A big-name Fort Worth chef gets new wings: He’s switched from Bird to Dove
Chef Brian Olenjack has a new job.
The well-traveled Southwestern chef has joined Chef Tim Love’s Love Style Restaurants as one of the company’s new culinary directors, Love confirmed.
Olenjack, a former chef at Reata, the now-gone Chisholm Club in the Renaissance Worthington and at his namesake Olenjack’s, had worked since last summer as chef at Bird Cafe downtown.
He will start at Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, nearing its 20th anniversary, and will eventually oversee all three Lonesome Dove locations in Fort Worth, Austin and Knoxville, Tenn., Love said.
Love confirmed that Olenjack started last week, and Bird owner Shannon Wynne confirmed the departure.
“Brian has been a longtime friend and I’m so proud of everything he has accomplished in his career,” Love wrote in a message.
“We are honored that he is joining our team.”
Olenjack first came to downtown Fort Worth in 1996 as the first non-native Texan chef at Reata, back in the early days of contemporary “cowboy cuisine.” (He’s from Chicago.)
He shifted to the Worthington and the hotel’s old Chisholm Club steakhouse and restaurant, then took his spatula to Arlington and opened the popular Olenjack’s Grille, a busy Lincoln Square restaurant and gameday hangout when AT&T Stadium was new.
Since Olenjack’s closed in a dispute with investors, he’s worked behind the scenes consulting on menus at successful restaurants like Social House. He also did the menu for the short-lived Eagle Mountain Tavern.
He also was the chef in Reata at the Backstage Club during the Stock Show rodeo.
This story was originally published May 11, 2020 at 5:14 PM.
