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    Tastemaker Best Chefs

    Tastemaker Best Chef nominees put national spotlight where it belongs: on Dallas

    Teresa Gubbins
    Apr 22, 2014 | 7:09 pm

    In our first-ever CultureMap Dallas Tastemaker Awards, we're celebrating the prodigious talent in our food and drink community. For months, our editors sifted through nominees before narrowing down the field for a panel of experts who chose winners in nine categories. Those winners will be revealed with great fanfare — and many a toast — at our big event on May 6.

     

    In the past couple of weeks, we've honored the city's top pastry chefs, tipped our hat to the best breweries and lifted our glass to the best bars in town. We even launched a tournament so our readers could help choose the best new restaurant. But perhaps no category is more meaningful than that of best chef.

     

    Unlike the rising stars who are just beginning to make their mark, these candidates are the culinary masters of our city. They've made significant contributions to our local dining scene while staying at the top of their field. They've brought us not only fantastic food but also glory, bragging rights and a sense of hometown pride.

     

    These legendary chefs all have accolades and four-star ratings that would fill a page. Instead of listing their awards and achievements, we'll share a few highlights, including their game-changing moments, signature dishes and what makes them special.

     

    In alphabetical order, we present our candidates for the Tastemaker Award for Best Chef:

     

     Nick Badovinus, Neighborhood Services, Off-Site Kitchen
     Game changer: Badovinus left the friendly confines of Consilient and showed his mettle with his successful Neighborhood Services.
     Signature dish: Veal schnitzel
     What's new: Openings everywhere — a third Neighborhood Services in Addison, an Off-Site Kitchen in Trinity Groves and a new concept called Town Hearth opening in the Design District.
     In a nutshell: Nimble and intuitive, Badovinus is a chef with classic roots who's plugged in to restless contemporary diners.

     

     Dean Fearing, Fearing's
     Game changer: Leaving the Mansion to open Fearing's in 2007 proved that Dean didn't need the Mansion to be Dean.
     Signature dish: Lobster taco
     What's new: A cookbook called The Texas Food Bible (Grand Central Publishing), coming out on April 29.
     In a nutshell: Intensely charismatic, accessible yet larger-than-life, with a faultless palate, Fearing is a Dallas treasure.

     

     Tim Love, Lonesome Dove, Woodshed Smokehouse, Queenie's Steakhouse, Love Shack, Barter
     Game changer: Love's kitchen skills are matched by his ability to spot trends before they happen.
     Signature dish: Tomahawk chop
     What's new: A TV favorite, his latest show is Esquire Network's Knife Fight.
     In a nutshell: Perhaps no chef has a stronger combination of creativity and drive than Love.

     

     Matt McCallister, FT33
     Game changer: McCallister's meteoric rise through the ranks at Stephan Pyles led to the opening of his own Design District restaurant.
     Signature dish: Smoked potatoes with maitake mushrooms and spicy mayo
     What's new: A spot on the list of Food & Wine's 2014 best new chefs.
     In a nutshell: McCallister has a preternaturally canny finger on foodie trends.
     
     Kent Rathbun, Abacus, Jasper's, Rathbun's Blue Plate Kitchen
     Game changer: Rathbun opened Abacus in 1999 and thus began a chef-driven mini restaurant empire.
     Signature dish: Lobster shooters
     What's new: A dramatic refresh of the menu at Jasper's, Rathbun's ode to backyard cuisine.
     In a nutshell: Rathbun handily balances the craft of the chef with a business sense.

     

     Raul Reyes, Mesa
     Game changer: Reyes transformed his modest La Palapa Veracruzana in Oak Cliff into the fine-dining restaurant that is Mesa.
     Signature dish: Enmoladas with mole sauce
     What's new: Expansion to Bishop Arts with a seafood restaurant called Ceviche.
     In a nutshell: Reyes is our best and most genuine example of the ability to elevate Mexican food into serious cuisine.

     

     Stephan Pyles, Stephan Pyles, Stampede 66, San Salvaje
     Game changer: Pyles presciently saw the potential of Dallas' Arts District when he opened his eponymous restaurant in 2005.
     Signature dish: Cowboy rib-eye with onion rings
     What's new: Pan-Latin restaurant San Salvaje will soon open in the old Samar spot.
     In a nutshell: A master of reinvention, Pyles perseveres by finding new ways to capitalize on his well-established classics.
     
     Teiichi Sakurai, Tei An
     Game changer: Sakurai's precision has made Tei An and the otherwise-moribund One Arts Plaza a destination.
     Signature dish: Soba sampler
     What's new: Impromptu Sunday-morning ramen parties that are hugely popular.
     In a nutshell: Sakurai's mastery of soba noodles and live seafood puts Tei An in an elite league whose peers are mostly in Japan.

     

     John Tesar, Spoon, Knife
     Game changer: Tesar has championed underdog cuisines, from burgers at The Commissary to seafood at Spoon, at exactly the right time and place.
     Signature dish: C-vap burger
     What's new: A steakhouse, called Knife, opening at Hotel Palomar.
     In a nutshell: Colorful and mercurial, Tesar gives us impeccable food with plenty of sparks.

     

     David Uygur, Lucia
     Game changer: Uygur's unexpected embrace/interpretation of Italian food brought national attention to Lucia and gave Bishop Arts a chef-driven spot.
     Signature dish: Charcuterie with nduja crostini
     What's new: Ever-longer waits for a reservation, even years after opening.
     In a nutshell: Stoic Uygur is nothing less than an artist, making robust pleasures on the plate.

     

    ---

     

     Come celebrate the Tastemakers with us on Tuesday, May 6, at Seven for Parties in the Dallas Design District. To learn more about the event, including information about our beneficiaries, judges, participating restaurants and ticket sales, visit our Tastemakers website.

    Nick Badovinus

    Chef Nick Badovinus
      
    Photo by Kevin Marple
    Nick Badovinus
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    Burger News

    Buzzy burger joint with Michelin ties to open in Uptown Dallas

    Teresa Gubbins
    Jul 7, 2025 | 2:34 pm
    NADC Burger
    Courtesy of NADC Burger
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    An ultra-buzzy burger joint is opening in Uptown Dallas: Called NADC Burger, it's a chef-driven cheeseburger concept serving Wagyu burgers that will open at 2908 McKinney Ave., in the former Playground Bar, which closed in 2024.

    According to a spokesperson, it'll open in early August.

    NADC — which stands for "Not a Damn Chance" — is a partnership between chef Phillip Frankland Lee (co-founder of Sushi by Scratch Restaurants and Pasta Bar) and professional skateboarder and Fort Worth entrepreneur Neen Williams.

    United by a love of food and skateboarding, the two set out to create the kind of burger they couldn’t find — one that felt indulgent yet familiar. The result was “the ultimate backyard burger,” featuring two 6-ounce Wagyu patties, American cheese, grilled onions smashed into the beef, secret sauce, pickles, and pickled jalapeños.

    They keep the menu simple:

    • Double patty cheeseburger with Wagyu beef, American cheese, sauce, onion, pickle, and seasoning by Williams' NADC spice company, for $16
    • Fries double-fried in beef tallow, either plain or in loaded "Beast Mode" with cheese, chopped pickles, jalapeños, sauce, and seasoning

     NADC Burger friesLoaded fries at NADC BurgerNADC

    There are also brown butter chocolate chip cookies. Every detail — from the seasoning to the burger-to-bun ratio — is meticulously considered.

    Lee has previously earned Michelin stars for Pasta | Bar in Encino, California, and Sushi by Scratch in Montecito, California. (There's also a Sushi by Scratch at The Adolphus in downtown Dallas.)

    NADC started in Austin in 2022, and has since expanded in Austin, Denver, Chicago, Nashville (inside Jelly Roll's Goodnight Nashville bar), and Fort Worth, which opened in January 2025 (and which promptly won Best Burger at the Fort Worth Food & Wine Festival in April 2025).

    Some NADC locations are inside other venues such as comedy clubs, including Fort Worth.

    But Uptown Dallas will be a first-of-its-kind model, says Scratch Restaurants Group CEO Gavin Humes.

    "This is a standalone NADC Burger restaurant," Humes says. "We’re fully transforming it into our own concept. There will be a full bar onsite to support our new cocktail offerings, but it’s 100 percent a dedicated NADC space."

    Uptown will also be their first location to stand two stories tall, and will feature counter service, a full bar serving specialty NADC cocktails, and a casual hangout area with indoor and outdoor seating.

    "Uptown felt like the right move — it's a vibrant neighborhood that’s surprisingly underserved when it comes to fast-casual food done at a high level," Humes says. "From the start, Dallas was a priority market. It’s one of the biggest food cities in the country and a natural fit for the energy and flavor of NADC."

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