CHEF JOHN TESAR SPREADS HIS WINGS

High Steaks MICHELIN-STARRED DALLAS CHEF JOHN TESAR IS BIG ON PRIME BEEF — AND SEAFOOD, AND PASTA Knife’s open kitchen

By Holly Haber

Knife in urban Dallas, the new Outer Reef overlooking the Pacific, and Knife & Spoon in Orlando, Fla., share a key commonality: Dallas chef John Tesar.

The culinary maestro has learned and grown a lot since he was dubbed the city’s “most hated chef” back in 2010 and accused of throwing cutlery. Tesar, who has been nominated for four James Beard Awards, this year earned a coveted Michelin star for Knife & Spoon. “One of the fortunate things about being older is you have experience,” he says. “I studied what people really want to eat.

240-day dry-aged steak at Knife

After 40 years in this business, the root is to serve good food to good people and make it about them.” Though Tesar licenses each of the three eateries to a different hotel operator, the upscale restaurants all Chef John Tesar maintain his devotion to excellent seasonal cuisine that’s as local as possible. “I am hired to create a non-hotel restaurant in a hotel,” Tesar explains. “It’s fine dining.” Knife, the eldest, opened in 2014 at the Highland Dallas, Curio Collection by Hilton. As its name implies, Knife is big on meats — steaks, lamb, pork, even an earthy $300 ribeye that’s been dry aged for 240 days — plus a few seafood dishes. There’s also a Knife steakhouse at the Shops at Willow Bend in nearby Plano. Outer Reef at Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa in Dana Point, Calif., is the opposite, with a lengthy seafood selection and a smattering of steaks, while Knife & Spoon at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grand Lakes is fairly evenly divided between land and sea. All four share and shift hit dishes amongst themselves and grill prime steaks free of hormones and antibiotics from premium 44 Farms in Texas.

Two signature plates that originated in Michelin-starred Knife & Spoon — melt-in-your-mouth king crab with garlic foam and

live diver scallop with shaved black truffle — are menu at Knife and Outer Reef.

Similarly, Knife’s ever-popular soulsoothing garganelli pasta with black truffle essence is also served at Outer Reef.

Opened last spring, Outer Reef at Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa sits on a cliff in Dana Point overlooking a green park and the Pacific Ocean.

“That is where a seafood restaurant belongs,” Tesar says. “You sit there on the bluff and stare at the outer reef of California. That little stretch of beach is where whales and dolphins migrate.”

Indeed, whale watching tours are a major attraction in Dana Point, especially when giant gray whales swim by from late November to mid-May.

The chef-de-cuisine at each eatery is free to add specials as long as they fit into the overall program, Tesar says.

“I have great crews in all the restaurants — I really do,” he says. “I try to get young talented people who may not have their names in the paper but are focused on a career as a chef. I can relate to where they want to go, and I make it about them.”

Knife Carvings

Beef reigns at Knife, where there are at least a dozen steaks on the menu at any given time, plus tartare.

Select from corn fed, grass fed, and aged cuts, including an American Wagyu bone-in ribeye dry aged for 45 days.

Many of these slabs are 32 ounces, so there’s plenty to share. If you’re having trouble choosing, go with the flavorful 6-ounce filet or get a couple of cuts and swap samples.

THOUGH TESAR LICENSES EACH OF THE THREE EATERIES TO A DIFFERENT HOTEL OPERATOR, THE UPSCALE RESTAURANTS ALL MAINTAIN HIS DEVOTION TO EXCELLENT SEASONAL CUISINE THAT’S AS LOCAL AS POSSIBLE.

Seafood options are refined, from the raw yellowtail, grapefruit, and avocado appetizer to the butter-poached lobster served out of the shell.

Some of the most popular items are the simplest, like the bacon tasting that leads with a sweetish Iberian slice and explores ever smokier flavors.

Sides are rich, sized to share, and largely classic. Think giant onion rings, creamed spinach, whipped potatoes, wild mushrooms, and roasted cauliflower.

Located on the main level of the Highland Hotel, Knife’s decor is contemporary but service and ambience are delightfully old school: Dinner starts with crudités and an offering of four different breads, and the room is bathed in flattering lighting and a mellow conversational buzz. Tesar thinks of it as a neighborhood spot where you can eat a few times a week without breaking the bank, perhaps at the bar with a glass of wine, a salad, and some pasta. His next project will be inside the Ritz-Carlton that in January takes over the longtime Four Seasons Resort & Club in Irving, a Dallas suburb. Knife Italian will be wine centric and continue with the brand’s signature meats.

Tesar’s Tips

Where does the chef himself dine out? “I like to go to Nick & Sam’s for a huge celebration or a party,” he says. “It’s a scene, a Dallas institution where people go to see the Cowboys, the pretty women. You can’t replicate certain things, and that’s why I like to go there. “I love Tei-An. It’s like going to Japan. [Teiichi Sakurai] is a super stylish chef who has a little palace over there, and it’s great to experience that culture. “I like what Chas [Martin] is doing at the Charles, and what the Anderson brothers have done with Boulevardier in the ‘hood and Veritas Wine Bar. I’ve spent so many New Year’s Eves there. “I think you should support local restaurants, not chains. I like restaurateurs who care and want to be there.”

Live diver scallop with shaved black truffle