Another Delicious List
Dallas chef ranks among America's restaurant-world power players
Well, the accolades for Matt McCallister and his FT33 restaurant in the Dallas Design District just won't quit. In today's listy news, Zagat has dubbed McCallister one of the 24 power players in the U.S. restaurant world.
From the time it opened last September, FT33 has been one of the most talked-about restaurants in Dallas, thanks to McCallister's willingness to push our culinary boundaries. It was risky, but it worked.
As Teresa Gubbins recently noted, FT33 is less a restaurant and more "a laboratory for chef-owner Matt McCallister to experiment with techniques and flavor combinations. If you want cutting edge in Dallas, with artistic presentation on the plate, this is the place."
Here are the compliments heaped on McCallister by Zagat, which notes his playfulness, unpredictability and use of "uber-seasonal" ingredients:
The young chef honed his chops under culinary icon Stephan Pyles and did a stint circling the country and guest-cheffing in some of the top kitchens around, including those of Daniel Boulud and Grant Achatz. The menu at his farm-to-fork mecca, FT33, exhibits his playfulness with über-seasonal ingredients and his flair for the unpredictable. And in addition to the accolades he's garnered for the Design District fine-dining establishment, he and his wife founded the city's premiere foodie-meets-purveyor event, Chefs for Farmers, about to kick off its annual wine-and-eats extravaganza on November 3. Not bad for a chef who opted to forgo formal training.