It's been less than a week since I saw chef John Tesar. And since then, a lot has happened.
Like? Knife Dallas is no more. I knew this was going to happen, when I saw Tesar at Trick Rider earlier this week. He, along with chefs Dean Fearing and Leen Kim Nunn, were on hand to promote SAVOR.
It was great to see Fearing and Tesar together, considering their storied histories at The Mansion. And it was great to see Tesar in Frisco (Later, Tesar told me, "I should build a house out here," he said. "Live on the prairie, drive around in a golf cart." I wonder if Frisco reminds him of the Hamptons, where he divided time between Manhattan as a boy.)
I wanted to talk about something else: Knife — not just Knife Dallas but Knife Steakhouse in Plano. But let's start, like many stories do, in Dallas.
Knife Dallas - The End Of An Era
"I got along with everybody, and there was no tension," Tesar told me, when I asked about the recent Knife Dallas announcement.
"I just think that, you know, 11 years ago, it was a great starting point for me and it was a phenomenon." Tesar was drinking Diet Coke and decked out in a hoodie emblazoned with "Muhammad Ali The Greatest Zaire 1974," a reference to the Rumble in The Jungle bout with George Foreman.
When Knife Dallas opened in 2014, Esquire hailed it as one of the country's best new restaurants, saying, "Knife is the steakhouse of the future." This set the tone for Tesar's continued ascension to celebrity chef, national recognition and numerous awards, including a Michelin star at Knife & Spoon at The Ritz-Carlton Grand Lakes in Orlando.
"To have a restaurant in that hotel for 11 years? Nobody did that." That hotel, of course, is The Highland, a hotel that opened in the 1960s at Central Expressway and Mockingbird Lane as a mid-century Hilton beaut. But by the end of the century, before Mrs. Baird's bread factory shuttered, the hotel was rundown, renamed and no longer in the Hilton fold. Key in reviving the hotel and restoring its former glory was Tesar's Knife.
"How many restaurants have been around that long except the great ones in Dallas?" says Tesar. "Bob's, Al Biernat's, and Nick and Sam's. That puts Knife in legendary status."
Knife Dallas will stay open until the end of August 2025, when the licensing deal ends.
"How many restaurants have been around that long except the great ones in Dallas?"
What About Knife Plano?
One of the most remarkable restaurant stories of the past half-decade is Knife Steakhouse. It opened in 2018, long after The Shops at Willow Bend’s bad luck began, with ownership of the mall repeatedly changing and its future uncertain. But the restaurant has continued to remain a draw — and one of the best steakhouses in the county.
"You know, George [Stergios] and that crew in Plano deserve a gold medal for hanging out while Legacy West came up," said Tesar. "The only two people left are Brian [Dunne, owner of Mexican Bar Co.] and us."
"And now finally, they [Centennial] are saying that they're going to cut the mall or who knows what the plans are," said Tesar.
As Local Profile previously reported, the redevelopment of The Shops at Willow Bend in Plano is transitioning from a traditional retail mall to a mixed-use community hub, called The Bend. The revised plan, approved in early 2025, includes demolishing the southern half of the mall, including Macy’s, and adding residential units such as townhomes and villas. The new development will also feature office spaces and recreational amenities, along with a reduced open space. This shift aims to create a vibrant, modern space that combines living, working, leisure and, of course, dining in one location
"Talk is cheap," Tesar continued. "Put your money where your mouth is and execute. We all know that nothing's real until it's signed. Nothing's good until the cash is checked."
Local Profile reached out to Stergios, who said, "Knife Plano is not going anywhere. We are in support of the new development and plan on being here for many years."
Tesar is right: Stergios should get a medal. So should Dunne. They've hung in there, while store after store or restaurant after restaurant shuttered or got up and left — and they did this by continuing to offer excellent food and service.
"Knife Plano is not going anywhere," said Stergios.
Tesar's New Plans For Knife
Tesar has a partnership with GBOD Hospitality Group and 3ntourage Hospitality Group, and they are planning on rolling out Knife in Dallas' Uptown. He calls it "a more contemporary, modern, youthful, hipper Knife."
Part of this is his push, as he told me, to revitalize the local restaurant scene. "Focus on local — this is what I want to do is like, I want to take the brand back," he said. Tesar isn't from Dallas, but he's been here for Dallas and, following in the footsteps of chefs Stephan Pyles and Dean Fearing, instrumental in bringing national recognition to the city. "I made my bones here," he said. "Dallas is progressing so quickly and we have all of these corporate entities dropping millions and millions of dollars just to meet the public's demand. They see where the growth is in America and they want to drop their next, you know, cookie cutter."
And, for him, one of the biggest selling points is: He'll be in the kitchen.
I remember last week when Tesar told me, "You haven't had my food in the past few years — food I've cooked." I reminded him that, yes, I have at, but these were at events like Chefs For Farmers, where he was working the stove, cooking before my eyes, or had been to his dinners. "Oh, I'll cook for those events, do stuff in advance," he continued. "I'd be involved with the prep and all the other stuff."
"I’m going to be managing partner," he added. "As chef, to develop the menu, you need to be there every day."
But this won't be just one new Knife — there will also be a social concept called Switchblade as well as a smaller, 24-seat omakase called Pocket Knife, the last of which sounds intriguing. Being Tesar, the courses will be beef: both Texas' 44 Farms and Kobe beef. "I got a license for real Kobe beef," said Tesar. "I'm the only one that can sell Kobe beef in Dallas right now because you have to go to Japan. You have to talk to the government. You have to do all this stuff."
Pocket Knife will be intimate, maybe no more than 30 covers a night. Besides the story of 44 Farms and Kobe beef, there will be surf and turf pairings as well as beverage pairings that aren't just alcohol. "Clever things," said Tesar. "It won't just be piles and piles of meat, but a cleverly thought out story about the animal and animal husbandry, about history and also about Texas. And who loves meat more than Texans?"
The new Knife and Pocket Knife are currently penciled in for a September or October 2025 opening.
A Deep Understanding Of Japanese Beef
Tesar pulled out his phone and showed me pictures of his Japan trip. I remember when he went: It was during last year's Chefs For Farmers — an event he usually attends, but was in Japan.
"Check out these signs," said Tesar, showing me restaurant signs in Osaka, where I called home for over twenty years. He flicked through a couple. Been there, ate that, I think. But now again, he was back talking about Japanese meat, and he's doing it differently. He’s on to something.
"Everyone here is just A5, A5, A5," he said, referring to the highest grade of wagyu (literally, wagyu — "wa" refers to Japan, and "gyu" means cow). "Like, wrapping it in gold leaf." A5 is buttery soft and very, very expensive. It's delicious, yes, but ordering it, especially in steak-crazy Dallas, is a status symbol. But even in Japan, when people eat domestic beef, they are eating different cuts and grades."
"I might cook something American in a Japanese style," he said. "And I might cook something Japanese in a Texas style."
"What I learned in Japan is that I'd rather eat those lesser cuts than the A5 because they're healthier for you and they're just as tasty and there's more benefit in that," said Tesar. The Japanese beef that Tesar will serve won't be from force-fed cattle. "The cattle aren't drinking beer like you've heard, but they're treated like domesticates, in a similar way to 44 Farms." The difference between his Kobe beef and, say, Miyazakigyu, which he called "great," is the composition: "That is structured fat from force-feeding with protein intermittent into the fat," he explained. "Kobe beef is structured protein with fat." Both are delicious, but the Kobe beef, Tesar added, allows him to better take guests on a culinary journey from head to tail, with 44 Farms and Kobe.
"I might cook something American in a Japanese style," he said. "And I might cook something Japanese in a Texas style."
All of this sounds great. Tesar back in the kitchen? Cooking day in and day out? Can't wait. Beef omakase is something that's time has come. I think of my eldest son, who works at a beef omakase restaurant in Kyoto's Gion, the geisha district. And I know that Tesar’s wagyu omakase will spawn others.
What's the goal for the next Knife and Pocket Knife? "To be there every day," he said.
What about getting back your Michelin star? "You know, I would love to get a Michelin star, but that's not why I'm doing this," he said. "I don't do anything for accolades. I do it for my family, to make money and to feed you good food. I do it because I love it."
Additional reporting by Matilda Preisendorf.
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