. It’s roasted for three hours before being wrapped, refrigerated, sliced, then placed atop the pâté.

Pickled Vegetables Carrots and daikon are treated to a mild pickling mixture of vinegar, sugar, and salt. They’re refrigerated overnight then packed into the sandwich.

Garnishes The Saigon Special Bánh Mì is finished with fresh cucumber and jalapeño, a bit of shredded chicken, and a sprinkle of Maggi seasoning. And, of course, it wouldn’t be a bánh mì without a heap of cilantro leaves.

Discover a diverse culinary scene at The Adolphus that draws inspiration from the greatest epicurean destinations in Europe. From breakfast to a cozy dinner or decadent pastry, dining at The Adolphus features inspired dishes and attentive service. The thoughtfully curated menus from City Hall Bistro, Otto’s Coffee and The French Room all strive to deliver a thoughtful, unique experience customized menus to your tastes.

BY LAND THE ADOLPHUS 1321 COMMERCE STREET DALLAS, TEXAS 75202

BY WIRE ADOLPHUS.COM 214-651-3637 @THEADOLPHUSHOTEL

SAIGON SPECIAL BÁNH MÌ

Chef Carol Nguyen of Ngon Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS

Foie Gras Pâté: 1 whole duck liver 5 cups whole milk 100 grams white bread, crust removed, cut into 1-inch cubes 250 grams butter 1 medium-sized white onion, finely chopped 1 teaspoon white pepper 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon 3 ounces Hennessy XO Cognac Char Siu: 2 pounds skinless pork belly, cleaned Salt 1 pack Lobo roast red pork seasoning mix Mayonnaise: 3 egg yolks ½ teaspoon salt

For the Foie Gras Pâté: In a large bowl, cover duck liver in 4 cups milk. Let soak overnight in fridge. In a separate bowl, cover cubed bread in remaining milk and allow to sit.

Drain off milk from soaked liver, pat dry, and cut into 1-centimeter-thick slices. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add onion and sauté until lightly browned. Add duck liver, cubed bread, white pepper, and bouillon and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add Hennessy, and let cool completely.

Transfer mixture to a Vitamix blender and blend until the pâté is creamy and smooth. Pour into a tray or serving container and cover. Refrigerate for 6 hours.

For the Char Siu: Wash pork belly in salt water then pat dry. Marinate pork belly in seasoning mix with water for at least 5 hours. Heat oven to 325°F. Roast marinated pork for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Increase temperature to 350°F and cook for an additional 30 minutes. Allow to cool. Fully wrap pork belly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Thinly slice.

For the Mayonnaise: In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add yolks, salt, lime, and sugar. On medium speed, whisk 5 minutes. Slowly stream in avocado oil. Whisk on high speed until creamy, soft, and light yellow.

For the Pickled Vegetables: In a medium-sized container, soak daikon and carrots in 3 cups ice water and ½ cup salt for at least 30 minutes. In a separate large container, combine white vinegar, sugar, remaining salt, and 3 cups water. Add vegetables and mix well. Refrigerate overnight.

To Assemble and Serve: Spread Mayonnaise on one side of the baguette and Foie Gras Pâté on the other side. Fill baguette with Char Siu, Pickled Vegetables, jalapeño, cucumber, cilantro, shredded chicken, and Maggi Seasoning.

We Support A conversation with Chef Chad Houser, founder of Café Momentum How does the Café Momentum restaurant and internship program work?

[We’re] standing in a restaurant that's six and a half years old and it's been consistently ranked as one of the top restaurants in Dallas since the day we opened. And we take a lot of pride in that because it proves that the young men and women that comprise our entire staff, can and will rise to whatever level of expectation you set for them, as long as we're giving them the tools and resources to do so. We are a 12-month paid, post-release internship for young men and ladies exiting Dallas County Juvenile detention. So once they're released, they're all welcome

StarChefs is partnering with Chef Chad Houser to benefit Café Momentum. The Dallas-based restaurant and 12-month paid internship program provides teens that have recently been released from juvenile facilities with practical skills, education, and employment opportunities to help them achieve their full potential.

For every bison pastrami and tomato salad ordered during the Rising Stars Restaurant Week from December 2nd to 16th, StarChefs will donate $3 to Café Momentum.

Over the course of 12 months they’ll work their way through every station in the restaurant. They’ll work pantry or garde manger and pastry, and then they’ll work sauté and grill. They’ll be a dishwasher, they’ll be a host or hostess, food runners, expo, busser, and server.

What are the interns learning from this program?

We’re doing three things: Number one is they’re learning new life skills and social skills and they’re applying them to make environmental decisions. So the way in which you appropriately disagree with a fellow line cook when you’re trying to get food out for 15 tables at once is different than the way in which you appropriately disagree with a customer that sat down three minutes ago and has already complained they’ve waited 45 minutes.

Bison pastrami and tomato salad, arugula, and caraway crème fraiche (recipe on page TK)

WE SUPPORT

Prosciutto and melon, chicken and waffles, mezcal and gin. Only once in a blue moon does a mashup really

½ teaspoon lime juice ½ teaspoon sugar 300 grams avocado oil Pickled Vegetables: 2 large daikon radishes, cut to a ⅓-inch width and 3-to-4-inch length 4 large carrots, cut to a ⅓-inch width and 3-to-4inch length ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon salt 1 cup white vinegar 1 cup sugar To Assemble and Serve: 1 baguette, split lengthwise Jalapeño, sliced Cucumber, cut to a ⅓-inch width and 3-to-4-inch length Cilantro Shredded chicken Maggi Seasoning

The second thing we're learning is what their strengths are and what they're good at. We ran a special on Saturday night and we told the interns that whoever sells the most specials gets to order a free entree. Typical restaurant gimmick. A young man named DJ sold us out of every single special we have in the restaurant the first 45 minutes we were open. He wasn't even waiting tables.

He was a busser. It's a great example of a skill that he is honing in on that translates outside of this industry.

Third thing is they're learning what it means to be on a team. When you're washing dishes, if you don't get your job done, you literally affect the restaurant's ability to succeed. But we also highlight the fact that for them, it's the first time a lot of them that have teams actually rallied around them and said, I'm doing everything in my power to do my best job so that you can be able to do your best job, too.

What other services do you provide for Café Momentum interns?

We have a Community Services Center adjacent to the restaurant. We have an entire team of case managers that are doing things that a social worker would do. They’re addressing housing instability which affects 42% of our youth. They help [the interns] get government-issued IDs, help secure medical care, getting them to go get physicals and dental exams and vision exams, food insecurities, legal advocacy. We also have a staff psychologist. She provides services in the form of trauma care, group therapy, individual therapy, and she sometimes tackles couples therapy. We also have a group services coordinator, Sais Daniel. Her role is to help build a solid foundation for each young person once they leave the program. Our Community Services Center also just functions as a safe space.

How do you prepare the interns for what comes after Café Momentum?

On average, you will have two restarts in the program. So they’ll be here until they’re finally ready to make it through. So Sais focuses on things like resume writing, mock interviews, taking tours of different companies, and seeing behind-the-scenes so they can familiarize themselves with what different career paths look like; as well as things like financial literacy training, sex education, to help round out their foundation. We put a big premium on education. 54 percent of the young people that enter this program have already dropped out of high school. I would argue that 45 out of the other 46 percent are completely disengaged.

We worked diligently to get our kids enrolled in different schools around the county that actually worked with them, and then they would never show up because of public transportation, so we built our own high schools. Because of [our education manager’s] amazingness, 100 percent of our youth are either already graduated or in school with her every day, and one third have already enrolled in college. We talk about building an ecosystem of support so that we are holistically addressing issues and barriers that affect our young people’s ability to achieve their true potential.

BISON PASTRAMI AND TOMATO SALAD

Chef Chad Houser of Café Momentum Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS

Bison Pastrami: 1 ½ cups salt 42 grams pink salt 1 cup white sugar ½ cup brown sugar 8 grams pickling spice ¼ cup honey 5 cloves garlic, minced One 5-pound bison brisket 2 tablespoons toasted and coarsely ground coriander seeds 2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper Caraway Crème Fraîche: 1 tablespoon toasted and ground caraway seeds 1 ½ cups crème fraîche ½ teaspoon Sherry vinegar Salt To Assemble and Serve: Yield: 4 portions 4 beefsteak tomatoes, cut into eighths 2 ounces baby arugula 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

METHOD For the Bison Pastrami: In a pot, bring salts, sugars, pickling spice, honey, garlic, and 1 kilogram water to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Place brisket in a nonreactive container and submerge with brine.

Using a large plate, weigh down the brisket to keep it under the brine. Refrigerate brisket 5 to 7 days (1 day per pound of meat).

Heat smoker to 300°F. Remove brisket from brine, gently wash in cold water, then towel dry. Rub brisket with pepper and coriander. Place brisket in the smoker and smoke until it reaches an internal temperature of 150°F, approximately 5 hours.

For the Caraway Crème Fraîche: In a bowl, mix to combine all ingredients.

To Assemble and Serve: Divide tomato and 8 ounces thinly sliced Bison Pastrami onto 4 serving plates, placing them randomly around each plate. Toss arugula with olive oil and place it over the pastrami and tomatoes. Drizzle each salad with 2 tablespoons Caraway Crème Fraîche.

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Empowering youth to reach their full potential, one meal at a time For more information, visit cafemomentum.org