Can you tell us about the menus you plan to create? I’m assuming you will be doing breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the Landmark, plus perhaps apps in The Library.
When creating the new menus for The Landmark, I was inspired by Nouveau Americana cuisine. I love this culinary approach because it’s an honest way to unite classic favorites with a modern flair. This was also my inspiration when I created the new bar menu in The Library, which was released in January of this year. I like to put a contemporary spin on modern bar food. The new dish in The Landmark I’m most excited about is the blackened pork tenderloin. It has subtle notes of maple, cinnamon and star anise and pairs perfectly with a smoky pinot noir. It makes me feel like I’m laying by the fire on a cold winter night!
Your bio says you have a ranch in Tioga, Texas. How much time do you spend there?
I wish I spent more time at the ranch. I used to visit much more, but these days it seems I’m only there every couple of months. It’s actually my family’s ranch – it’s called Time N’ Timber Ranch. It used to be in Flower Mound, but a couple of years ago we moved it to a much larger property, which is in Tioga, Texas.
Can you tell us a little about the endangered Grevy’s zebras on the ranch and how they ended up in Texas?
There’s a really interesting story about the endangered Grevy’s zebras at the ranch. A little background about them: they are of Kenyan descent and lived at the ranch in Tioga before my family moved Time N’ Timber Ranch out there. These zebras are classified as orange tagged animals, which means there are only roughly 2,000 of them in the world. There aren’t very many of these zebras left in the world, so the regulations for transporting them are very strict. That’s how we ended up with them. Now this is something that’s truly amazing! When we moved the ranch, there was only one zebra on the property. After a while, we learned she was pregnant. The gestation period of a zebra can last for more than 400 days, so it took a while for us to realize. So rather than having one beautiful endangered zebra, our ranch now houses two!
How has your ranch influenced your cooking style?
I love going to the ranch to just break away from the day to day and enjoy the beauty of nature. We, of course, do not eat the animals on the ranch, but it’s so inspirational to look out and see the carrots, nuts, apples, all of it, and accept them for what they are: wholesome and pure. That’s what you’ll find in my cooking. I love a great sauce as much as anyone, but sometimes it’s great to accept a carrot for what it is. Maybe you’ve perfectly roasted it with some garlic, salt and pepper, but you can still tell that it’s definitely a carrot – and a truly delicious one at that. That is how my ranch inspires my food. It reminds me to take a look around and appreciate everything wholesome and pure about the foods I make.
I see you like to play golf. What’s your handicap?
About the same as my bowling score….low 100’s.
