TV celebrity chef, judge joins Fort Worth restaurants; new steakhouse in the plans
TV celebrity chef Graham Elliot, a judge on “Top Chef,” “MasterChef” and “The Great American Recipe,” is moving to Fort Worth and will join chef Felipe Armenta’s Pacific Table, The Tavern Bar & Grill and other restaurants, Armenta and Elliot said this week.
Elliot, a 2-star Michelin Guide chef at his former restaurant in Chicago, has left a Hawaii role and will be over the culinary team at Armenta’s 10 restaurant brands across Texas.
New French and Italian restaurants will open next year, and a prime steakhouse, Cowboy Prime, is opening in Midland.
A deal is in the works for a prime steakhouse in Fort Worth, Armenta said.
“I feel like once you’ve been in Texas, it’s always in your blood calling you home,” said Elliot, who worked 25 years ago in Dallas kitchens with chefs Stephan Pyles and Dean Fearing at restaurants such as Cafe Pacific, Star Canyon and the Mansion on Turtle Creek.
He will live in downtown Fort Worth and direct Armenta’s restaurant expansion, Elliot said.
“He’s done such a good job,” Elliot said. “Pacific Table — if I lived in Fort Worth, I’d want to eat there twice a week. Maria’s [Mexican Kitchen] — when we went there, it was absolutely packed with a wait list, and everyone had a smile on their face.”
Armenta said his company is “getting pretty big, and we need somebody at his level to help us diversify.”
Elliot hinted at the move last week on his Instagram page.
Over photos of the Dallas skyline and Fort Worth Stockyards, he wrote: “If you were relocating to DFW, where would you choose/suggest living?”
Commenters overwhelmingly suggested Fort Worth.
Elliot was listed as one of Food & Wine’s “best new chefs” in 2004 and has been nominated three times for James Beard Awards.
His Chicago restaurant opened in 2008 and was one of 15 nationwide to earn two Michelin Guide stars.
As a TV judge, he worked alongside celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey. Until recently, he was chef of an Oahu restaurant.
Elliot said he has worked with Fort Worth celebrity chef Tim Love at Lollapalooza concerts and other events.
Love wrote on Twitter, “This is awesome! I love graham! Welcome to Fort Worth @grahamelliot!”
Elliot is joining Armenta just as the company is about to open F1 Smokehouse, 517 University Drive, a new barbecue restaurant and bar serving dishes from the food trailer by the same name near Press Cafe in the Trailhead at Clearfork.
F1 will open around December, Armenta said.
After that, the company will open Cafe Margot, a simple French cafe serving salads, entrees, breads and martinis in a former chain bakery-cafe at 3150 S. Hulen St.
“Not many groups have this variety of concepts,” Armenta said.
Cafe Margot will be Armenta’s fifth restaurant in south Fort Worth, along with The Tavern, Pacific Cafe, Press Cafe and Maria’s, named for his late mother, Maria De Los Angeles Gil Armenta.
Armenta is a San Angelo native who grew up in a family Tex-Mex cafe and went on to culinary training and a California executive role before returning to Texas to open Cork & Pig Taverns. He also operates Towne Grill in Alliance Town Center, basically The Tavern under a different name, and has a hand in Cork & Pig Tavern locations in Southlake and Irving and across other parts of Texas.
The company also plans to open a yet-unnamed Italian restaurant in the Montserrat neighborhood and is negotiating to open a prime steakhouse in Fort Worth, Armenta said.
This story was originally published October 26, 2022 at 3:28 PM.
