Chef Stephan Pyles closes fine-dining restaurant in Dallas' Arts District

Chef Stephan Pyles is closing his Dallas Arts District restaurant Flora Street Cafe and its chef-table concept, Fauna. According to a release, it's closing on January 2.

Pyles is also getting out of the restaurant business.

"I have had an incredible four-decade run in this beautiful city and have seen many dynamic changes over that time. I now will focus on hospitality consulting, my license agreements, and my culinary travels with Paula Lambert and David Morris International," he says in a statement.

He says he's also going to write his memoirs, and look out — he's going to ding some critics.

"This will also give me the time, finally, to document my experiences in serving the city’s famous and infamous, as well as cooking for the likes of Mick Jagger, Queen Elizabeth ll and six American Presidents and First Ladies," he says. "I will also be able to share special stories of my mentors and protégés. My memoirs will also allow me to evaluate dozens of food critics I have encountered over the last four decades."

Rut-ro.

The author of four cookbooks and host of the Emmy award-winning PBS program, New Tastes from Texas, Pyles has a long resume of restaurants: Routh Street Café, Baby Routh, Star Canyon, AquaKnox, Samar, Stampede 66, the eponymous Stephan Pyles, and finally Flora Street Café.

"It’s a bittersweet moment to be exiting the business I have always been so passionate about, but the time has come to let the next generation of Dallas chefs and restaurateurs follow in my footsteps," he says. "I would like to thank the city and my long-time loyal patrons for such an incredible gastronomic ride. I also would like to thank the thousands of staff members I have employed, many of whom have become family, for their dedication and respect."

Pyles will do luxury cruises including a trip in January to Vietnam and Cambodia, and another in November to Morocco with Paula Lambert.

A snapshot of his culinary history welcomes visitors daily at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport encapsulated in Stampede 66 Express and Sky Canyon at Dallas Love Field. All are current license agreements with Gina Puente Enterprises.

Ventana, the luxury senior living high-rise residences by Buckner across from Northpark Center, also features three unique concepts from Pyles.

Pyles has a long history as a culinary consultant, working on corporate campuses such as Verizon and Deloitte, plus hotels such as The Gaylord Texan, Hotel Eilan, and Hotel Zaza. He has consulted for the DMA, Disney, and was cuisine consultant for American Airlines for 22 years.

He will continue his lifelong passion to eradicate childhood hunger through No Kid Hungry. As a founding board member of Share Our Strength, America’s largest private source of funding for hunger relief, Pyles brought Taste of the Nation to Dallas in 1988, staging the event for the next 20 years.

In 2008, he started his annual No Kid Hungry dinners and the combined events have raised over 3 million dollars for childhood hunger.

Mentoring chefs has also been a passion, and he will continue to help foster culinary careers of up and coming chefs. Matt McCallister, Katherine Clapner, Tim Byres, Ben Merritt, Danyele McPherson, Alex Astranti, Graham Elliott, Bobby Flay, Jose Garces, Kevin Rathbun, Graham Dodds, Peter Barlow, Daniel Ramirez, Mark Kiffin and many others have worked for Stephan in their early careers. Pyles has granted over $200,000 in culinary scholarships in his name over the past 15 years.