“Nothing-NOT a conversation, NOT a handshake or even a hug establishes friendship so forcefully as eating together!”

Jonathan Safran Foer

DFW Chef John Tesar WINS Michelin star!

Trey Chapman Chow, Travel Experiences

Florida Perfection!

Chef John & Chef Gerald

Orlando Florida has a new reason to celebrate TODAY! Dallas Chef John Tesar WON a Michelin Star for his KNIFE & SPOON Restaurant located at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes. Orlando visitors can now enjoy dinning at the Michelin star restaurant because last night was a FIRST for Florida. The 122-year-old guide book announced its first-ever star rating and dining guide to Florida and chef John Tesar’s KNIFE & SPOON was among the star-rated restaurants.

John created Knife Dallas and Knife Plano award winning steakhouses serving some of the best steaks in the world. Two months ago he opened OUTER REEF in Dana Point, California with steaks, seafood and creative desserts. There’s NO stopping John now! He has no time to rest with his current venture opening in Los Colinas later this year. Knife Italian will open at the Four Seasons Resort in Las Colinas at the Ritz-Carlton later in 2022.

The Michelin star guide awarded 15 restaurants in the inaugural MICHELIN Guide to Florida 2022. Please see the link for the NEW guide below.

https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/article/michelin-star-revelation/2022-florida-michelin-stars

Michelin star 2022

When you visit Orlando a trip to Knife & Spoon is a must for anyone that wants to enjoy a wide ranch of creative deliciousness with an award winning steak, seafood and savory sweet desserts. Congratulations to Chef John Tesar, Chef Gerald and the entire team culinary team for a job well done.

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Addictive Bark-O-lious Texas Style BBQ in California

Trey Chapman Chow
Succulent Pull Pork, Meaty Burnt Ends, Flavorful Sausage and Sides.

Howdy, BBQ Lovers!

If you’re a barbecue lover like me, then no city, state, or country is out of reach – especially when it’s a barbecue joint that’s slinging succulent Texas-style, award-winning, and Bark-O-Licious barbecue.

As we continue on our MEETS, EATS & SWEETS Tour 2022, we headed to the small community of San Juan Capistrano, California. This is an extremely cozy and beautiful town located in Orange County, California, along the Orange Coast. San Juan Capistrano was founded by the Spanish in 1776 when St. Junípero Serra established Mission San Juan Capistrano. It’s a beautiful place with friendly folks and now offers some of the BEST BARBECUE in the state of California.

One of Four Big Beautiful Pits.

I could smell the aromas lofting in the air a block away, and my mouth started watering as we approached. When we pulled up, we saw the beautiful surroundings with the palm trees and landscape dancing with the wind. What an amazing atmosphere to enjoy some delicious barbecue.

Heritage Barbecue is a Texas-style barbecue joint offering a rotating menu of home-made sides, succulent smoked brisket, beef ribs, and pulled pork. They also offer juicy, flavor-loaded tri-tip, smoked chicken, turkey, K.C-style burnt-ends, and a variety of other proteins, even house-prepared sausages.

They have the ordering process down to a science. It’s easy and organized, and the line moves like a finely tuned Swiss watch. We ordered and then enjoyed the fresh air in the unique and cozy outdoor atmosphere. They have four massive barbecue pits on display that are constantly billowing smoke in the California sun while you sit and enjoy your barbecue. The pits are beautiful, offering a variety of colorful patinas that happen naturally in the barbecue smoking process.

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VooDoo Doughnuts Unique, Colorful & Delicious!

Trey Chapman Chow

Good day, Doughnut Lovers!

They told me: “The magic is in the hole!”  

As we continue our Road Trippin’ the USA: MEETS, EATS and SWEETS 2022 Tour, I’ve located another unique hand-crafted doughnut experience that is savory, sweet and sure to please your sweet tooth cravings.

Today we’re in Houston, TX at the world-famous Voodoo Doughnut. They have other Texas locations in the cities of Cypress and Austin, as well as a total of 12 other locations in six different states as they continue growing in the USA.

Locations👉 https://www.voodoodoughnut.com/locations/ 

The Story goes: Voodoo Doughnut is the brainchild of old friends and entertainment-minded Portlanders Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson and Tres Shannon. In 2000, they decided to embark on a shared entrepreneurial venture – something that combined quality hospitality with their daring do-it-yourself brand of show business.

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Tesar Coast to Coast Perfection in Florida & California

Trey Chapman Chow

Good Day, Everyone!

Celebrity Chef John Tesar

About eight years ago I met a chef in Dallas who I had read so much about and heard so many stories. I had been wanting to meet him for several years, but our paths had never crossed, and I’m not one to push meetings. Being in the food and restaurant business for decades, I understand all too well the complications of restaurant operations and how short on time chefs, managers, partners and owners can be every day. Time is a commodity that everyone is short on these days, especially celebrity chefs. They have a tough schedule already, and if they’re traveling between multiple restaurant concepts, events, charity functions, meetings, and TV interviews, there truly is NO TIME to spare. With that in mind, I waited until the time was right to meet him.

When I met Chef John Tesar and got to spend some time with him hosting him on my TV show, I realized how passionate he was about the restaurant business and how he personally feels about perfection and what that word truly means. In today’s times some folks mistake passion and the pursuit of perfection for something else entirely. To be honest, being deeply passionate and dedicated toward something is a trait few folks will ever understand, but Chef John Tesar knows all too well because he lives it 24/7/365.

You can never fully understand a person by what you read or hear. You really have to spend some time talking with them to understand what they’re trying to achieve, and the path they’re walking to reach their goals. It would be safe to say that John isn’t walking anywhere – he is running full speed all the time in the relentless pursuit of creating deliciousness for everyone to enjoy.

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Old School Sub Sandwich Perfection!

Trey Chapman Chow

Sandwich Perfection isn’t easy, but I’ve discovered it! 

Meat Ball Sub!

Trey’s Chow Down says, “Forgive me father, for I have sinned. I was told at least 50 times about the deliciousness at Dino’s, and it took me 3 years to make the trip.” I TRULY WISH I HAD LISTENED “ and visited years ago when I first received the tip. I had no idea Dino’s had been slinging subs for decades in the DFW area!

Yesterday we were road trippin’ for deliciousness and took a ride over to Dino’s Subs in Arlington, Texas for an unforgettable experience. We walked through the door and could smell the sandwiches being prepared fresh. As we stood in line my mouth was watering at the thought of sinking my teeth into one of Dino’s classic subs. My excitement grew as the line moved forward little by little. It was a great experience once it was our turn to order and we stood at the glass, looking through at the fresh-cut meats and ingredients. If you love perfect food experiences then you will understand what I’m saying.

All I can say is this! It was one of those old school deli meals that you just can’t stop eating. I was like a fat hog at the feed trough. I would bite then chew, BITE then chew, BITE then chew, only to breathe when absolutely necessary! The sandwiches were so savory and freaking delicious. I had crumbs all over me from slinging the sandwiches table to mouth. Heck, I even had hot mustard on my shirt and cheeks, and I didn’t care! You know why I didn’t care? Because it was so F@$#$ Delicious! That’s the truth – all I could think was: THANK YOU SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?

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A Meat LOVERS Dream Houston BBQ Festival 2022

Trey Chapman Chow

Houston BBQ Festival 2022 at the Humble Civic Center

Just some of the meat delicious I enjoyed!

If you ever wondered how popular Texas BBQ has become, you need to look no further than the number of successful BBQ Festivals these days. We’ve attended four and hosted two in the last 6 months alone, and there have been many more that we just couldn’t attend.

Texas BBQ has really made big strides in the last 15 years, and has really surged in the last decade. While traveling around the state and attending events, doing restaurant reviews, and hosting my live TV show and podcast, I’ve seen so many changes and new ideas, and they’ve all been for the better. During my travels around the USA, I get asked quite often about the surge in popularity of Texas BBQ. I make my answers brief and easy to understand, because everyone seems to be short on time these days.

To me, the popularity is quite simple: It’s the creativity, hard work, and dedication to producing that perfect meaty flavor. It’s the TEXAS pride that says, “We’re going to be the best, create the best, and sling the BEST Q anyone has ever tasted, or we’ll die trying!” You sure can’t leave out the competitive nature of Texans – that in its self is simply INCREDIBLE! I guess to put in simple terms you can just say, “Well It’s a Texas thing and you wouldn’t understand!” LOL. 

They understood 9 years ago when they hosted the first ever Houston BBQ Festival and it’s still standing strong today!  On April 3rd, 2022, 28 BBQ Joints, chefs and pit masters attended the 9th annual BBQ festival in Humble. Trey’s Chow Down got a tip from some of our followers in Texas about this amazing festival and we took a ride out to Houston to see what it was all about. After 2 years of waiting due to covid, the FESTIVAL WAS BACK! Chefs and pit masters were smoking up Humble, TX and slinging creative, delicious Texas BBQ for everyone to enjoy.

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30 Must Try Restaurants & Food in Dallas & Fort Worth for 2022 (Best Thing I Ate)

Trey Chapman Chow
Best Thing I Ate On Fox 4 Good Day.

Hello Food and Drink Lovers!

Have you ever taken a bite of something so delicious that you thought to yourself, “I have to tell someone about this!” I’m sure you have because we all feel that way sometimes. It doesn’t matter if it’s savory, sweet, or both, we just want to tell someone about how perfect a dish was. After traveling around in 2021, eating and visiting with chefs and restaurant folks, I had an idea. I wanted to spread a little deliciousness among my friends; I wanted to share with everyone the BEST DISHES I ATE in 2021.

2021 was our most successful year at locating creative chefs and delicious dishes. We traveled through 10 different states, logging our most miles ever and visiting a record number of chefs and restaurants. I wanted to highlight some of the most unique and delicious dishes you should try in 2022.  These are my top restaurants with dishes, and there’s a big variety so there’s something for everyone!

I enjoyed visiting and eating with some of the best chefs and restaurant folks in the business. Each dish has been carefully chosen and is a chef-driven dish prepared by the best! They only use fresh ingredients, vegetables, and spices to create some bold, modern flavor profiles that everyone will love. Most of the eats are simple dishes that are prepared with passion, love, and creativity.  Remember, a simple dish is sometimes the most difficult to facilitate because all parts must be complete perfection. I believe that in most cases simple is better because it gives each ingredient that culinary jingle to create deliciousness.

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BIRRIA PIZZA PERFECTION IN TEXAS!

Trey Chapman Chow

Hello Chow Hounds!

BIRRIA CHEESE PULL!

Last week Trey’s Chow Down took another Road Trip for deliciousness as we headed out to beautiful East Texas to the town Paris, Texas. Paris is a wonderful and beautiful city, complete with a downtown country feel and beautiful views. Paris is in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods.  It’s in Lamar County and as of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 25,171.

We made the trip to Paris because someone told me about a little food trailer slinging some of the BEST BIRRIA TACOS, PIZZAS, and RAMEN in Texas. If you follow me, you know we live to discover deliciousness for our followers. I’m telling you this an amazing find!

What is Birria? Let me explain! Birria is a Mexican dish from the state of Jalisco. The Spanish term “birria” is used to describe immaterial things without value or quality. It is a traditional ancestral soup or stew made from a combination of chili pepper-based goat meat adobo, garlic, cumin, bay leaves, and thyme, and cooked at a low heat. After cooking it’s usually simmered for about 20 minutes, then blended in a high powered blender until nice and smooth. An authentic Birria Taco, Pizza or Burrito is served with “Consome de Birria” sauce and it is #StupidDelicious.

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The BEST Fried Chicken in Dallas and Fort Worth, North Texas.

Trey Chapman Chow

Howdy Fried Chicken Lovers!

Rapscallion Dallas “Long Walk To Nashville” Fried Bird. ABC Studios.

I’ve been excited and wanting to create my list of top fried chicken joints for over two years, but like fried chicken itself, you just can’t rush perfection. We’ve been enjoying fried chicken all over North Texas from casual, fast casual and fast-food joints and I’ve finally decided it was time to let the feathers fly and expose what I consider to be the BEST fried chicken in the North Texas area.

We have many places selling various forms of chicken nowadays, so I want to be clear about what I mean when discussing fried chicken. I’m talking about fresh, bone-in chicken fried to GBP – Golden Brown Perfection. Wikipedia defines fried chicken as: “Southern fried chicken,” also known simply as fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or crust to the exterior of the chicken while retaining juices in the meat.

Growing up, we served fried chicken at some of our Chapman Family Restaurants and it was very good. Under our restaurant umbrella we also owned a Churches Fried Chicken franchise, and this is where I truly learned the preparation techniques and the time it took to cook and deliver fresh fried chicken. There really are no shortcuts in the process – if you try and eliminate a step, you’re asking for subpar chicken. Preparing fried chicken isn’t very technical, but I strongly believe that simple cooking processes are sometimes the hardest to pull off. The simpler the dish, the less places there are to hide from subpar preparation.

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The 50 Best Burgers in North Texas 2021

Trey Chapman Burgers, Chow

Howdy Burger Lovers!

I’m honored to present this year’s BEST burger winners. Any burger on my list is here because they are fresh and delicious. Please support local and try all of these burgers. Below at the end of the blog we created a full color poster of this years winners. You may screen shot from your phone or print it off and plan your BURGER adventures of 2021. By saving our list you will have instance reference for your barbecue cravings. 

WOW! What a year 2020 was for the restaurant, food, and culinary world. In my five decades in the restaurant business, I’ve seen disasters of all types and nothing comes close to the devastating effect Covid-19 had on our economy. Restaurants, chefs, pitmasters, and restauranteurs had to make big changes if they wanted to survive the pandemic. Nationwide, we lost over 251,000 restaurants forever and 2.5 million restaurant jobs at the latest estimate. The good thing is that NOW we are on the mend and the Texas economy is in full giddy-up mode! This is why it’s so important to support local restaurants to keep us in giddy-up mode.

Even though things were crazy due to Covid-19 we still worked hard reporting on food and hunting down the best burgers we could locate in North Texas. The pandemic allowed us plenty of extra time to chow down on some tasty burgers; it also allowed burger creators time to come up with some new delicious and creative burgers for all of us to enjoy. If you follow me, you know how much I enjoy a great and tasty burger.  This is our seventh year for the BEST BURGER contest in Texas and I’m excited to tell everyone about my delicious burger discoveries.

Did you know that burgers are one of the most sought-after sandwiches in the world? The burger business is crazy in the U.S.A. I don’t have the newly updated numbers of burgers sold in 2020 during the pandemic (and it would be an oddly skewed amount), so we are using the last updated numbers. A national research company states that we sell 6.48 million burgers a day, and around 75 burgers a second! What? Yes, 75 burgers a second! This roughly breaks down as 4,500 burgers every minute, 270,000 every hour, 6.48 million a day, and 2.36 billion burgers a year. A worldwide research study states we sell 50 billion a year worldwide. 50 Billion a year that to me is shocking, but I know how many folks just love a succulent, savory, and delicious burger.

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Best Barbecue Joints North Texas & Beyond 2020

Trey Chapman Chow

Barbecue Deliciousness 2020

Hello, and THANK YOU so much for reading our Best Barbecue article for 2020. This year we’re very proud to release our Best Barbecue for 2020 on the Fox Network GOOD DAY Fox 4 show. Last year our 2019 BEST Barbecue in North Texas on ABC was extremely successful! In just over fifteen months we reached 1.2 million barbecue and food lovers. I hope you will visit some, if not all, of this year’s winners and reshare our article with your friends and family to help support local barbecue, pitmasters and deliciousness.

 

Below at the end of the blog we created a full list of this years winners. You may screen shot from your phone or print it off and plan your BBQ adventures of 2021. By saving our list you will have instance reference for your barbecue cravings. 

WOW! What a year 2020 was for the restaurant, barbecue, and culinary world. In my five decades in the restaurant business, I’ve seen disasters of all types and nothing comes close to the devastating effect COVID-19 has had on our economy. Restaurants, pitmasters, chefs, and restauranteurs had to make big changes if they wanted to survive the pandemic. Nationwide we lost over 251,000 restaurants forever and 2.5 million restaurant jobs at the latest estimate. The good thing is that NOW we are on the mend and the Texas economy is in full giddy-up mode!

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Unique Texas-Size Shareable Dishes

Trey Chapman Chow

Wow, what a year 2020 was for the restaurant and service industry, and not in a good way. Thank goodness it’s over and we can move on down the road.

If you follow me then you know I’m extremely passionate about food, drink, creative chefs, awesome service folks, and the restaurants and grub pubs that host us. Last July I started pondering on what I could do to help support local restaurants, chefs, and the service industry. Something that was different, exciting and fun!  I wanted to create something special that hadn’t been tried before. After tossing a few ideas around, the big light in the oven came on, and there it was, swirling around in my brain like berries in a blender. A fantastic and outrageous idea!

I created an outrageous, Texas-sized over-the-top menu full of unique, creative, colorful, delicious, and some massive dishes. These dishes would have to be Chef-driven, very large, creative, and delicious. A few are just simply unique but also delicious. True foodies and couples will love these dishes. They can be shared, used as food challenges, or just eaten because you love food. Whatever the reason, this menu sparks your foodie senses and will make you want to take a trip straight to Delicious-Ville. #Deliciousville

I got together with ten North Texas chefs to discuss my ideas, and some of those chefs even created new and special dishes just for the new Trey’s Chow Down Menu. I also located dishes that had already been created but would fit with the new menu. We have everything from breakfast to dinner;  Burgers, BBQ, Seafood, Steaks, and more!

I made trips all over North Texas and tried every single dish myself. I watched the dishes being created and then I chowed down like a pig at the trough. What I ended up with was some unbelievably amazing dishes that are not only delicious and creative, but they are memorable as well. Dishes you can’t and won’t forget!

When you see these dishes, they are visually R.I.D.I.C.U.L.O.U.S! Every single person will say something like, “OMG, WTH Is That!” Believe me – I know because that’s all I’ve heard for the last eight months while working on this new menu.

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