Chefs at Fort Worth’s Ellerbe, Clay Pigeon among James Beard Award semifinalists
Chef Molly McCook of Ellerbe Fine Foods, whose restaurant brought Louisiana fine-dining charm and culture to a former gas station on the south side, is among the semifinalists for Texas’ “Best Chef” in the 2020 James Beard Foundation national dining awards.
McCook is one of two Fort Worth chefs on the list of semifinalists for the May 4 awards.
Chef Bria Downey of Clay Pigeon Food and Drink is a candidate for a national award as a “Rising Star Chef of the Year.”
In 2009, McCook and childhood friend Richard King, both from Shreveport, Louisiana, opened Ellerbe as a Southern dining room at 1501 W Magnolia Ave.
At the time, Magnolia Avenue was not a dining destination.
For 2020, Ellerbe has expanded with an airy new garden room and also a bar area for light bites.
It always felt like a little Fort Worth version of a restaurant you might find in the New Orleans Garden District. Now, the new garden room genuinely feels like the Garden District.
The dinner menu ($23-$37) features cauliflower soup, cornmeal-crusted oysters and entrees such as grilled mahi-mahi and trout, cornmeal-crusted redfish or duck confit.
Regardless what you choose, do not fail to order the maque choux corn-shrimp appetizer ($9).
The desserts for Mardi Gras week included Texas pecan pie and king-cake bread pudding, but the regular pecan bread pudding is probably back.
The lunch menu features rotating dishes such as lemon chicken, cauliflower soup, a shrimp etouffee meat pie or a chickpea salad with steak, shrimp or tandoori chicken.
There’s also a “Sunday supper” each month. On March 8, the family-style dinner features meatloaf and green beans with a tomato-blue cheese salad ($32).
Ellerbe is open for lunch Tuesday through Friday, dinner Tuesday through Saturday; 817-926-3663, ellerbefinefoods.com.
Clay Pigeon’s Downey
Clay Pigeon deserves to rank alongside Ellerbe and Grace as Fort Worth’s best restaurants, and Downey’s work has helped keep it at the top.
Two years ago, executive chef Marcus Paslay handed the Pigeon keys to Downey, a former Bird Cafe, Winslow’s Wine Cafe and Piattello chef.
She has been named the city’s “top chef” by a local magazine two years in a row.
Now, she is one of 30 semifinalists to be named the nation’s best new chef.
The Clay Pigeon menu leads with a choice of steaks ($50-60) or entrees such as grilled duck breast, roast chicken or a braised pork shank ($25-$38). There’s also a game bird pot pie ($30).
Clay Pigeon’s burger, maybe the best of the city’s high-end burgers along with Grace’s, is on the menu nightly now ($18 with fries).
Clay Pigeon opens for dinner only weeknights and Saturdays; 2731 White Settlement Road, 817-882-8065, claypigeonfd.com.
▪ Regino Rojas of Revolver Taco Lounge in Dallas, formerly of Fort Worth, is also among the semifinalists for Texas’ best chef.
▪ Other Dallas names on the list are Misti Norris of Petra and the Beast and Donny Sirisavath of Khao Noodle Shop. The Texas list also includes famed pitmaster “Tootsie” Tomanetz of Snow’s BBQ in Lexington.
The list of semifinalists will be trimmed to a list of nominees March 25, with the awards gala May 4 in Chicago.
This story was originally published February 26, 2020 at 11:36 AM.
