- Breaking up is hard to do. (photo by Kevin Marple)
Yesterday, the James Beard Award Foundation announced Samar by Stephan Pyles in Dallas as a semi-finalist for Best New Restaurant in America. Today, Andrew Chalk, who has been working on a story on Samar chef Vijay Sadhu, received an e-mail update from the jet-setting Stephan Pyles. He files this report:
Stephan Pyles reports that he and chef Vijay Sadhu parted company this week “on the best of terms” and “have the utmost respect for each other.” Sadhu did not comment on the departure but told me last night that he is staying in Dallas and plans to open “a very specific concept, the like of which has not been seen before in Dallas.”
Plyes, who is currently traveling, recently attended the glorious Madrid Fusion, a three-day summit of chef/speakers. “The menu [at Samar] will be changing soon and, as in my other restaurants, I will sit down with key staff to brainstorm ideas,” said Pyles. “In addition to management, I have one Indian sous chef, 2 employees from Turkey, and 1 from Bhutan. Having just returned from Madrid Fusion, you can expect the Spanish section to be “pushed” a little further.”
Before he cheffed at Samar, Sadhu was the chef at Clay Pit in Addison and, before that, Bukhara Grille in Richardson. “People move on in this business and personnel is pretty much in constant flux,” said Pyles. “Jon Thompson is the executive chef [at Samr] and has been acting as such for a few months now. Vijay was a terrific source for inspiration in the Indian section. We remain close friends and he may be involved in future menu development as well as future projects.”
