Celebrity Chef News

Celebrity chefs keep gambling on Dallas and diners hit the jackpot

Chicken Guy! chicken sandwiches

Chicken Guy!

It's a heady week for Dallas with two well-known names in the restaurant world making local debuts at practically the same time.

At one end is Cafe Dior by Dominique Crenn, a lunch and tea spot opening in mid-February inside the luxe new Dior boutique at Highland Park Village.

At the other: Chicken Guy!, a fried-chicken joint from irrepressible chef Guy Fieri, host of Food Network show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.

But these are only two of the latest in a series of celebrity chef forays into Dallas — one that reaps tasty rewards for local diners.

Crenn is a native of France and the first female chef in the U.S. to achieve three Michelin stars. Dallas diners will soon be able to peck at her artfully composed chicken surrounded by Tuscan kale, a dish she created as an homage to a Dior dress from the '70s.

Those same Dallas diners can now chow down on a Fieri-created fried chicken sandwich featuring panko-crusted chicken topped with bacon, buffalo sauce, and mac & cheese on a soft bun.

Isn't life grand?

Cafe Dior pastry chef Juan Contreras and chef Dominique Crenn dallas.culturemap.com

Dallas has a love-hate relationship with celebrity chefs (and celebrities in general) — basking in the affirmation a celebrity endorsement brings yet also nursing a good old Texas-style suspicion towards anything not born and raised here.

And it's not like DFW does not have its own stable of home-grown celebrity chefs: from Dean Fearing to Tiffany Derry to John Tesar to Stephan Pyles to Tim Love — chefs whose combination of food chops and charisma have forged them into nationally-known name brands.

But as every other real estate survey has noted, Dallas-Fort Worth is the growing-est metroplex in the U.S. Demographers are now projecting that DFW will reach 10 million people in the 2030s — surpassing Chicago to become America's third-largest metro area, and surpassing New York by 2100.

That population boom not only brings in more out-of-towners that are open to new things, it represents an irresistible opportunity for business-savvy restaurateurs with an eye towards expansion.

Celebrity chefs in Dallas are not entirely a new phenomenon. But some came too early. Examples include Craft, the restaurant at the W Hotel in Victory Park starring chef Tom Colicchio, which opened in 2006 (the space is now Villa Azur); and Charlie Palmer at the Joule, opened in 2008, closed in 2013 (and now home to Sassetta).

But that was then and this is now, and despite prior losses, Dallas is more dazzling than ever. The "correct" mantra is to support local, but outside chefs can bring a perspective that elevates the local conversation, not to mention upping the skills by training and employing chefs and kitchen staff. (There are still staffers from Craft who nostalgically recall what an inspirational experience it was to work there.)

Plus: Dallas now gets to taste Guy Fieri's famed donkey sauce any time it wants.

Crenn and Fieri are only the two latest celebrity chefs to come to Dallas-Fort Worth. Within the past few years, we've enjoyed a major infusion of brand names willing to give DFW a crack. In good news, most are thriving. Here's some of the recent players — some still open, others closed — and a great dish they've brought to town.

INCOMING

Kim Canteenwalla & Elizabeth Blau. Husband-and-wife team whose portfolio includes Las Vegas restaurants Honey Salt and Buddy V's Ristorante at the Venetian, opened high-end steak & seafood spot Crown Block atop Dallas' signature Reunion Tower, the blinking ball on the downtown skyline, in April 2023. Unlike some other celebuchef concepts where the chef is MIA, the couple has ties to Dallas thanks to a daughter who attends SMU, and can frequently be found on-site. Dish: Branzino with preserved lemon, thyme, arugula, fennel, and pine nut salad

Chef Joey MaggioreChef Joey Maggiore

Joey Maggiore. Colorful chef from Arizona has big designs on DFW: He's already opened one location of his uber-buzzy Italian restaurant The Sicilian Butcher in Fort Worth, with a second set to open in North Dallas in mid-2025. In addition, he opened the first DFW location of his big-popular and highly-regarded brunch concept Hash Kitchen in Fort Worth in spring 2024. Dish: Meatball Ferris wheel with Tomaso’s meatball, sausage meatball with arrabiatta, eggplant meatball withmarinara, steak meatball with truffle mushroom, chicken parm meatball with Parmigiano cream, and turkey meatball with basil pesto

Graham Elliot. Former cooking show judge who built a national following on MasterChef, MasterChef Junior, and Top Chef is all-in on DFW. He's partnered with Fort Worth chef-restaurateur Felipe Armenta and his Far Out Hospitality Group to open restaurants in the area that include Cowboy Prime steakhouse, French restaurant Le Margot, and upscale BBQ spot F1 Smokehouse. And none of that drive-by stuff: He's so all-in, he's moved here. Dish: Le Margot's lavender-glazed chicken with sauteed spinach and sundried tomato

Danny Grant. Charismastic Chicago-based chef and entrepreneur is bullish on Dallas, with two hotspots both located at The National, the residence-hotel combo in downtown Dallas: Monarch, his opulent Italian steakhouse with incomparable skyline views; and Kessaku, the glam sushi restaurant and nightlife spot. Dish: Whole Maine lobster spaghetti, featuring a lobster broken into pieces over spaghetti with oloroso sherry & basil

Shaquille O'Neal. The basketball Hall of Famer is known for his fun-loving presence on the basketball court, not for being a chef. But in 2018, he founded Big Chicken, featuring a menu inspired by childhood favorites including fried chicken sandwiches and tenders with a pale, peppery battered crust. It now has more than 30 loations including Fort Worth, the first in DFW, which opened in September 2024. Dish: Shaq Attack fried chicken sandwich with chipotle BBQ, pepperjack cheese, jalapeño slaw

2 Chainz. The Grammy Award-winning rapper and TV host (Most Expensivest) co-founded Esco Restaurant & Tapas in Atlanta in 2016 with Southern dishes like red velvet chicken & waffles and shrimp & grits. Thanks to franchisee Apiphany Fuller, Dallas now has a location in a vintage downtown building at 1300 Jackson St. with good food, drinks, atmosphere, and hookahs. Dish: Fried chicken wings with scrambled eggs, grits, hash browns, and a biscuit

Ne-Yo and Crystal Renay. R&B singer Ne-Yo and reality star Renay are no longer a couple but are still partnered on Johnny's Chicken & Waffles, their music-themed breakfast-brunch concept founded in Atlanta which opened a crazy-popular location in Dallas on Botham Jean Boulevard in mid-2024. Sunday brunches are SRO. Dish: Royal Treatment Mac N’ Cheese, topped with choice of fried shrimp, chicken tenders, or fried lobster tail

Major Food Group. This is not a chef but is instead the New York hospitality firm which has taken Dallas by storm with three openings in 2022: Sadelle’s, the all-day concept at Highland Park Village; and two restaurants in the Design District: Carbone, the company's ode to Italian American fine dining, and Carbone Vino, a more casual wine-focused sibling to Carbone.

Carla Pellegrino. She starred on TV cooking shows such as Top Chef and Throwdown with Bobby Flay, before settling in DFW where she plans to open a casual Italian concept in Victory Park, Urban Italia, in the former WFAA studio.

OUTGOING

David Chang. Founder of the Momofuku restaurant empire in New York opened an outlet of Fuku, his fried chicken sandwich ghost kitchen concept, in Dallas in 2021, in the very thick of the pandemic. In fact, it was a pandemic concept at heart, servicing the sudden surge of to-go food. It closed in 2024, due not to Dallas but to Chang's business partner Reef Technology, which has shifted out of the declining ghost kitchen realm and into airports and stadiums.

Fabio Viviani Fabio Viviani

Pinky Cole. Atlanta entrepreneur opened a location of her Slutty Vegan burger chain in Dallas in May 2023, an opening met with the long lines and fanfare that accompany her openings. But whoever sold Cole on that location in Deep Ellum, with no dining room on-site and no parking, did her no favors. It closed — "temporarily" — in September 2024.

Salt Bae. Nusret "Salt Bae" Gökçe, the Istanbul chef and media sensation, opened a location of his international Nusr-Et Steakhouse in Dallas in March 2021. The restaurant was known for theatrical dishes like steak encrusted in gold leaf, as well as Salt Bae's dramatic display of sprinkling salt down his forearm. Alas, it closed in late January 2025.

Fabio Viviani. In 2024, the popular Top Chef contestant opened Jars by Fabio Viviani, his fast-casual dessert brand serving popular desserts in jars, in Dallas and Fort Worth. Unfortunately, it closed in January 2025.

"Marky" Mark and Paul Wahlberg. The famed brothers of Boston opened a location of their well-regarded Wahlburgers burger chain at The Star in Frisco in October 2019 — which as it turned out was the absolute worst time to open a restaurant as it was right on the brink of COVID-19. They bravely held on pretty long but finally threw in the towel in September 2023.

chefs trends openings

Food trends

Dallas-Fort Worth pitmasters lead Texas’ growing halal BBQ boom

Levant BBQ

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FORT WORTH, Texas (RNS) — At 9 am on a scorching Saturday in June, nearly 100 people were already lined up outside Goldee’s BBQ, a small, wooden-shack restaurant.

First in line was 30-year-old Thanh Huynh, who had been sitting in a lawn chair on the joint’s rustic porch since 6:30 am.

“I have, like, a whole list, and I’m going to spend lots of money here. It’ll be worth it,” he said, laughing while rattling off a long order of meats and sides from his phone’s Notes app as a sweet, smoky scent from nearby pits hung in the air.

Opened in 2020 by a group of his friends, the restaurant was named the No. 1 barbecue spot in the state by Texas Monthly a year later, and then won a Bib Gourmand award from the prestigious Michelin Guide, given for “great food at a great value.”

The restaurant serves classic Texas barbecue like craft pork belly, sausage, and ribs. But it also offers halal brisket, turkey, and lamb.

"Halal" means meat raised and butchered in accordance with Islamic guidelines. It refers to the method in which the animals are slaughtered, one that focuses on humane treatment, cleanliness, and acknowledging the value of life — similar in concept to kosher food in Judaism.

A growing number of halal places have opened around Fort Worth in recent years, and there are also non-halal restaurants that use halal beef, such as burger institution Kincaid's, the new Burger Vault in Keller, and the forthcoming Tick Tock Taco in Colleyville.

Growing Texas trend
At a time when Republican leaders are increasingly targeting the state’s growing Muslim communities, halal barbecue joints like Goldee’s are thriving in Texas. Across the state, Muslim pitmasters are gaining recognition for putting their own spin on one of Texas’ most iconic culinary traditions.

Goldee's Barbecue is an acclaimed BBQ joint in Fort Worth. Goldee's Barbecue/ Facebook

At least a dozen barbecue spots now serve halal meats, including Yearby’s Barbecue & Waterice, run by Black Muslim couple CJ and Sabrina Henley, soon-to-be in Plano; and Levant Mediterranean BBQ, a restaurant with locations in Houston and Frisco and whose all-beef menu includes a brisket shawarma sandwich.

“Now there are so many options, and for us to have highly rated barbecue, it’s a blessing,” said Haris Ghaffar, who drove an hour from Celina and stood in 90-degree weather for nearly two hours with a friend for the halal options at Goldee’s.

Growing up in the 1990s, Ghaffar said a McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwich was one of the few halal meals he could eat while dining out. Back then, halal food was seen as serving a small community. Today, it’s a multibillion-dollar industry that’s part of the American culinary mainstream, said James Beard Award‑winning food writer Farhan Mustafa, who wrote about the rise of American halal barbecue for Bon Appétit magazine in 2025.

“Halal food is American food,” said Mustafa, who is based in Seattle. “It belongs on your plate. It belongs in the casual chat. It belongs in hip hop tracks. It’s the most American thing there is.”

Mustafa said Muslims are part of a growing list of communities putting their stamp on Texas barbecue. “Whether they’re first, second or third-generation Muslims or Muslim Americans or just Americans, they’re bringing what they know and what excites them,” he said.

More than salt and pepper
Texas barbecue is typically defined by salt-and-pepper brisket and pork ribs, but this new crop of halal pitmasters are adding inventive twists, often based on their own family heritages.

Zain Shafi, a pitmaster and co-owner of Goldee’s, previously ran Sabar Barbecue, a food truck that offered Pakistani-infused halal dishes, such as brisket with rub that included spices like bay leaf and coriander.

Sabar was nominated for Best BBQ in CultureMap's 2025 Tastemaker Awards, and made the list of Texas Monthly's Top 50 Barbecue Restaurants of 2025. The restaurant was also featured in a recently published BBQ book Texas BBQ: The Art of Low and Slow. He closed Sabar in December 2025 after two years.

Sabar BBQ Sabar Barbecue offered a Pakistani twist on BBQ. Sabar Barbecue

Shafi brought tandoori smoked turkey to Goldee’s menu. And sourcing halal cuts, he said, was a natural choice because they are “the highest quality” meats.

Goldee’s chef and part owner Nupohn Inthanousay also blends his Laotian heritage, serving a smoked Lao “sai oua” sausage with sticky rice and a fiery, tangy dipping sauce.

At Kafi BBQ in Irving, owner Salahodeen Abdul-Kafi brings halal Wagyu beef and Iraqi spices to classic Texas barbecue, challenging what he said is the “traditional old guard of Texas barbecue.”

“My goal at Kafi BBQ is to make the best barbecue in Texas,” Abdul-Kafi said. “I have not been shy about that at all, and making the best barbecue in Texas does not necessarily have to include pork.”

A former Silicon Valley tech worker, he moved to Texas six years ago in search of a Muslim community. On weekends in his backyard, he smoked brisket for friends. By 2024, he bought a smoker and opened Kafi BBQ.

He said he spent months testing and perfecting recipes and finding local producers. Abdul-Kafi attributes his obsession with crafting a stand-out menu to the Islamic concept of “Ihsan”— an Arabic term meaning doing something with excellence for the sake of God.

On a Sunday afternoon this summer, the restaurant’s red booths were packed with diners, drawn to menu items like the 13-spice Wagyu brisket, pomegranate-glazed beef belly burnt ends and Iraqi-inspired spicy beef sausage.

“That sausage, I’d probably put it at the top sausage I’ve ever had, and we eat barbecue a lot. This place is unique,” said Jonathan Tate, a Fort Worth resident who came to Kafi BBQ with a friend after reading about it on a Facebook foodie group.

“I don’t necessarily have to have it halal, but it’s nice to know they took good care of the food, the meat,” his friend Jon Sklar said, before going back in line to order oxtail.

Meat at Kafi BBQ in Irving. Kafi BBQ

'We love barbecue'
Although political rhetoric against Muslims in Texas has become increasingly hostile — some GOP lawmakers even discussed a ban on halal food at a conference this month — pitmasters like Abdul-Kafi see the rise of halal barbecue as an effective counterargument.

“It’s an example of exactly the opposite of what the Islamophobes talk about, right?” he said. “They say, ‘oh, Muslims don’t integrate, they stay alone, they don’t help society and all this stuff.’ And it’s like, I’m sitting here contributing to the most well-known cuisine of Texas.”

One of the diners at Kafi BBQ, Houston native Muhammad Sohail, 23, said the restaurant reflects who he is — a proud Texan and Muslim. “This place is super important because I can see halal within the culture of Texas, which is my culture at this point,” Sohail said. “We love the food. We love meat. We’re Muslims and we love barbecue.”

After finishing a big lunch with 10 relatives, Areeba Ali, a Dallas native of Indian heritage, said the restaurant’s appeal cuts across communities, which she said is evidence that halal barbecue isn’t a niche but resonates broadly with Texans. “If you look around in the restaurant, you see everybody in there — it’s not just one demographic in there,” Ali said.

For Mustafa, that success is ultimately a testament to the resilience of Muslim American communities.

“No matter how much they try to erase us, our food is here to stay,” he said. “You will see the power of just good food and the fact that most people really seem to understand that this is just as American as anything else.”

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This story was written and produced by Religion News Service and distributed by The Associated Press. It also includes information from the CultureMap archives.

halal halal barbecue muslim communities pitmasters religion texas texas barbecue trends culinary traditions goldee's barbecue

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Food trends

Dallas-Fort Worth pitmasters lead Texas’ growing halal BBQ boom