Even when you thought the endless awards and endless praise for John Tesar and Stephan Pyles would never stop this year—you were right. It doesn’t.
Out of Esquire‘s list of 18 Best New Restaurants in 2013 that was released today, two of them are Dallas restaurants.
Now, whether or not you’re a fan of the list-compiler, John Mariani, doesn’t really matter to me. What matters is that Spoon (owned by Tesar) and Stampede 66 (by Pyles) have impressed him enough to write beautiful prose.
“At a time when the cosseting of guests seems rarer and respect for the hard-won mastery of cuisine is fading, chef John Tesar’s Spoon Bar & Kitchen is a reminder that excellence is not about spontaneous combustion in the kitchen. Tesar built his reputation at the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas. Following a zigzag career, he has returned to open Spoon, certainly the most exciting new seafood restaurant in America since New York’s Marea opened four years ago,” praises the food writer.
For Stampede 66, he ends his description with this fact: “Anyone who can’t wrap his arms around this food is likely without a pulse.”
True that. Congratulations to both.
