Foodie Rehab

Dallas chef and interior designer save the day on Food Network TV show

Interior designer Sarah Pickard helps Cedar Hill's Boxcar on Food Network's Onthe Rocks.
Photo courtesy of Sarah Pickard
Smoke chef Tim Byres also lends his expertise on the show.
Photo by Shana Anderson

If you live to see locals on national television, you'll set your channel to the Food Network to catch a Dallas designer and well-known Dallas chef.

Interior designer Sarah Pickard, of Pickard Design Studio, and Tim Byres, chef at Smoke, are both featured on a new show called On the Rocks. The show debuted in November and features bartender/consultant John Green, as he assesses bars and nightclubs that are "on the rocks" (ouch) and shares his expertise to save the businesses from collapse.

In the episode, called "Small Town Insecurity," Green and Pickard visit Boxcar, a neglected establishment in Cedar Hill. It's troubled by three squabbling siblings with no bar experience and mounting debts that have dwindled their parents' retirement funds while running the bar into the ground. Green and his team of experts take the reins to settle family tension and make the bar successful again.

Tapped to handle the interior design, Pickard joins forces with local contractor Dustin Gadberry of Gadberry Construction, to work construction miracles on Boxcar under a tight budget. The renovation includes demolition; structural repairs; new back bar design; new flooring; and special wall finishes by local graffiti artists to lend a rustic, torn-and-tattered boxcar feeling to the newly designed restaurant and bar.

Known for her interior design services for hotels, resorts, country clubs and residential projects, Pickard is a how-to veteran, having already been featured on HGTV's Real Estate Intervention.

Pickard uses the best contractors to create custom pieces for the bar using furniture previously in the space, as well as refurbished wood and railroad signs. Meanwhile, Smoke chef Tim Byres works with Green to turn around issues within the business and the kitchen.

The show airs on Saturday nights at 10 pm. This episode debuted in December and is showing up on repeat airings.

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RIP Al

Beloved Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat dies at 69 after ALS battle

Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat, RIP

Beloved Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat, founder of the acclaimed local steakhouse Al Biernat's, passed away on November 13, following a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease; he was 69.

Biernat was one of Dallas' all-time great hospitality figures, dating back to his days at The Palm steakhouse, for whom he worked in Los Angeles, Houston, and Dallas.

Biernat founded his namesake restaurant in 1998 on Oak Lawn Avenue, where his standard of excellence and doting charm made it a destination for special occasions, Park Cities swells, and celebrities in town.

His sense of hospitality had little competition in Dallas. He was a charming and personable host who genuinely liked people, and it didn't matter whether you were Conan O'Brien, David Crosby, or one of the other high-profile diners that visited his restaurants — or else just a regular schlub: He had a knack for making everyone feel special and remembered.

Biernat was born on August 20, 1955 and grew up in Michigan, then lived in Colorado, New York, Los Angeles, and Houston, before moving to Dallas to work at The Palm in the West End, where his dynamic presence gave the restaurant an incomparable vitality; it closed in 2017.

He opened Al Biernat's at 4217 Oak Lawn Ave. in 1998, followed by a second location in North Dallas at 5251 Spring Valley Rd. in 2017.

He began to experience ALS symptoms in May 2023, was diagnosed in December, and revealed his condition in February 2024. The revelation was met with an outpouring of sympathy and well wishes from the hospitality industry — a sign of the high regard in which he was held.

The average life expectancy for people with ALS is two to five years after diagnosis. Symptoms can begin in the muscles that control speech and swallowing, or in the hands, arms, legs, or feet. He began to have difficulty communicating in September, and spent his last days in a hospice.

On September 18, he broached the topic of dying, before ending on a note of gratitude to friends and family.

"Having Bulbar ALS I am realistic about my future," he said. "Friends and family have asked me if I’m afraid of dying, and this is what I say to them. Because of the salvation of Jesus, I will be rejoicing in my spirit to see him in all of his glory. Since we are all flesh, soul, and spirit, only my flesh is being left behind. But don’t get me wrong, I have a blessed life in this world, with a loving wife, and a beautiful family and many wonderful and caring friends. I am grateful!"

Both Al Biernat's locations will continue to remain open under the management of Biernat's nephew Brad Fuller, as they have for nearly the past two years.

Biernat is survived by Fuller, as well as his wife Jeannie and three daughters: Angelica Saylor, Kaitlin Biernat Connell, and Jess Biernat, plus five grandsons and two granddaughters. . According to family members, details regarding a celebration of his life will be announced soon.

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