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Michelin-winner John Tesar debuted his decidedly modern steakhouse concept in 2014. Upon entering Knife, diners are greeted by a window that looks into the dry-aging room where they can see where their meat was lovingly rested before hitting the grill. Steaks are broken down into three sections: old school, new school and exotic, so all the bases are covered. That latter category includes options like the incredibly rich 240-day dry-aged ribeye. If it’s your first time in, don’t miss the bacon tasting, which is a fun way to start your dinner.

Last year proved to be massive for restaurant openings in Dallas, but 2024 is already hot on its heels. With new concepts from local chefs to out-of-town sensations making their local debuts, the new year is already shaping up to be both exciting and busy for local dining devotees.

There’s so much great stuff to eat and do in North Texas. But what’s the best? Just as the year ends, here’s a moment for us — and you — to look back at the best of the best for 2023.

What matters here is the meat, most of it expertly dry-aged to deepen the flavor. Live it up with excellent seafood crudos, oxtail ravioli, an old-school aged rib-eye from a Texas ranch, some of the world’s most perfect lamb chops and creamed spinach so good you'll clean the plate.

After a heralded opening in Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa in Dana Point, Dallas chef John Tesar has decided to flip the seafood-focused Outer Reef into a West Coast branch of his beloved steakhouse Knife. Called Knife Modern Steak, the menu here in California should differ from Tesar’s Texan steakhouses, weaving in some seafood dishes that may have been more apt for Outer Reef once it opens on June 22.

The restaurant is modern and sophisticated, with a lively atmosphere and attentive staff who make you feel welcome from the moment you step inside. The menu at Knife is focussed around the best steak cuts available in the US, and it features an impressive selection of cuts from top-quality beef producer 44 Farms.

For Dallas, the exalted designation of a Michelin-starred restaurant now comes by proxy. Last week, longtime Dallas chef John Tesar received one Michelin star for his restaurant Knife & Spoon in Orlando, Florida. And, yes, we had Knife first. So, this doesn't seem fair at all.

We spent an exciting moment with @chefjohntesar of restaurant @knifespoonorlando newly awarded 1 Star in the MICHELIN Guide Florida talking to him about how it feels to win his first MICHELIN Star and what it means to him and his career.

Dallas chef John Tesar won his first Michelin star on June 9, during a ceremony that honors the best culinarians in Florida. Tesar’s restaurant, Knife & Spoon, located at the Ritz-Carlton resort in Orlando, hosted the event — but Tesar didn’t know he would be honored.

'Top Chef' alum John Tesar uses Texas-raised, all-natural beef at Knife, his upscale steakhouse in Dallas. The menu boasts a variety of specialty cuts in addition to several burgers, fresh seafood, pastas, seasonal salads and raw bar selections.

Dallas’ Knife on Mockingbird Lane has been listed among the top 10. Gayot says, Chef John Tesar presents his modern take on the steakhouse at The Highland Dallas. Watch the chefs in action from a seat at the green-tiled counter facing the open kitchen, or settle into one of the booths or tables. The adjacent lounge serves the full menu, while the patio attracts patrons with its cozy outdoor fireplace.”

Like any major city, Dallas is home to an abundance of quintessential restaurants that have served as culinary hubs for generations of locals and visitors. Of course, we’re also privileged to enjoy an ever-evolving dining scene that never ceases to surprise.

Steakhouses are pretty much on every corner in every city in Texas, so it’s challenging to separate the “Prime” from the “Choice,” to use official USDA terms.

Get a little “exotic,” as one of the menu sections suggests, trying out the 32-ounce 240-day dry-aged bone-in ribeye. The bacon flight also impresses with its five slabs curated from around the world.

Chef John Tesar has done a masterful job at creating a steakhouse that exceeds all expectations of what a steak dinner experience should be. He offers a Texas-sized variety of meats and cuts where a true steak connoisseur will feel like a kid in a candy store. His “Bacon Sampler” appetizer melts in your mouth with each bite....

If you find yourself in Texas, you can almost bet on any meal centering around the state's favorite food: meat. When you're not ingesting a questionable amount of the delicious BBQ that they are known for, steak is what's on the menu. Per D Magazine, in this fiercely competitive landscape, Knife has risen the ranks in becoming the premier destination to get your carnivore on in Dallas...

This buzzy steakhouse, located inside the Highland hotel, is worth the hype. Even in the dead of summer, the atmosphere is warm and cozy, the intimate yet buzzy dining room populated with a healthy crowd. If you enjoy dry-aged meats, then there is simply no other option in town. John Tesar takes pride in producing his 240-day dry-aged rib eye, which emerges salty, tender, and divine. Split with the table, and pair with sides like okra, carrots, or macaroni and cheese with bacon bread crumbs.

Top Chef alum John Tesar’s ode to beef is a modern take on the traditional chophouse, with high ceilings, brightly colored tile, warm lighting, and an airy patio. The menu features a bacon tasting spanning five varieties, so that’s obviously where you should start...

If you‘re a fan of prime beef that’s been dry-aged a super long time — 120 to 240 days— make dinner plans at chef John Tesar’s Knife Plano or Knife Dallas. I’ve eaten meals at both restaurants recently, and they’ve never been better … the steaks they’re serving right now are among the very best in America. The beef here will prove to you that properly dry-aged beef does not taste of funk and bleu cheese but of brown butter, truffles and toast...

With a discreet entrance tucked off the lobby of The Ritz-Carlton Grand Lakes, Orlando, the restaurant greets you in a grand way with a huge open kitchen, windows all around and a dramatic ceiling that looks like a geode cut and open with dim light coming down from above. It's Chef John Tesar's new restaurant in Orlando, and he recruited other chefs from top Marriott hotels across the state. Everyone who knows food in Orlando is talking about this place—and also talking about how it's great for a special occasion.

While there are literally thousands of life-changing dishes to try in and around Dallas (hint: we’ve devoted full lists to the subject, from killer burgers and BBQ to Mexican food and brunch), we’ve narrowed down the choices into one wide-ranging bucket list-style roundup for your hunger-fueled convenience. As you eat your way through the metro area, you’re likely to discover plenty of other contenders worth adding to your own all-time greats map, but consider this lineup a fantastic headstart.

For many Americans, Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of backyard grilling season. But before you pull out your grill and get it ready for your first big cookout, chef John Tesar has some advice that may make you rethink everything you thought you knew about cooking a steak.

Perhaps most radical of all is Dallas’ first celebrity-chef steakhouse, John Tesar’s Knife, now with three area locations. The French-trained Tesar cooked alongside Anthony Bourdain in New York in the ’80s before moving to Las Vegas and then Dallas, where he earned five stars at the city’s famous Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek hotel.

Knife & Spoon, the Ritz-Carlton newcomer whose eminence is rooted in chef John Tesar's prized proteins. You'll recognize Tesar, the four-time James Beard Award nominee, from his appearances on Top Chef seasons 10 and 14, or as the character called 'Jimmy Sears' in Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential.

Steakhouses have always been a mainstay of the Dallas dining scene, both as places where big-bucks business deals take place over martinis and filets and the go-to option for a celebratory meal for birthdays, graduations, and pandemic vaccines (soon). Among the mightiest of the meaty, you’ll never regret a Prime Cowboy Ribeye from Al Biernat’s, a Prime porterhouse from the flagship location of Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse, or one of John Tesar’s dry aged steaks aged up to 240 days at Knife Steakhouse.

The first time I tried John Tesar's food at Knife, it was to get the burger, which also happens to be one of my favorite burgers in the world. But the second time I went to Knife, I was freed from the shackles of burger eating, and I got to really see just what Tesar and his crew could do when that meat wasn't ground up at all. But before I even get into the steaks, let's talk a little bit about the fact that there is a five-piece bacon tasting and a ham tasting.

This is the rare eatery that made my list in back to back years - I was wowed when I first ate here while doing a burger story in 2018, and it was one of the key reasons I returned to Dallas to do a magazine feature on the city’s amazing high-end steakhouse culture and offerings, a range arguably better than any other steakhouse centric city on earth.

The Dallas-based chef opens Outer Reef inside the Laguna Cliffs Marriott
It’s no longer a rumor: Former Top Chef contestant John Tesar’s seafood restaurant Outer Reef is headed to Dana Point at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa, with an opening slated for the end of 2018. Tesar is a four-time James Beard nominee, and appeared twice on Bravo’s culinary competition show.

It'll be a Top Chef reunion of sorts when Knife & Spoon opens inside the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes this spring. We told you a couple of weeks ago that Top Chef Season 10 and 14 alum John Tesar, a four-time James Beard Award semifinalist for “Best Southwest Chef,” is opening his modern steak and seafood concept in the old Norman's space in April or May of this year.

Dallas steakhouse Knife made Esquire’s list of the 40 most important restaurants from 2010 to 2019. That’s a big win nationally for chef John Tesar, as it’s just one of two Texas restaurants on writer Jeff Gordinier’s list.

The future of dining in America looks bright. Next year, some of the country’s most iconic cooks—alongside legendary chefs from around the world—will unleash fresh new dining engagements, from mod Mexican to casual French, to dry-aged beef-powered Korean. Expect projects from big-time names like chef Enrique Olvera of Mexico City’s Pujol, hometown hero chef Daniel Humm from Eleven Madison Park, and restaurateur Danny Meyer, whose Shake Shack empire needs no introduction.

A five-time James Beard nominee and twice a contestant on “Top Chef,” John Tesar is known for being bold both in and out of the kitchen. He worked in Manhattan and Las Vegas before moving to Dallas in 2007; today, his Knife steakhouse concepts are found throughout DFW.

No place does steak better than Texas — and now there’s even more proof. Three Texas meat temples made the exclusive cut for the latest 31 Best Steakhouses in America rankings, proving they take their mighty meats and succulent steaks sear-iously.

When celebrity super-chef John Tesar opened Knife, he wanted to reinvent the steakhouse, and not just by making it damn near impossible to Google efficiently. Steaks here are scored from local ranches before aging for up to 240 days en route to the place’s communal tables...

Our restaurant critic, Pete Wells, explains why bringing your gripes to the management instead of anonymously torching the place online will make everybody happier.

Chef Works will be spotlighting someone in the front of the house each month through November as part of our “Five-Star Service” blog feature. In December, we’ll ask our blog’s readership to vote who has the “best story.” We’ll dress the winning restaurant with Chef Works gear!

Celebrity Chef John Tesar gained notoriety after cooking alongside friend Anthony Bourdain in New York in the Eighties, ending up as “Jimmy Sears,” a fictionalized version of himself, in Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. He later earned 5-stars at Dallas’ luxury Mansion on Turtle Creek, along with four James Beard Best Chef nominations and a stint on Bravo’s Top Chef. Today he is all about beef, and even has a steak-centric cookbook, Knife...

This & That Concepts (High Fives, Tiny Victories, The Whip, Ferris Wheelers, Dibs on Victory) are opening a replica of Family Guy‘s, The Drunken Clam. The pop-up is open until Feburary 2. “We have some exciting plans for The Whip moving forward,” says Brandon Hays, This & That co-owner...

At Knife Chef John Tesar is reinventing the steak house by taking it back to it's Texas roots at Knife. Right next door you can also get one of the juiciest burgers you've ever tasted at Knife Burger. Chef Tesar takes Taryn Jones behind the grill to find out why they're so good.

The best steakhouse in Dallas has expanded with a Plano location. Meanwhile, the original, at the Highland hotel near Mockingbird Station, continues to successfully bridge the gap between casual-dining excellence and a posh steakhouse experience. You can get out of Knife for under $20 if you just want one of the city’s best burgers. Actually, all of Knife’s burgers are among Dallas’ best, from the legendary Ozersky, its thick patty adorned simply with American cheese and red onion with pickle on the side, to the Tail End with pork belly and collard greens. Or you can live it up with excellent seafood crudos, oxtail ravioli, an old-school aged rib-eye from a Texas ranch and perfect creamed spinach on the side. The choice is yours, but whatever experience you choose, Knife does it right.

The burgers born at Dallas’ high-end steak specialist Knife were so popular they spawned their own mini-chain, with two Knife Burger locations in Dallas and Plano, and a third about to open in Fort Worth. Physically, the locations are very varied: The first Knife Burger opened a year ago in Legacy Hall, a massive new Dallas food hall that is one of the boldest of its kind in the country, as a simple white tiled counter/kiosk with a few stools, an open kitchen, and food served on metal trays you can carry to the market’s array of public seating.

You know you’re in Texas when a steakhouse’s sauce list includes béarnaise and salsa verde. Dallas’ Knife, the flagship of Top Chef alum John Tesar, offers old-school cuts like filet au poivre and pork porterhouse along with exotics like grilled short ribs and a 240-day dry-aged rib eye. Most of the beef comes from 44 Farms, a century-old, black Angus producer in Cameron, Texas.

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Hungry for a mouthwatering steak? John Tesar will show you the difference dry aging can make.Watch as chef John shows you how to prepare his open-faced, braised beef cheek sandwich with a mushroom gravy.

Declaring Knife best steakhouse seems unfair. It's a palace of steak, a meat-lover's shrine, complete with dry-aging cabinet for diners to look upon in awe. A rib eye here, after a few months of dry-aging, turns into an ultra-focused face-punch of rib eye flavor, so rich and so funky that it's almost as if a ribbon of blue cheese has been stuffed inside. The lamb chops are resplendent and, as every cut of meat is, flawlessly cooked. Servers have an unerring knack for arriving at the table just when they're needed. When a steakhouse respects its ingredients this highly, the animals have died for a noble cause.

DALLAS (CBS11 SPORTS) – The Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers built a super rivalry in the 1970’s, squaring off in Super Bowls X and XIII...

Welcome to Dallas’ burger battle, where the stakes are high and the patties are higher. In swanky steakhouses and in food trucks, the city offers burgers for every occasion. From an endless assortment of local burger restaurants and joints, we select the standout spots you don’t want to miss.

Chef John Tesar has worked at some of the trendiest restaurants in New York and Las Vegas, earning notice for his skills in the kitchen-and for his outsized personality. In 2014, he opened Knife in Dallas, a steakhouse reinvention that made Esquire's list of "Best New Restaurants." "Knife" is also the title of his new book. Tesar joins "CBS This Morning: Saturday" to share his culinary journey.

James Beard nominee and Bravo’s “Top Chef” contestant Chef John Tesar reveals the secrets to cooking the purest, beefiest, most delicious steak you’ve ever tasted.

Knife Dallas2014-presentJust when the American steakhouse started to grow stale, John Tesar found a way to reinvent it.

You know you’re in Texas when a steakhouse’s sauce list includes béarnaise and salsa verde. Dallas’ Knife, the flagship of Top Chef alum John Tesar, offers old-school cuts like filet au poivre and pork porterhouse along with exotics like grilled short ribs and a 240-day dry-aged rib eye. Most of the beef comes from 44 Farms, a century-old, black Angus producer in Cameron, Texas.

If there’s one thing that Dallasites love, it’s a good steak. Which is only fitting since Texas is the top beef producing state in the nation. So it should come as no surprise that the metroplex is brimming with high-quality steakhouses. The only difficult part is deciding which one to choose.

At steak wizard John Tesar’s den, we crave the off-cut bavette from 44 Farms as much as the behemoth rib-eye, dry-aged 240 days. We also love the story of how he sold steaks during lockdown, dropping marbled flesh into waiting car trunks. Honorable mention: Town Hearth

You can find some of the best steaks in Texas and the country at this restaurant on Mockingbird Lane, “Top Chef alum John Tesar uses Texas-raised, all-natural beef at Knife, his upscale steakhouse in Dallas. The menu boasts a variety of specialty cuts in addition to several burgers, fresh seafood, pastas, seasonal salads and raw bar selections,” Gayot wrote.

Iconoclastic. Maverick. And very, very talented. These are words — among others — used to describe Chef John Tesar, the Michelin-starred, James Beard-nominated and two-time Bravo Top Chef contestant behind Knife in Plano, Texas.

Having a plate of food for dinner will usually always have a protein some veggies and a starch, there’s nothing better than a nicely cooked steak alongside some mashed potatoes and green beans. Especially if it’s cooked in Texas.

You know what they say, ”if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen”, but what if you are the kitchen? Let's face it, being famous isn't always easy, and certain celebrity chefs have a tougher time handling the spotlight than others.

Across America, the steakhouse has become an institution, a place where big slabs of beef are given the sheen of refined décor and service. They're the kind of restaurant that's able to meld an air of fine dining and comfort food. But for as much as Americans love steakhouses, Michelin is very particular about the ones it will give its stamp of approval. After all, there are more Michelin three-starred restaurants in American than there are one-starred steakhouses in the entire world.

Some serious surf and turf and this new Dana Point restaurant.

When visiting Dallas, you will find a few tried and true attributes, including impeccable shopping, luxurious accommodations, and high-end, premium-quality steaks. Dallas is the home of Nieman Marcus, The Mansion on Turtle Creek, and some of the finest steakhouses in the country.