A new Southern restaurant is coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth area from a chef named Blythe. But wait, not that Blythe (Beck) — this chef is Blythe Bridges, who is opening a place of her own called Chef Blythe's Southern Bistro, in North Richland Hills.
The other Blythe is opening a Southern-cuisined restaurant in Oak Cliff called Pink Magnolia, giving us the distinction of having two Blythes doing Southern food. We're special.
Bridges is a Fort Worth chef fulfilling her dream of opening her own restaurant. In the past few years, she's worked at and helped restaurants all over Texas, as well as running her own catering company. She attended the Art Institute of Dallas and received a culinary arts degree as well as a food & beverage operations management degree at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
Her bistro will open in early September at a new shopping center at 9160 N. Tarrant Pkwy., a location where she sees the need for a good restaurant.
"It's right where North Richland Hills, Keller and Colleyville intersect," she says. "There's nothing there to eat, other than chains. My parents live out there, and the CEO of Chili's lives across the street. All these people and families need somewhere to eat."
Her menu has a couple of signature items including house-made fries pies. She does something called "cheese bombs," which begin with a core of mozzarella cheese, wrapped in biscuit dough, which is wrapped in bacon, then deep-fried. And that's an appetizer. She also does an "adult" sloppy Joe.
"When I was young, we always had sloppy Joe's," she says. "These are things you're used to eating in the South, but with a chef-driven kick to it. It's basically ground beef in a tomato-based sauce on a hamburger bun. I add veggies and my own tomato sauce, and top it with jalapeno, a good cheese and avocado on some thick-crusted bread that I make myself. I'm doing a true scratch kitchen."
There'll be a full bar but the food will be primarily homey entrees and sides, including her cheffed-up version of CFS: a thick-cut chicken-fried steak with green beans, red potatoes and house-made biscuits.
"A good chicken-fried steak should not have a ton of breading," she says. "I hate going and trying to look for the meat. Ours will be an inch thick on the meat, and it's tenderized, with a good crust — not too thick, but extra crispy to where the gravy's not going to kill it. My philosophy on cooking is being basic. I hate when someone tries to reinvent the wheel."
